5.6 Achieving urban transformations: key lessons


The pathways examined throughout this chapter are complex, yet they must be so if they are to help solve the interlinked problems of social equity and environmental sustainability. However, as this chapter has shown, cities, city networks, local actors and national governments have been successful in achieving at least some of the objectives of the transformative change needed to reach these goals. One overarching lesson learned is that it is unrealistic to expect any one actor to play a transformative role alone. As highlighted in chapter 2, many cities do not have the funds, capacity or agency to act, and national governments often fail to fully understand and respond to city-level environmental challenges and inequities. Single national-level policies, incentives for a limited set of actors (such as behavioural change measures or the inducing of competition among cities) and better technology are unlikely to achieve transformative change in isolation. Furthermore, many existing programmes and policies are geared towards simple transitions that do not recognize the crucial role that citizens need to play in driving forward urban transformation. Figure 5.12 shows a number of key steps that can be taken to set cities on a transformative pathway.


For any transformative pathway to be successful, each of these steps requires several important actions, which include the following: v Use stresses and shocks as opportunities for long- term visioning: While many actions may begin as responses to chronic stresses or specific shocks, their scope can be converted to long-term and strategic responses. Time should therefore be allowed for discrete actions to evolve into a system that produces wider impacts. This requires the development of long-term strategies and space for reflexive learning.


v Incorporate insights from data and science into decision-making processes: Many of the insights needed to guide transformative pathways require specialist expertise that does not often sit within local governments. Expert guidance is sometimes needed to gather, process and interpret the data required for material flow analyses, greenhouse gas baselines and resilience assessments, among others. Street science and participatory processes of engagement are also valuable to develop meaningful local strategies, ensuring that key trends are understood by multiple audiences who can take complimentary actions and hold each other accountable. City networks can play a valuable role in providing guidance and in some cases can help connect cities with funding to conduct these studies.


v Take a critical approach to establish meaningful agendas: The sharing of planning ideas and practices often means that cities are expected or encouraged to embark on pathways that might not be relevant to them. For instance, not all cities are high carbon emitters and may instead need to prioritize climate change adaptation. Most cities face a combination of challenges that need to be identified and tackled in line with their


118 GEO for Cities


own development pathways, instead of using pathways that may be prescribed externally.


v Expand the political space for decision-making to those who are typically excluded: During the process to relieve vulnerable communities and social groups of environmental burdens, ensure that they are fully involved in decision-making processes in meaningful ways that increase their visibility and voice. For this to happen, vulnerable communities should not just be approached as “intended beneficiaries”, but as rightful agents of change.


v Take advantage of existing technology developers, knowledge-based institutions and networks, and form early partnerships with political parity in decision- making: These partnerships are crucial for guiding priorities, developing locally-appropriate technologies (including digital enablers of governance), testing and piloting new ideas, conducting monitoring and evaluation, developing long-term local knowledge and strengthening capacity. Crucially, grass-roots organizations and educational institutions can also be well placed to source and analyse data on urban inequality, informality and environmental degradation, filling in important knowledge gaps in key governance and policy formulation processes.


v Seek equity and social justice across all local environmental action and programming: Achieving equity and social justice requires strategies to shift the multiple structural drivers of inequity that are commonly found in cities, and should in no way be addressed as an afterthought. In the case of informality, for example, the everyday activities, livelihoods and contributions of women and men need to be recognized and supported, rather than viewed as a burden.


v Drive gender empowerment and equality: Gender inequality in cities can arise from a combination of low- income, inadequate and expensive living spaces, limited access to basic infrastructure and services, exposure to environmental hazards, high rates of crime and violence and a range of impacts linked to patriarchal systems of exclusion. These deprivations amplify the burden of reproductive, productive and community work among women. Moreover, as the impacts of climate change worsen or health crises such as COVID-19 unfold, these are likely to increase the difficulty and time needed to deal with multiple demands, which include a wide range of caring roles typically performed by women and young girls. To tackle gender inequality, urban practitioners and decision makers need to consider the important role of basic infrastructure and service provision in reducing gender disadvantages, and embrace the roles that women and girls can play in finding solutions that meet their specific, changing needs and aspirations in and around cities.


v Invest in instruments for cross-sectoral collaboration, governance and implementation: Transformative action requires cross-sectoral integration, yet current governance arrangements tend to operate in departmental or sectoral silos. It will not be possible to successfully pursue broad cross-sectoral goals unless investments are made to increase coordination across


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