The Department of geography, Enivronment and Society is hosting a Coffee Hour on Friday, November 15 at 3:30PM in room 445 of Blegen Hall. Dr. Hari M. Osofsky will present "Strengthening the Role of Multi-Level Urban Networks in Polycentric Climate Change Governance."
Abstract:
As the United States and the world become increasingly urbanized, cities are a key site for addressing the problem of climate change. However, urban climate change action is not simply about local officials making decisions within their cities. In many large U.S. cities, local involves multiple layers of government, including county and metro-regional entities. Moreover, many of the cities actively participating in climate change action participate in and shape networks of cities based at state, regional, national, and international levels.
This Article argues these multi-level climate change networks could be more effective by embracing the geography of local action. It examines patterns of participation by cities in these networks in several major U.S. metropolitan regions as a basis for proposing practical strategies. It considers what types of cities participate in which networks and where stronger and weaker network interlinkages occur. It concludes that networks inadequately differentiate by city type and collaborate with each other, and suggests ways in which they could do so to maximize the number of cities participating in them and the level of participation of those cities.
