Reframing the problem : 'from climate change in urban areas’ to ‘urban governance in an era of climate change’.

Abstract

This paper presents the initial findings on work in low-income urban settlements examining household and community capacity to adapt to climate change. It finds that adaptation is integrally linked to urban governance and that the ‘real world’ of informal urban governance is as important (perhaps more important) as the official system of urban governance in supporting and constraining capacities to adapt. The authors explain this informal governance structure, analyze its formation process and explore its strengths and weaknesses. Their analysis indicates that this network based de-facto structure relies heavily on the existing power relations that the poor can access and is unlikely to produce environmentally sustainable or socially just outcomes in the long run. They use the concept of co-production and the institutional analysis and development (IAD) framework (Ostrom, 2005, 2010) to structure their analysis.

Citation

Jahan, F.; Hulme, D.; Roy, M.; Shahan, A. Reframing the problem : ‘from climate change in urban areas’ to ‘urban governance in an era of climate change’. Presented at 40 years of Bangladesh : retrospect and future prospects conference, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 26 November 2011. (2011) 21 pp.

Reframing the problem : ‘from climate change in urban areas’ to ‘urban governance in an era of climate change’.

Published 1 January 2011