Unlocking the potential of sustainability transitions to make cities more just and liveable

Cities are the main culprits in terms of carbon emissions. It is in cities that the effects of climate change, from heat stress, to damage and casualties brought by extreme weather, to coastal flooding, are the most acutely felt. But cities are also where technological, environmental, economic, social, and political innovations needed to mitigate and adapt to climate change and usher in more sustainable futures are designed, experimented with and upscaled. Against the backdrop of insufficient or sluggish national climate policies, cities are able to respond to the growing demand from citizens for taking more decisive and meaningful actions in the face of the climate crisis. However, the debate on how to enact urban sustainability transitions tends to focus on economic shifts or technological fixes. At the same time, the distribution of benefits of green urbanism across social groups and neighbourhoods remains deeply uneven, while access to decision-making on sustainability strategies and policy is restricted to the most influential and resourceful stakeholders. Building on the notion of spatial justice and lessons from a selection of urban experiments in planning for climate resilience, socially inclusive circular economy energy strategies, and nature-based solutions for climate adaptation and mitigation, this talk will shed light on the underused potential of urban sustainability transitions to make our cities not only climate-neutral, but also more liveable, vibrant and fair. It will also identify the key barriers for tapping into this potential and demonstrate how to overcome them by bridging policy agendas and co-producing change with the citizens.