Justice in urban climate policy: climate planning, finance, and action in U.S. cities
Date
2024
DOI
Version
OA Version
Citation
Abstract
Climate change is one of the most important ethical issues of the twenty-first century, and cities play an essential role in the global response to this crisis. Urban scholars and practitioners now recognize the need to address justice and equity concerns associated with cities’ responses to climate change, and calls for just urban transitions are proliferating across city halls. This increasing attention to climate justice is unfolding at the intersection of increasing climate impacts in cities, the aftermath of a global pandemic, and an impending economic recession. More than ever, the fate of local climate efforts is tied up in unknown dynamics around city revenue streams, state and federal funding priorities, and national economic circumstances. At the same time, critiques about the gaps between the rhetoric and reality of urban climate action persist among scholars, and many questions remain about whether and how city governments will be able plan for, pay for, and implement just climate efforts on the ground. This dissertation contributes to our understanding of the politics of urban climate action and climate justice through an examination of the planning, financing, and implementation of justice centered climate efforts across cities in the U.S. I explore how justice is embedded, contested, and operationalized in cities’ climate mitigation plans, the funding and financing of climate action, and the implementation of climate policies. I utilize a rich mixed-methods research design that combines systematic content analysis, multivariate logistic regression analysis, semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and in-depth case studies. I demonstrate that city governments across the U.S. are increasingly (i) explicitly integrating attention to justice into climate planning, (ii) reshaping fiscal policies, budgetary practices, and funding tools to incorporate climate and justice into municipal finance, and (iii) operationalizing justice on the ground through the implementation of climate action. These findings position cities as key leaders in the global struggle for climate justice. This dissertation raises provocative questions about the need to politicize scholarship on urban climate policy, bring attention to the mundane components of urban climate action, and reframe climate justice as a set of practices that continuously unfold throughout the policy process.
Description
2024