Cities and Climate Change: (Routledge Studies in Physical Geography and Environment)

Climate change is one of the most challenging issues of our time. As key sites in the production and management of emissions of greenhouse gases, cities will be crucial for the implementation of international agreements and national policies on climate change. This book provides a critical analysis of the role of cities in addressing climate change and the prospects for urban sustainability. In the post-Rio era, international organizations and transnational networks have promoted the need for local action on global environmental issues. Part I considers the implications of these developments for understanding global environmental governance and urban sustainability. It outlines international and national responses to climate change, and documents the evidence to date on local responses to climate change, examining in detail the international Cities for Climate Protection programme. Part II presents a series of case-studies drawn from this transnational network in the UK, USA and Australia. Each case-study examines the development and implementation of local climate change policy, focusing on the issues of energy conservation, planning and transport. Part III compares the experience of the case-study cities in addressing climate change, and assesses the implications of these findings for urban sustainability and global environmental governance. Cities and Climate Change is the first in-depth analysis of the role of cities in addressing climate change. The book argues that key challenges concerning the resources and powers of local government, as well as conflicts between local goals for economic development and climate change mitigation, have restricted the level of local action on climate change. These findings have significant implications for the prospects of mitigating climate change and achieving urban sustainability. This book provides a valuable interdisciplinary analysis of these issues, and will appeal to students and researchers interested in sustainability at local and global scales.

Table of Contents:
1 Introduction PART I Governing climate change 2 Global environmental governance 3 The politics of climate change: global to local PART II Cities and climate protection 4 Local government and local governance 5 Newcastle upon Tyne: planning and climate protection 6 Cambridgeshire: climate protection and local transport policy 7 Leicester: climate protection and the built environment 8 Denver: climate protection, energy management and the transport sector 9 Milwaukee: climate protection and new urbanism 10 Newcastle, New South Wales: win–win solutions for climate protection? PART III Conclusions 11 Cities protecting the climate 12 Transnational networks and global environmental governance

About the Author :
Dr Harriet Bulkeley is a Leverhulme Research Fellow at the Department of Geography, University of Cambridge. Dr Michele M. Betsill is Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science, Colorado State University, USA.

Review :

'In all, the book's cross-disciplinary relevance, clear arguaments and well-referenced blend of theory and practice are a vital resource for students to professors from sociology to meteorology.'- The Geographic Journal