Inequality in new global governance arrangements: the North South Divide in city networks for global environmental governance

Networks are often portrayed as more equal governance arrangements. Their horizontal character easily leads to the assumption that they go beyond traditional divides. Power relations within networks are neglected because the collaborative activities receive the bulk of attention. However, from a critical reading of the network and flows literature we know that networks are not free of power relations, and that they create new inequalities and sometimes even intensify existing ones. Increasingly, city governments pursue innovative policies by exchanging knowledge and best practices in city networks. The revolution in communication technologies has facilitated the development and maintenance of such networks and some operate at a global scale, including cities from both the Global North and the Global South. It is believed that these governance arrangements empower cities because they (1) provide them with resources (access to information, financial and technical assistance etc.), (2) strengthen cities’ capacities to deal with complex (environmental) problems, (3) make that cities establish relationships with actors that would otherwise be inaccessible and (4) voice cities’ concerns at the international level. Despite the potential for empowerment, I argue that the inclusion of cities from the Global South in global city networks does not assure equal voices and positions for cities from the Global North and the Global South. In response to the critique that literature on the network society has silenced power, Manuel Castells (2009) has distinguished four types of power in networks. Using Castells’s conceptual framework, this paper addresses power relations in two city networks for global environmental governance: the World Association of the Major Metropolises and the C40 Climate Leadership Group. A large number of interviews and direct observations of network meetings have provided the author with significant empirical evidence on the day-to-day reality of network interactions. Power relations that result from informational, ideational and financial flows are at the core of attention. The paper reveals contributor/receiver linkages and their consequences for the networks’ functioning. The conclusions are framed by theoretical considerations on the significance of cities from the Global South in processes of political globalization

American cities, global networks: mapping the multiple geographies of globalization in the Americas

The mapping of advanced producer and financial service firms across global cities began to increase understanding of the role of cities in global governance, the presence and influence of cities in the shifting architecture of global political economy, and the role of globalization in shaping the landscape of local and re- gional governance. The literature that emerged from such studies has also emphasized 1) increasing levels of inequality in global cities and 2) attendant contests over local outcomes of globalization while seeking other ways of measuring and articulating the emergence of globalizing cities. Analyzing location strategies in other sectors can speak to these issues. This paper extends methodology common to the global cities literature to map non-governmental organization (NGO) and energy corporation offices in the Americas, focusing on the convergence and divergence of these networks with those of advanced producer and financial services firms. Mapping all three sectors might reveal multiple geographies of globalization in the Americas. Because globalizing cities have become the centers of integrated world capital, radical poverty, and environ- mental injustice, studies of poverty in the Americas must take seriously the urban centers that increasingly have become the hub of economic and ideological flows. The urban location strategies of advanced producer and financial services, global NGOs, and global energy corporations must be understood in order to grapple more fully with issues of inequality in American cities

Networking Cities after Paris: Weighing the Ambition of Urban Climate Change Experimentation

Over the past few decades, cities have repeatedly demonstrated high levels of ambition with regard to climate action. Global environmental governance has been marked by a proliferation of policy actions taken by local governments around the world to demonstrate their potential to advance climate change mitigation and adaptation. Leading ‘by example’ and demonstrating the extent of action that it is possible to deliver, cities have aspired to raise the ambition of national and international climate governance and put action into practice via a growing number of ‘climate change experiments’ delivered on the ground. Yet accounts of the potential of cities in global environmental governance have often stopped short of a systematic valuation of the nature and impact of the networked dimension of this action. This article addresses this by assessing the nature, and challenges faced by, urban climate governance in the post-Paris era, focusing on the ‘experimentation’ undertaken in cities and the city networks shaping this type of governance. First, we unpack the concept of ‘urban climate change experimentation’, the ways in which it is networked, and the forces driving it. In the second and third parts of the article, we discuss two main pitfalls of networked urban experimentation in its current form, focusing on issues of scaling experiments and the nature of experimentation. We call for increased attention to ‘scaling up’ experiments beyond urban levels of governance, and to transformative experimentation with governance and politics by and in cities. Finally, we consider how these pitfalls allow us to weigh the potential of urban climate ambition, and consider the pathways available for supporting urban climate change experimentation

Cities, Networks, and Global Environmental Governance - Spaces of Innovation, Places of Leadership

As a result of global dynamics—the increasing interconnection of people and places—innovations in global environmental governance haved altered the role of cities in shaping the future of the planet. This book is a timely study of the importance of these social transformations in our increasingly global and increasingly urban world. Through analysis of transnational municipal networks, such as Metropolis and the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, Sofie Bouteligier's innovative study examines theories of the network society and global cities from a global ecology perspective. Through direct observation and interviews and using two types of city networks that have been treated separately in the literature, she discovers the structure and logic pertaining to office networks of environmental non-governmental organizations and environmental consultancy firms. In doing so she incisively demonstrates the ways in which cities fulfill the role of strategic sites of global environmental governance, concentrating knowledge, infrastructure, and institutions vital to the function of transnational actors

Inequality in new global governance arrangements: the North-South divide in transnational municipal networks

Networks are often portrayed as more equal governance arrangements because of their horizontal character. Power relations within networks are neglected as the collaborative activities receive the bulk of attention. However, from a critical reading of the network and flows literature we know that networks are not free of power relations, and that they create new inequalities and even intensify existing ones. Using Manuel Castells's conceptual framework on power in networks, this article studies power relations in two transnational municipal networks that address urban environmental challenges: the World Association of the Major Metropolises and the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group. Power relations that result from informational and ideational flows are at the core of attention. The paper reveals contributor/receiver linkages and their consequences. The conclusions are framed by reflections on the significance of cities from the Global South in new global governance arrangements

Steden in het VN-systeem: van lokale problemen naar mondiale oplossingen

Juni 2011: VN-Secretaris-generaal Ban Ki-moon roept de burgemeesters in de Verenigde Staten op om hun steentje bij te dragen aan de mondiale uitdagingen met betrekking tot klimaatverandering en energie. Dat een VN-Secretaris-generaal zich rechtstreeks tot steden richt, lijkt op het eerste gezicht misschien merkwaardig, maar past binnen een groeiende erkenning van steden als onmisbare partners in de internationale arena. Dit artikel licht toe hoe steden meer en meer als sleutel voor mondiale oplossingen gezien worden en bijgevolg een stem krijgen binnen het VN-systeem

American cities, global networks: mapping the multiple geographies of globalization in the Americas

The mapping of advanced producer and financial service firms across global cities began to increase understanding of the role of cities in global governance, the presence and influence of cities in the shifting architecture of global political economy, and the role of globalization in shaping the landscape of local and re- gional governance. The literature that emerged from such studies has also emphasized 1) increasing levels of inequality in global cities and 2) attendant contests over local outcomes of globalization while seeking other ways of measuring and articulating the emergence of globalizing cities. Analyzing location strategies in other sectors can speak to these issues. This paper extends methodology common to the global cities literature to map non-governmental organization (NGO) and energy corporation offices in the Americas, focusing on the convergence and divergence of these networks with those of advanced producer and financial services firms. Mapping all three sectors might reveal multiple geographies of globalization in the Americas. Because globalizing cities have become the centers of integrated world capital, radical poverty, and environ- mental injustice, studies of poverty in the Americas must take seriously the urban centers that increasingly have become the hub of economic and ideological flows. The urban location strategies of advanced producer and financial services, global NGOs, and global energy corporations must be understood in order to grapple more fully with issues of inequality in American cities