2016 UAA Annual Conference

Climate change is increasingly shaping the social, political, and economic contexts of cities. International and national leaders view cities as climate change leaders. A recent summit held in Los Angeles, and attended by the lead climate change negotiators for the U.S. and China, highlighted the role for cities in implementing climate change policies and providing support for each country’s initiatives. Indeed, each year more cities pledge to dramatically reduce their GHG emissions despite the increasingly apparent political and financial obstacles to implementation. Cities are also where adaptation strategies – efforts to adjust social and physical systems to the new conditions generated by climate change – are being piloted. Increased temperatures, changes in precipitation, and rising sea levels are beginning to inform decisions about infrastructure investment, housing, and service delivery. This organized, two-panel session highlights the important questions these developments raise for urban studies and the research programs that are tackling them. The first panel focuses on mitigation, or the reduction of GHG emissions in cities. What role do city governments play? How do transnational networks and multiple sources of capacity shape local outcomes? Papers in this panel explore these questions using the experiences of cities in the U.S., Canada, and Germany. The second panel focuses on adaptation, examining the emergence of adaptation actions and policies in cities and evaluating their implications for urban residents. How and when do cities decide to adapt? How do these decisions interact with existing urban political and social stratifications? Panel participants use the experiences of cities in the U.S. and the Global South with climate change adaptation to explore these questions. In each panel we will devote time to discussing the broader theoretical contributions that come from better understanding the relationship between cities and climate change.

Exploring the Commitment to Act on Climate Change Adaptation in Baltimore
Andrea Sarzynski, University of Delaware

Anticipating Urban Adaptation: Responsibility, Politics, Autonomy, and the Emergence of Adaptation
Scott Kalafatis, University of Michigan

Urban Climate Adaptation and the Politics of Socio-Spatial (In)Justice in the Global South
Eric Chu, University of Amsterdam