Urban Sustainability Transformations

Local governments are known to play an increasingly central role in climate change governance. The research of local climate responses has, however, been dominated by studies on larger and/or internationally prominent cities, while neglecting smaller and less-resourceful local governments, particularly those responsible for running structurally disadvantaged and ‘left behind’ places. This project will address this gap through a study of disadvantaged local council areas in the UK and Germany. more

The project examines large-scale projects as profound disruptions that shake the well-rehearsed routines of institutions and can lead to institutional change. The project examines the large-scale project of the Tesla settlement in comparison to other case studies with regard to disruptive effects on policy and planning and thus tests the transferability of the term disruption to policy and planning research. more

For several decades, (some) cities have been active in climate policy. Previous research on urban climate policy has mostly focused on internationally well-connected and high-profile larger cities and on a handful of prominent smaller pioneering cities. But what about the cities in the second tier, which, unlike the leaders, usually (have to) work with very limited financial and human resources and without significant political and civil society support? This habilitation project focuses on the widest possible range of cities and explores the question of why climate policy activity emerges in cities and why it does not. more