Thinking Across Sectors

Cities are intersections of energy and health through climate change, air pollution, and resource flows. Most studies, however, build on either institutionalist or non-institutionalist approaches to energy-health interactions. Institutionalists discern the advantages of public-private partnerships, whereas the non-institutionalists analyze actor networks beyond the purview of the state. Little research has so far transcended institutionalist dimensions, to illuminate the congruence of formal and informal ways of organizing community actors using civic capacity as a resource in co-creating energy solutions for better health. The paper grounds energy-health interactions in cities in an institutional discourse, by building on the nuances of a case study in Kampala where a transient network of neighborhood groups take to scale energy-briquette making from organic waste as an incremental pathway to a cleaner city. The case study demonstrates the potential of energy-health initiatives at micro-scale in driving transitions to sustainability at city scale.