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Globally, cities have become hubs for economic activity, productivity, and important platforms for achieving sustainable development goals. The potential of urban agriculture (UA) in improving urban local economies and urban micro-climate has been acknowledged in the literature. The study looked at how the concepts of UA, local economic development (LED), and climate change can be treated in unison. Based on the review of credible published papers on the various concepts of UA, LED, climate change and nature-based solutions (NBS), a proposed conceptual framework was developed in this paper showing the linkages. The paper established that UA could boost LED, build resilient urban settlements, and promote social inclusiveness, but with social challenges. It is therefore recommended that policymakers make UA a crucial aspect of their agenda in the coming years to address the local economic and climate challenges now and in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estimating the economic risks of climate shocks and climate stressors on spatially heterogeneous cities over time remains highly challenging. The purpose of this paper is to present a practical methodology to assess the economic risks of climate change in middle-income cities to inform municipal climate response strategies. Building on a capital-based framework (CBF), spatially disaggregated baseline and future scenario scores for economic wealth and its exposure to climate change are developed for six different classes of capital across 77 major suburbs in Cape Town, South Africa. Capital-at-risk was calculated by combining relative exposure and capital scores across different scenarios, with population impacted for major suburbs and the city's eight main planning districts. The economic risk assessment presented here provides a generic approach to assist city managers through an enhanced understanding of the relative levels of capital endowment across the city vis-à-vis relative levels of exposure to climate-related hazards over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper briefly reviews recent and current approaches to the formulation and implementation of urban housing policies in towns and cities in the global South, with emphasis on local government-community participation and partnerships. It looks ahead into the implications of the lasting impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and tenets of climate change that will constitute the 'New Normal'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban infrastructure investment needs in the developing world are immense, particularly when the additional costs associated with lower carbon, more climate-resilient options are considered. These cannot possibly be financed from fiscal sources and ODA flows alone; private financing will need to be accessed. Focusing on the ability of city governments and subnational urban utilities to mobilize private finance, this paper makes two core arguments. First, private investment in municipal infrastructure requires robust institutional, fiscal and regulatory systems that are often absent in developing countries. Establishing such systems often requires policy and institutional reform, much of which lies beyond the competence and control of city governments themselves. Second, while the marginal investment needs related to climate mitigation and adaptation complicate and aggravate the picture, they do not alter the fundamental requirements of private investors. Put simply, municipalities and utilities will need to satisfy the requirements of regular private finance before they can attract green private finance. This paper looks across the main avenues for city governments to mobilize private finance – municipal borrowing, public–private partnerships, and land value capture instruments – and identifies four broad factors that determine the potential size and scope of city leveraging activity. It then offers a new framework to understand where the most pressing constraints to private investment readiness lie and proposes priority measures that local and national governments, together with development partners and other stakeholders, can take to address them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The steady emergence of transnational municipal climate networks demonstrates that cities are globally joining forces to tackle climate change. However, we still know little about how these increasingly influential organisations function. By modifying and extending an existing network typology through the development of a set of new dimensions and indicators, this paper aims to better define, systemise, and distinguish the different networks. The paper demonstrates that there are very exclusive elite networks only open to a limited number of municipalities and very inclusive mass networks open to almost all municipalities. Moreover, many networks vary significantly in terms of organisational structure, governance, or the number of involved private, public, or other partners. Additionally, we raise critical questions to be addressed by future qualitative research. These should be focused on gaining a better understanding of the significance of the various network partners as well as the existing collaboration in several networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When cities in the global north are considered environmental sustainable, this largely depends on how one measures emissions and understands space. Production-based and consumption-based approaches are two different ways of measuring emissions, but they are not simply measuring techniques: they relate also to different interests, they hide and reveal power relations, and they come with very different spatial implications. In this paper, we examine the Swedish city of Malmö, and the city district of Western Harbour in particular, which is often considered an environmental 'role model'. We argue that this reputation depends precisely upon how we understand space and measure emissions. We argue that so-called sustainable cities and city districts in the global north can only be considered environmental role models if one chose to ignore the fact that they completely depend upon emissions being emitted elsewhere, and ignore any relation between affluence and emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the study of climate change and environmental justice with a particular focus on a Global South case-study in the São Paulo Macro Metropolis of Brazil. We also aim to contribute to mandatory critical dialogue between (anticipatory) governance and environmental justice. This study focuses on the rainy seasons from 2016 to 2019. We examine the incidence of 61 extreme precipitation events, as well as 47 deaths caused by rain events, considering their location based on vulnerability indicators. The correlations among these data allow us to reveal the socio-environmental patterns within the relationships between social vulnerability and deaths caused by general rainfall and, more specifically, extreme events. Based on this, we demonstrate that current infrastructure or its lack is one of the reasons why death tolls remain due to the absence of anticipatory governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global challenges such as climate change, resource scarcity and poverty must increasingly be tackled in cities. While cities can be significant contributors to climate change and resource scarcity, and face considerable risks as a consequence of these, they are also central to the solutions for these challenges. The quality of infrastructure, reliability of service provision and other economic and political conditions in urban areas shape levels of resource use by, and exposure to risks for, residents. This paper – which introduces a special issue on resilience and resource efficiency at the city scale – introduces these two concepts and explores the nexus between them. It uses several case studies from different contexts to illustrate the relationship between these ideas, and describes how the papers in the issue engage with them.  [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

After the Paris Agreement that put stronger emphasis on the development of climate change adaptation policies and on the definition of financing mechanisms, there is a patent need to track whether actual planning efforts are proving sufficient. This entails the development of assessment methods and metrics as plans are drafted and actions implemented. To this end, this paper explores the concept of credibility as a critical issue in climate policy and develops an Adaptation Policy Credibility (APC) conceptual and operational assessment framework for helping to allocate public funding and private investments, and for implementing and catalysing climate policy. Through a pilot testing in four early-adopting cities (Copenhagen, Durban, Quito and Vancouver), a clear potential for large-n tracking and assessment exercises of local climate adaptation plans is envisaged. The APC approach might also be useful to guide individual cities that aim to improve their adaptation planning and policy-making processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The perceived and actual causes of flood hazards in cities of sub-Saharan African countries have come under tremendous debate. In Accra, the capital of Ghana, flooding has been the key source of human vulnerability. Studies carried out on flood vulnerability in the city have given varied attributions to their frequent occurrences. In this paper we comprehensively explore the various causes of flood hazards in our bid to set the stage for an integrated approach to flood management. Using mixed methods including document reviews, institutional consultations and key informant interviews, the study categorises all the causes of flood hazards in Accra into three broad but interrelated thematic areas presenting a platform for integrated flood management. The study therefore recommends a comprehensive and integrated approach to flood management that takes into consideration the peculiarities of local physical, social, and political conditions. A framework for such an integrated approach is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]