scholarly journals The role of architectural research centers in addressing climate change

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
John Carmody
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Professional Education ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Research Center ◽  
Design Decision ◽  
Research Centers ◽  
Actual Performance ◽  
Architectural Research

ABSTRACT: It is clear that an urgent, major transformation needs to happen in the design of the built environment to respond to impending climate change and other environmental degradation. This paper will explain the potential role of architectural research centers in this transformation and provide examples from the Center for Sustainable Building Research (CSBR) at the University of Minnesota. A research center can become a regional hub to coordinate and disseminate critical information. CSBR is leading the establishment of Architecture 2030 standards in Minnesota, assisting local governments in writing green building policy, providing design assistance to local government, developing tools to assist design decision making, providing technical assistance to the affordable housing community inMinnesota, and establishing a regional case study database that includes actual performance information. CSBR is creating a publicly accessible, credible knowledge base on new approaches, technologies and actual performance outcomes. Research centers such as CSBR can be a critical component of the necessary feedback loop often lacking in the building industry. A research center can also fill major gaps in providing in depth professional education as well as be a catalyst for demonstration projects and public education.

scholarly journals Overcoming the barriers to green procurement in the county: Interest groups and administrative professionalism

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 259-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christy Smith ◽  
Jessica Terman
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
The United States ◽  
Green Procurement ◽  
Environmentally Responsible ◽  
Government Involvement ◽  
Mitigate Climate Change

Scholars and practitioners have come to understand the important role of local governments in the causes and effects of climate change. The literature has examined both the substantive and symbolic determinants of urban sustainability policies in addition to the implementation issues associated with those policies. At the heart of these policies is the idea that local governments have the desire and ability to engage in socially and environmentally responsible practices to mitigate climate change. While important, these studies are missing a key component in the investigation of local government involvement in sustainability policies: government purchasing power. This study examines the effect of administrative professionalism and interest group presence on the determinants of green procurement in the understudied context of counties in the United States.

scholarly journals Adaptation confusion? A longitudinal examination of the concept “climate change adaptation” in Norwegian municipal surveys.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torbjørn Selseng ◽  
Marit Klemetsen ◽  
Tone Rusdal
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Building Society ◽  
Questions And Answers ◽  
Local Government Level ◽  
Longitudinal Examination

AbstractIn recent decades, there has been a surge in the scholarship on climate change adaptation (CCA) terminology and diverging interpretations of the term has emerged. Given the crucial role of local governments in building society-wide adaptive capacity, understanding how municipalities understand and interpret CCA, is important. In this study, we analyse twelve large-scale questionnaires from 2007 to 2020 distributed to all Norwegian municipalities. Using a combination of directed and conventional content analysis of the questions and answers, we summarise and map the progress of adaptation work over the 14 years and assess the consistency and the scope of the surveys in light of the current research on climate adaptation. We find diverging views on what adaptation entails, both from the researchers, in the phrasing of questions, and from the respondents. The empirical evidence suggests an overall imbalanced interpretation of CCA, both in terms of the risks and consequences we may face, the climate that needs adapting to, as well as adequate adaptation strategies. We go on to discuss the implications of these findings, highlighting the need for a shared and well-communicated framework for local CCA and a closer monitoring of the actual efforts of the municipalities. If instead left unchecked, this confusion might lead to unsustainable maladaptation at the local government level throughout Norway and beyond.

scholarly journals Motivations and Intended Outcomes in Local Governments' Declarations of Climate Emergency

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 17-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xira Ruiz-Campillo ◽  
Vanesa Castán Broto ◽  
Linda Westman
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Environmental Action ◽  
Future Planning ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Global And Local

Near 1,500 governments worldwide, including over 1,000 local governments, have declared a climate emergency. Such declarations constitute a response to the growing visibility of social movements in international politics as well as the growing role of cities in climate governance. Framing climate change as an emergency, however, can bring difficulties in both the identification of the most appropriate measures to adopt and the effectiveness of those measures in the long run. We use textual analysis to examine the motivations and intended outcomes of 300 declarations endorsed by local governments. The analysis demonstrates that political positioning, previous experience of environmental action within local government, and pressure from civil society are the most common motivations for declaring a climate emergency at the local level. The declarations constitute symbolic gestures highlighting the urgency of the climate challenge, but they do not translate into radically different responses to the climate change challenge. The most commonly intended impacts are increasing citizens’ awareness of climate change and establishing mechanisms to influence future planning and infrastructure decisions. However, the declarations are adopted to emphasize the increasing role cities are taking on, situating local governments as crucial agents bridging global and local action agendas.

scholarly journals The Role of Local Government in the Drive for Sustainable Development Public Policies. An Analytical Framework Based on Institutional Capacities

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 5978
Author(s):  
Miquel Salvador ◽  
David Sancho
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
City Council ◽  
Combat Climate Change

