Suburban climate adaptation governance: assumptions and imaginaries affecting peripheral municipalities
The world is rapidly suburbanising and, as recognised in numerous academic and policy documents, suburbs are not only environmentally unsustainable but also particularly vulnerable to climate change. This same literature and policy discourse suggests the solution to making suburbs more sustainable a...
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| Format: | article |
| Publication Date: | 2024 |
| Country: | España |
| Institution: | Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) |
| Repository: | UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC |
| Language: | English |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/444938 |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/2117/444938 https://dx.doi.org/10.5334/bc.381 |
| Access Level: | Open access |
| Keyword: | Suburbs Climatic changes City planning -- Spain -- Santiago de Compostela Cities Climate adaptation Climate policy Local government Peri-urban Peripheral municipalities Suburban adaptation strategies Urban climate action Spain Barris perifèrics Canvis climàtics Urbanisme -- Galícia -- Santiago de Compostel·la Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Urbanisme Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Desenvolupament humà i sostenible::Desenvolupament sostenible |
| Summary: | The world is rapidly suburbanising and, as recognised in numerous academic and policy documents, suburbs are not only environmentally unsustainable but also particularly vulnerable to climate change. This same literature and policy discourse suggests the solution to making suburbs more sustainable and adaptable is densification and investing in infrastructural green growth. Meanwhile, alternative approaches in critical suburban literature suggest that densification might create negative externalities, and instead propose the transformation of infrastructures’ management and ownership to support an innovative and autochthonous path for suburbs’ climate adaptation. Yet limited empirical knowledge exists on what adaptation strategies are being implemented across peripheral municipalities where suburbs are more prevalent. A comparative analysis is presented of three peripheral municipalities in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, on their adaptation strategies for water and sanitation. This shows how mainstream assumptions about suburbs and imaginaries of adaptation influence their strategies, as well as how the specific characteristics in the peripheral municipalities allow or hamper more innovative approaches. Three factors emerge as more important in allowing innovation and autochthonous solutions: the level of suburbanisation, the management model for municipal infrastructures, and their political context (including proximity of local government with higher-tier bodies and government composition). |
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