National policies for local urban sustainability: a new governance approach?

TY - CHAP

T1 - National policies for local urban sustainability: a new governance approach?

AU - Joss, Simon

AU - Cowley, Robert Mark

PY - 2018

Y1 - 2018

N2 - Cities have become a focal point for efforts to transition towards a more sustainable, low-carbon society, with many municipal agencies championing ‘eco city’ initiatives of one kind or another. And yet, national policy initiatives frequently play an important – if sometimes overlooked – role, too. This chapters provides comparative perspectives on four recent national sustainable city programmes from France, India, Japan, and the United Kingdom. The analysis reveals two key insights: first, national policy is found to exercise a strong shaping role in what sustainable development for future cities is understood to be, which helps explain the considerable differences in priorities and approaches across countries. Second, beyond articulating strategic priorities, national policy may exercise a ‘soft’ governance function by incentivising and facilitating wider, voluntary governance networks in the effort to implement sustainable city projects locally. This innovative role, however, depends on the ability of national policy to produce resonance among societal actors and on its effective interaction with formal planning processes

AB - Cities have become a focal point for efforts to transition towards a more sustainable, low-carbon society, with many municipal agencies championing ‘eco city’ initiatives of one kind or another. And yet, national policy initiatives frequently play an important – if sometimes overlooked – role, too. This chapters provides comparative perspectives on four recent national sustainable city programmes from France, India, Japan, and the United Kingdom. The analysis reveals two key insights: first, national policy is found to exercise a strong shaping role in what sustainable development for future cities is understood to be, which helps explain the considerable differences in priorities and approaches across countries. Second, beyond articulating strategic priorities, national policy may exercise a ‘soft’ governance function by incentivising and facilitating wider, voluntary governance networks in the effort to implement sustainable city projects locally. This innovative role, however, depends on the ability of national policy to produce resonance among societal actors and on its effective interaction with formal planning processes

KW - national policy, policy implementation, governance, eco cities, future cities, retrofit, Indian Ecocity Programme, Japanese Eco-Model Cities, French EcoQuartiers, UK Future Cities

M3 - Chapter

SN - 978-1119007210

SP - 227

EP - 246

BT - Retrofitting Cities for Tomorrow's World

A2 - Eames, Malcolm

A2 - Dixon, Tim

A2 - Hunt, Miriam

A2 - Lannon, Simon

PB - WILEY-BLACKWELL

ER -