The role of local governments in promoting policies to combat climate change is critical. In order to play this role, local administrations must have different capacities that allow them to analyze, manage and transform their environment through public policies. This article aims to contribute to the academic debate on the role of local governments in the articulation of climate change policies and sustainable development. The proposal combines a conceptual and analytical contribution, which is illustrated by means of a case study analysis. At the conceptual and analytical level, the article proposes a review of the contributions from the perspective of public policies and organizational management models in order to introduce an analytical framework based on four capacities: strategic, analytical, managerial and collaborative. This framework is developed based on the design of a strategy to measure the existence of these capabilities in a given local government by means of specific indicators. This analytical framework is applied through a case study of Barcelona City Council and its policies to combat climate change and promote sustainable development. The results of the analysis highlight the importance of the combined action of the four management capacities mentioned as a precondition for the articulation of this type of policies at the local government level.

Offshoring experience and performance: the role of realized drivers and risk management

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 531-544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fazli Haleem ◽  
Sami Farooq ◽  
Brian Vejrum Wæhrens ◽  
Harry Boer
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Firm Performance ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Actual Performance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
The Relationship

PurposeMany factors have been identified that may drive a firm’s decision to offshore production activities. The actual performance effects of offshoring, however, depend on the extent to which these drivers are realized. Furthermore, the question is how risk management helps mitigating the risk involved in offshoring ventures, thus leading to better performance outcomes. The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which realized offshoring drivers and risk management mediate the relationship between offshoring experience and firm performance.Design/methodology/approachData from the Global Operations Networks project, a cross-sectional survey administered in Denmark and Sweden, are used to test two hypotheses on the mediating role of realized offshoring drivers and risk management in the relationship between offshoring experience and firm performance. AMOS version 23 is used to perform the analyses.FindingsThe results demonstrate that realized offshoring drivers fully mediate the relationship between offshoring experience and firm performance. However, risk management does not mediate the relationship between offshoring experience and firm performance.Originality/valueThis study develops new theory on, and managerial insight into, the mediating role of realized offshoring drivers and risk management in the relationship between offshoring experience and firm performance.

scholarly journals Legal Mobilization and Climate Change: The Role of Law in Wicked Problems

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (9(3)) ◽  
pp. 267-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna-Maria Marshall ◽  
Susan Sterett
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Legal Mobilization ◽  
Wicked Problem ◽  
Legal Enforcement ◽  
Derechos Humanos ◽  
Law And Courts ◽  
Legal Strategies ◽  
The Many

Climate change is a wicked problem, a framework not often used in sociolegal studies. The problem is complex, not readily named, and not limited to one jurisdiction. Therefore, the places of law are multiple: human rights instruments, supranational tribunals, regional courts, and local governments and NGOS. Litigation concerning responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions has largely not resulted in favorable judgments, and the papers in this collection turn to other ways of conceptualizing law and courts in responding to climate change. Relevant legal strategies include environmental legal enforcement, but also changes in investment, and response to the many disasters that are related to climate change. The papers in this collection travel across jurisdictions, actors and problems to assess legal strategies concerning climate change. El cambio climático es un problema perverso, un marco poco usado en los estudios sociojurídicos. El problema es complejo, de difícil denominación, y no está limitado a una sola jurisdicción. Por lo tanto, el derecho tiene muchos espacios: instrumentos de derechos humanos, tribunales supranacionales, juzgados regionales y gobiernos y ONG locales. Los litigios sobre responsabilidades por emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero no han solido acabar con veredictos favorables, y los artículos de esta colección miran hacia otras formas de conceptualizar el derecho y los tribunales como respuesta al cambio climático. Estrategias legales importantes incluyen la aplicación del derecho, pero también cambios en inversiones y respuestas a los múltiples desastres relacionados con el cambio climático. Los artículos de este número navegan por varias jurisdicciones, agentes y problemas para valorar las estrategias jurídicas sobre cambio climático.

scholarly journals Environmental Governance and Climate Change Adaptation in Indonesia

2021 ◽  
Vol 007 (01) ◽  
pp. 46-55
Author(s):  
Asti Amelia Novita
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Budget Planning ◽  
Corporate Social

This paper examines environmental governance in climate change adaptation efforts in Indonesia. Climate Change has been a common concern, especially since the signing of 194 countries in the Paris Agreement. Climate change adaptation is one of the points in the Paris Agreement as an effort to implement commitments to tackle global climate change. Climate change adaptation is one of the responses made by humans in facing climate change in addition to mitigation. Adaptation is carried out to reduce vulnerability to the effects of climate change. The Indonesian government has made various climate change adaptation efforts, including preparing national policy documents such as INDC, RAN-API, and related regulations to address the impacts of climate change. However, the research results show that strengthening climate change adaptation efforts needs to be balanced with commitment from sharing parties, strengthening the role of the private sector, and proper budget planning. Committees here are associated with the alignment of central and regional policies and the compliance of local governments in implementing climate change adaptation policies. The private sector's role emphasized the contribution of activities and finance to climate change adaptation efforts through corporate social responsibility programs.

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