Translocal Collaboration in C40 Cities Climate Network

The recent Copenhagen summit highlighted the inability of national governments to agree to binding targets to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases. Notwithstanding such policy failure at the national level, cities around the world have come together to mitigate global warming. Given that cities account for 80 percent of greenhouse emissions, this is an important development that state centric accounts of global environmental politics tend to overlook. I probe deeper into an important network that has emerged to facilitate such collaboration. The C40 network seeks to bring together world’s key cities which have displayed a commitment to tackle climate change. Cities collaborate by sharing best climate change practices, exchanging personnel, and serving as a pressure group. Thus, the more embedded is a city in this network, higher will be the benefits it can capture by virtue of its participation. I examine the uneven distribution of collaboration ties among cities participating in the C40 climate change network. Specifically, I study why we observe variations among cities in the number of ties they have with other cities, and what factors influence a given city\u27s decision to collaborate with another specific city. Using social network analysis, I focus on how homophily, an attribute of network structure, and policy performance, an attribute of a given node (or city), influence the distribution of collaboration ties. Homophily suggests that that collaboration is more likely among cities with similar structural characteristics. Employing a recently developed network analysis technique, Exponential Random Graph Model, I find that collaboration between cities is more likely when these cities are located in the same continent. Further, I find that cities with higher level of performance in the climate change area tend to attract more potential partners in relation to cities with lower level of policy performance. Important policy implications follow from my analyses. Given that some cities are less likely to find collaborative partners because of their location, policy intervention is required to correct the structural inequities. Second, cities with superior policy performance will serve as magnets for other cities looking for partners, and will therefore corner higher benefits in relation to cities with lower levels of policy performance. While networks are often viewed as equitable structures, the benefits from participating in the network can be unevenly distributed for reasons which are exogenous (at least in the short term) to the nodal actor. Thus, a conscious policy to redirect network benefits is required if network equity is an important policy objective. More broadly, if the benefits from C40 network are to be evenly distributed, important steps need to be taken to encourage ties with cities which are geographically challenged, and which are late comers to this policy (and therefore have low policy performance)

Translocal Relations of Climate Change in East Asia

Why do local governments become actively engaged in the issue of global climate change? How do global factors influence local governments' choices, policies, and interactions? These questions are puzzling in that local governments have been regarded as public service providers in the domestic arena; and studies on cities and climate change have primarily focused on domestic drivers to explain local governments' climate change policies. In this talk, I discuss translocal relations of cities that have made an international effort to collectively tackle climate change. Compared to state-centric terms, inter-national or trans-national relations, trans-local relations look at policies, politics, and interactions of local governments in the globalized world. Using the framework of translocal relations, I argue that the level of global cityness and local political attributes are primary driving factors for local governments' engagement in global climate governance in Asia as well as around the world

The Old and the Climate Adaptation: Climate Justice, Risks, and Urban Adaptation Plan

With the transition to carbon-free economy, concerns have grown about the ?green divide? ? the separation of society into different social groups whose socioeconomic status determines one?s well-being from climate change impacts. Studies in environmental justice concur that the adverse effects of urban climate change are disproportionately greater for the demographically vulnerable populations, such as the elderly, the children, and the socially marginalized. Yet, little is known about how these social groups contribute to urban climate change policies. Accounting for local climate risks and the presence of national adaptation schemes, this study examines whether the implementation of adaptation policies in the 902 European cities is influenced by the proportion of these vulnerable groups. Our results show a positive and significant association between the proportion of elderly citizens and adaptation policies among these European cities. The result of this study offers local level empirical evidence to the climate justice discussion and suggests that the adaptation policies adopted by these European cities are working to ameliorate environmental injustice faced by the older and weaker social groups.Peer reviewe

Delayed Migration of Tapered Open-Cell Design Carotid Stent: A Case Report

We present a case of delayed migration of an open-cell design carotid stent, which is a rare complication following carotid artery stenting (CAS). A 65-year-old patient with carotid artery stenosis underwent CAS with an open-cell stent, initially achieving successful deployment. However, 4 months later, the stent migrated and resulted in restenosis. The patient underwent balloon angioplasty and received an additional stent, leading to improved blood flow. The rarity of stent migration, particularly in the absence of risk factors, highlights the need for clinicians to be vigilant and consider early imaging follow-up for patients at risk of this complication after CAS

Does the knowledge economy advance the green economy? An evaluation of green jobs in the 100 largest metropolitan regions in the United States

Institutions of higher education are significant economic engines and innovative places in local economies: they directly employ large numbers of people, often with well-paying jobs; they are magnets for businesses that service the student population; they educate and often assist students in securing first jobs; and they partner with local organizations and businesses to provide students with hands-on experiences while “giving-back” to the community. In this article, we examine the impact that institutions of higher education have as an engine of growth for the green economy and, specifically, assess their impact on the development of green jobs. Green jobs have been touted as an important strategy to simultaneously address both the economic downturn and environmental degradation. This article empirically assesses the impact that the knowledge economy has on the presence of green jobs in the 100 largest metropolitan regions in the United States. Our findings suggest that enhanced higher education and sustainability-oriented departments and centers have a positive impact on green job development in urban regions.</p