The research project presented here investigates the patterns of governance in polycentric urban regions through the prism of climate change policy. This policy poses particularly daunting multi-level governance challenges as it requires strong vertical and horizontal coordination due to the global origins and local impacts of climate change.
Cities are essential for tackling climate change as they are both its ‘perpetrators’, being one of the main sources of greenhouse gases emissions; and its ‘victims’, as it is in the urban context where the negative impacts of climate change are the most acutely felt and will generate the highest costs. However, we still know little about how cities and urban regions within which they are located tackle the climate change policy challenges and what mechanisms are used for coordination of strategies and policy measures.
This project attempts to shed light on the patterns of governance of climate change policy, and particularly the mechanisms of cross-boundary (cross-border) and cross-sectoral coordination, within urban regions.
In particular, it addresses the following research questions:
The study seeks answers to those questions by investigating and comparing mitigation and adaptation policies in the Randstad in the Netherlands and in Hong Kong-Pearl River Delta region in China. Both of those delta regions are characterized by high-density polycentric patterns of urban development and extreme vulnerability to climate change impacts. They also have particularly complex governance arrangements and have been pioneering climate change policies at the regional and local levels.
However, they operate in very different institutional settings. The Randstad is located in the Netherlands, a decentralized unitary state, with long-standing traditions of horizontal cooperation and municipal autonomy. By contrast, Hong Kong-Pearl River Delta region is part of the Chinese state where intergovernmental relations are hierarchical, the central government plays a key steering role and the development of regional cooperation remains hampered by fierce competition between cities and cross-boundary issues. This interplay of common challenges and different institutional characteristics makes the comparison between the governance of climate change policies in those two urban regions particularly salient.
You can find more information on the project here.
Cities are essential for tackling climate change as they are both its ‘perpetrators’, being one of the main sources of greenhouse gases emissions; and its ‘victims’, as it is in the urban context where the negative impacts of climate change are the most acutely felt and will generate the highest costs. However, we still know little about how cities and urban regions within which they are located tackle the climate change policy challenges and what mechanisms are used for coordination of strategies and policy measures.
This project attempts to shed light on the patterns of governance of climate change policy, and particularly the mechanisms of cross-boundary (cross-border) and cross-sectoral coordination, within urban regions.
In particular, it addresses the following research questions:
- How do the do the features of the administrative and institutional systems shape urban regions’ governance? How do they affect climate change policies at the regional level?
- What governance mechanisms are used to respond to the climate change challenges that require coordination across policy sectors (e.g. transport, energy, planning, water management, spatial planning)?
- How are climate change issues addressed in cross-boundary cooperation? What coordination mechanisms are used? What barriers are encountered?
- What instruments are used to manage conflicts, build consensus and ensure accountability in climate change governance in urban regions?
The study seeks answers to those questions by investigating and comparing mitigation and adaptation policies in the Randstad in the Netherlands and in Hong Kong-Pearl River Delta region in China. Both of those delta regions are characterized by high-density polycentric patterns of urban development and extreme vulnerability to climate change impacts. They also have particularly complex governance arrangements and have been pioneering climate change policies at the regional and local levels.
However, they operate in very different institutional settings. The Randstad is located in the Netherlands, a decentralized unitary state, with long-standing traditions of horizontal cooperation and municipal autonomy. By contrast, Hong Kong-Pearl River Delta region is part of the Chinese state where intergovernmental relations are hierarchical, the central government plays a key steering role and the development of regional cooperation remains hampered by fierce competition between cities and cross-boundary issues. This interplay of common challenges and different institutional characteristics makes the comparison between the governance of climate change policies in those two urban regions particularly salient.
You can find more information on the project here.
The project is funded by the Urban Studies Foundation and conducted at the Chair of Spatial Planning and Strategy within the Department of Urbanism at TU Delft, in collaboration with Prof. Vincent Nadin and Dr. Dominic Stead.