Local Action on Climate Change

There is growing interest in analysing the role and effectiveness of the local scale in responding to the global challenge of climate change. However, while accounts of urban climate change governance are growing, there is now a real need for further conceptual and empirical work to better understand processes of change and uptake across a range of climate change actions. Local Action on Climate Change examines how local climate change responses are emerging, being operationalized and evaluated within a range of geographical and socio-political contexts across the globe. Focussing on the role and potential of local governments, non-government organisations and community groups in driving transformative change, the authors analyse how local climate change responses have emerged and explore the extent to which they are or have the potential to be innovative or transformative in terms of governance, policy and practice change. Drawing on a diverse range of case studies, including examples from Vanuatu, Japan, South Africa, Australia, Sweden, the USA and India, this volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of climate change, environmental policy and governance, and sustainability.

Susie Moloney is a Senior Lecturer in Sustainability and Urban Planning in the School of Global Urban and Social Studies and Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University, Australia. Hartmut Fünfgeld is an Associate Professor in Sustainability and Urban Planning in the School of Global Urban and Social Studies and Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University, Australia. Mikael Granberg is a Professor of Political Science, the Director of the Centre for Climate and Safety at Karlstad University, Sweden. He is also a research fellow and board member of the Swedish national Centre for Natural Disaster Science, CNDS.

Chapter 1. Climate Change Responses from the Global to Local Scale: An Overview Chapter 2. Using collaborative governing to catalyse climate change action in Australian municipalities Chapter 3. Governance and agency beyond boundaries: climate resilience in Port Vila's peri-urban settlements Chapter 4. 'Learning by Doing': Lessons from the Co-Production of Three South African Municipal Climate Change Adaptation Plans Chapter 5. Towns in Transition - Regional and Ideological Diversity among Local Climate Protection Projects and Regional Revitalization Efforts in Rural Japan Chapter. 6 Multi-level Climate Change Planning: Scale, capacity, and the ability for local action Chapter 7. Climate change adaptation, city competitiveness and urban planning in the city of Karlstad, Sweden Chapter 8. From Engagement to Empowerment: Climate Change and Resilience Planning in Baltimore City Chapter 9: Towards transformative action: learning from local experiences and contexts