Environment and Sustainability

urban protest with banner "climate change affects us the most"

green area between mid-rise residential buildings

strangers in grass by the water- public garden

Although held responsible for global warming and climate change, many cities are also committed to tackle climate change by implementing strategies to mitigate its effects on the urban environment (Rees and Wackernagel, 1996; Sassen, 2009). Cities constitute sites of ecological experimentation (Edwards and Bulkeley, 2018; Swyngedouw and Kaika, 2016), “frontier space” where ecological innovation takes place (Sassen, 2010: 2), engaging with experimentation and innovation, both in terms of governance and policy instruments to address environmental degradation (Bulkeley and Castán Broto, 2013; Edwards and Bulkeley, 2018).

Environment and Sustainability

Main research questions

Are European cities green pioneers? How do cities seek to improve a better environmental quality for their residents? Are they also socially sustainable or are they reproducing class cleavages?