ESG conference panel call - Urban governance for radical and just sustainability transformations

[Marielle Papin]

Dear colleagues,  

  

The Urban Working Group has developed the following panel proposal for this year's Earth System Governance annual conference 'Governing accelerated transitions, justice, creativity and power in a transforming world' (Toronto, 21-23 October 2022). We invite you to initially express your interest, and then send abstracts of up to 400 words to the co-conveners by 28^th January 2022. 

  

Urban Working Group panel proposal: ‘Urban governance for radical and just sustainability transformations’.  

Set against stalled international climate change negotiations and escalating calls to address the global climate emergency, cities and metropolitan areas have emerged as key sites to deliver environmental sustainability and social justice. Contemporary urban challenges are unparalleled, ranging from ecological breakdown, outdated and inadequate infrastructure systems, to rising levels of poverty and inequality. Tackling such complex, intersecting issues requires interventions beyond conventional modes of municipal decision-making. It demands radical and multi-faceted structural change, new forms of experimental governance, socio-technical innovation, and social learning. However, cities respond to contemporary challenges through multi-level governance systems, in which local decision-makers are dependent on higher political levels and stakeholders representing entrenched interests. All too often, seemingly ambitious policies reproduce dominant rhetoric, promote familiar paradigms such as techno-economic solutionism, benefit powerful incumbent actors, and marginalise less well-represented groups.   

Responding to the urgent need disrupt ‘governance as usual’ we invite panel contributions that explore how cities govern radical and just sustainability transformations. We are particularly interested in contributions that take stock of existing knowledge on urban governance strategies. What have we learned from decades of research on urban sustainability governance about potential pitfalls, contradictions, and ways forward? Contributions may address the following themes:  

• Bypassing dominant architectures and agents: How can hegemonic discourses and powerful incumbents be challenged to realise radical and just sustainable urban transformations?   
• Rethinking multi-level governance: How do international politics support or constrain transformative change at the city level? In the context of fragmented and ephemeral policy interventions and innovations, how can cities develop networked governance approaches that take account of heterogeneous urban infrastructures and different socio-spatial contexts? How can urban institutions make space for knowledge plurality, deliberative and co-creative governance processes, and community-led innovation?  
• Developing transformative capacity: How can municipalities, often beset by resource constraints, develop knowledge partnerships and implementation capacity to leverage transformative change? What is the role of experimental and adaptive urban governance approaches in enabling sustainable and just transformations? How can key learning principles and evaluation systems be incorporated into existing urban governance programmes?  
• Reflecting on theoretical limits: Are conceptualisations of urban governance constrained by dominant disciplines, epistemologies, and methodologies? Can transformative governance be reimagined by drawing on different forms of knowledge production, worldviews, or by studying urban politics from ‘elsewhere’?  

We very much hope you can participate, and we look forward to receiving your contributions. 

With best wishes,  

  

Rachel Macrorie – r.m.ma...@uu.nl   

Linda Westman – l.we...@sheffield.ac.uk  

Marielle Papin – Mariell...@mail.mcgill.ca   

  

  

Marielle Papin, Ph. D. 

Postdoctoral fellow 

Department of Geography - McGill University