The role of goal-setting in urban climate governance

This article argues that goal-setting is an important, albeit understudied, part of urban climate governance scholarship. By using goal-setting theory, the article introduces concepts and perspectives capable of shedding new light on the political aspect of cities' climate strategic work. Climate goal-setting is studied within a wider urban governance context, as a way to activate a multitude of internal and external actors for shared goals and purposes. The article analyses levels of ambiguities of urban climate goals, and in light of different politico-institutional settings it explores possible contextual implications for cities’ climate governance. Through a comparative analysis of four cities – Copenhagen, Cape Town, Oslo and Gothenburg, the article identifies two distinct approaches. An inclusive approach containing ambiguous all-encompassing climate goals, consensus-oriented political decision-making, a broad administrative entity with weak mandate and close and long-term stakeholder collaboration. An efficiency-oriented approach including clear and problem focused climate goals, instrumental political decision-making, a special-purpose administrative entity with a wide and clear mandate and targeted and temporary stakeholder collaboration. The article concludes by posing some key questions that should guide further research on the exact relationship between these variables

UNDP as strategic partner

Last ned gratis A profile of Norway's multi-bilateral allocations to UNDP over a 4-years period 2000-2003 - amounting to 1,1 billion NOK. It assesses the policy coherence of these allocations in relation to UNDP's and MFA's development policy. The level of support doubled in the period, with the major emphasis on support to programme areas such as governance, peace, and post-conflict reconstruction; all key areas within UNDP's mandate

Samskapingsparadokset: Mindre byer, klimastyring og bærekraftig byutvikling

Artikkelen analyserer hvordan tre mindre byer i Oslo regionen navigerer som aktører i klima- og bærekraftig byutvikling og hvilken rolle samskaping spiller for styring og strategiske beslutninger. Det pekes på et samskapingsparadoks som innebærer at kommunen med størst behov for å samskape bypolitiske løsninger synes å ha minst kapasitet til å ta i bruk relevante verktø

Social and environmental dimensions in international development

Last ned gratis The working paper provides an overview of how four important international development agencies organise their work in terms of incorporating 'social' and 'environmental' dimensions in response to new challenges of international development. Building on lessons from the World Bank, the Asia Development Bank, DFID in UK, and SIDA in Sweden, the report presents a menu of options for how to strengthen the work on such cross-cutting issues and themes in NORAD and the Mimistry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). The working paper is a desk review based on the screening of these agencies' web-pages, reading of key documents, and interviews with selected informants

Grønn økonomi og Rio+20

Rapporten drøfter begrepet grønn økonomi slik det brukes av UNEP og FN, og vurderer den tilhørende utviklingsagendaen knyttet til programmet ”A Global Green New Deal”. Grønn økonomi – innen rammen av bærekraftig utvikling og fattigdomsreduksjon – er valgt som hovedtema for Rio+20 konferansen i 2012. Grønn økonomi står høyt på den politiske dagsorden både i Nord og Sør. Rapporten framhever at bærekraftig utvikling er et mer tydelig analytisk begrep enn grønn økonomi, og representerer en breiere og mer fruktbar ramme for Rio+20. Dette er  også i tråd med krav fra utviklingslandene. Bærekraftig utvikling retter blant annet fokus mot sentrale politiske, institusjonelle og sosiale dimensjoner av utviklingsagendaen. Rapporten diskuterer hva grønn økonomi kan bety for norsk utviklingspolitikk og internasjonalt samarbeid med utviklingslandene, og norske standpunkter i Rio+20 forhandlingene. Tilknyttet prosjekt Grønn økonomi og forsikringsordninger som virkemiddel for klimatilpasnin

Tilnærminger, modeller og verktøy i oversiktsarbeidet

Rapporten gir en kunnskapsoversikt over tilnærminger, modeller, verktøy og metoder for oversiktsarbeidet innen folkehelse - basert på norske og internasjonale kilder og erfaringer. Utgangspunktet er folkehelseloven som krever at kommunen utarbeider et oversiktsdokument over helsetilstand og positive og negative påvirkningsfaktorer for helse og folkehelse. Rapporten gir størst oppmerksomhet til sosial ulikhet i helse samt områder som er lite dekket i den kommunale folkehelseprofilen. Rapporten foreslår videre et større fokus på styringsmessige sider ved oversiktsarbeidet. Tilknyttet prosjekt Følgeevaluering - kommuners arbeid med oversikt over folkehelse

Exploring city climate leadership in theory and practice: responding to the polycentric challenge

This article has a twofold aim inspired by observed gaps in urban climate governance theory and practice. First, it explores city leadership strategies of securing a closer correspondence between climate policy goals and observed realities on the ground. Second, it presents an in-depth and nuanced theoretical understanding of urban climate leadership inspired by four bodies of public administration leadership theory, reflecting leadership as an understudied field in the urban climate governance literature. Being largely exploratory and conceptual in nature, the article aims more specifically to identify the contribution of different public leadership theories and strategies to our understanding of city climate leadership, the explanatory reach and limitations of the theories and the potential interdependency between the leadership strategies. The practice of climate leadership in the city of Oslo is used as an illustrative case. The results show that each body of theory shed light on relevant aspects of climate leadership practices in diverse institutional contexts. By applying a careful mix of these leadership strategies and instruments, city leadership adds the stringence, predictability and motivation needed for multiple public and private actors to engage collectively and bridge policy gaps. However, social, institutional and physical constraints related to the complex, polycentric character of urban climate governance represent phenomena that fall outside the scope of the leadership theories. This point to limitations in the theories’ explanatory reach that give direction to future research

Urban climate governance and co-creation – In Cape Town, Copenhagen, Gothenburg and Oslo

The study provides an outline and comparative analysis of the evolution in climate policies and governance systems of four cities with ambitious climate goals and strategies; three Scandinavian cities, Copenhagen, Gothenburg and Oslo; and one South African city; Cape Town. In each city, we explore the evolution in climate goals, strategies, policy and institutional designs over two decades and how these materialize in distinct approaches to urban climate governance and co-creation. Our aim is to shed light on different – and similar - paths to urban climate governance among forerunning cities with bold climate goals i.e. in terms of embracing a coherent climate policy for mitigation, adaptation, climate equity and sustainable urban futures. The study adopts a polycentric governing perspective (multilevel and multi-actor). The empirical findings from the four city case studies are based on reviews of key climate change-relevant policy documents and websites (through 2019) and a set of key informant interviews. In each of the cities, we find that urban climate governance is manifest in a mix of traditional governance mechanisms, and new, more innovative co-creational instruments through hybrid forms of governance. The study brings up some distinctive and important differences in the urban climate policies and governing approaches between the three Scandinavian cities and Cape Town, but the study also reveals many similarities in approaches across all the four cities. All the cities engage in diverse networks and co-creational arenas for shared climate responses at different levels and scales. Drawing upon the comparative experiences of urban climate governance all these forerunning cities, ‘eight essentials for effective, sustainableand fair urban climate governance and leadership’ are suggested that might bring cities onto pathways towards climate transformation

Regional bolig-, areal- og transportplanlegging – status og utviklingsmuligheter

Alle fylker arbeider med en eller annen form for BATP, men ambisjonsnivået varierer. Noen fylker har et avgrenset fokus. Andre utarbeider regionale planer med et bredt fokus, der alle elementer – bolig, transport og areal – er med, og der en i tillegg forsøker å utvikle BATP i en regional kontekst. Regionale planleggere anser BATP å være et viktig felt i forhold til annen regional planlegging. Regionale BATP synes dessuten å legge overordnede føringer for kommunale planer