www.buildingsandcities.org/insights/commentaries/cop26-cities2.html

Next Steps for COP-26: Capability for Resilient Cities and Regions

Next Steps for COP-26: Capability for Resilient Cities and Regions

By Sarah J. Darby (Oxford University, UK)

It is time for COP-26 to move away from arguing about carbon offset arcana and technological fixes to establishing a culture of practice and learning, with regional forums to support local action in providing shelter, food, water, business and communications. Capability addresses the questions of 'how' by creating practical solutions and carries with it public support for a liveable future.

Thousands of person-years of research, activism, organisational and diplomatic effort went into reaching the Paris Agreement at COP-21 in 2015, arguably the 'end of the beginning' of a global response to global heating. The politics of agreeing on goals and liabilities ensured that it would be a slow process. Now we and our descendants face, urgently and above all, the 'How?' questions: given the nature of this (wicked) problem (Levin et al., 2012) how do we address it with the people and resources available?

At COP-26, there are the three themes of mitigation, adaptation and finance that were covered in the Paris Agreement and a new one, 'working together': 'accelerating collaboration between governments, businesses and civil society to deliver on our climate goals faster' (UK Government, 2021: 13). This feels like progress of a sort. Billions of people - half of them city-dwellers - are already working to improve their living conditions, with variable outcomes; they are not waiting for the Paris Rulebook to be complete. Climate change response needs to happen fast, in a world riven with tensions and inequalities, and it needs to happen at the same time as meeting needs set out in the Sustainable Development Goals. To carry out a low carbon transition at speed, without massive social damage (Skølsvold and Coenen, 2021) only begins to seem feasible once national and international policy focuses on local action, skilling and participation. There has to be a shift from natural sciences and economics to the people without whom there will be no ecologically durable and socially just solutions.

The concept of capability provides a way of responding to need that starts from what people are able to do as well as what they have: social arrangements as well as individual capacities. For example, the rights to speak freely, vote and gain access to public goods as well as the abilities gained from health, temperament and earning ability (Sen, 1999). The concept is open to many interpretations (e.g. Nussbaum, 2003; Andrews et al., 2015) but there is a shared emphasis on making the most of human resourcefulness in an unequal world. From a capability standpoint, inequalities must not be ignored. In a city, for example, moving to decentralised renewables-based energy systems via purely technocentric planning may offer indirect benefits from lower carbon emissions and cleaner air to everyone, but the direct benefits will largely go to people who own the supply, demand and storage assets. In increasingly sophisticated urban infrastructures, many people could be progressively disadvantaged through living and working in low-quality buildings, with limited social networks and low levels of digital access and literacy. The 'smarter' or more sophisticated the system, in such a scenario, the further they would be left behind (Banks and Darby, 2021). Even if some individuals and organisations showed capability, the system itself would be failing.

For capability in tackling climate change, systems as a whole - people and their technologies - must be able to integrate new patterns of demand and supply, and city governments must be able to do this for interlocking infrastructures and the people who create, operate, repair and replace them. Building public support and involvement for building retrofit and low-carbon heating or cooling, for example, cannot be done without taking capability seriously. These changes will not happen if they leave people unable to meet their basic needs and they will only be able to do this if they have resilient physical and social infrastructures, including accountability and channels for rapid learning.

As we head for the 2030s, public support and involvement will become more and more vital. It is worth listening to the UK's Committee on Climate Change on this: it is a body that has perhaps analysed the prospects for implementing a zero-carbon transition more thoroughly than any other. Its priority recommendations for the Government cover the need to consider setting up dedicated delivery bodies, a public engagement and empowerment strategy, more support for local government through resourcing, guidance and reforming the planning framework, and integrating adaptation into policy (CCC, 2021). These recommendations are for the UK but are surely applicable more widely.

References

Andrews, M., Pritchett, L. & Woolcock, M. (2017). Building State Capability. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/31857

CCC. (2021.) Joint Recommendations: 2021 Report to Parliament. UK Climate Change Committee. https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/CCC-Joint-Recommendations-2021-Report-to-Parliament.pdf

Banks, N. & Darby, S.J. (2021). A capability approach to smart local energy systems: aiming for 'smart and fair'. Proceedings of the European Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy Summer Study, Paper 5-105-21.

Levin, K., Cashore, B., Bernstein, S. & Auld, G. (2012). Overcoming the tragedy of super wicked problems: constraining our future selves to ameliorate global climate change. Policy Sciences45(20), 123-152.

Nussbaum, M. (2003). Beyond the social contract: capabilities and global justice. An Olaf Palme lecture, delivered in Oxford on 19 June 2003. Oxford Development Studies, 32 (1), 3-18.

Sen, A. (1999). Development as Freedom. New York: Oxford University Press.

Skølsvold, T.M. & Coenen, L. (2021). Are rapid and inclusive energy and climate transitions oxymorons? Towards principles of responsible acceleration. Energy Research & Social Science, 79, 102164.

UK Government. (2021). COP26 explained. https://2nsbq1gn1rl23zol93eyrccj-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/COP26-Explained.pdf

Latest Peer-Reviewed Journal Content

Journal Content

Beyond the building: governance challenges in social housing retrofit
H Charles

Heat stress in social housing districts: tree cover–built form interaction
C Lopez-Ordoñez, E Garcia-Nevado, H Coch & M Morganti

An observational analysis of shade-related pedestrian activity
M Levenson, D Pearlmutter & O Aleksandrowicz

Learning to sail a building: a people-first approach to retrofit
B Bordass, R Pender, K Steele & A Graham

Market transformations: gas conversion as a blueprint for net zero retrofit
A Gillich

Resistance against zero-emission neighbourhood infrastructuring: key lessons from Norway
T Berker & R Woods

Megatrends and weak signals shaping future real estate
S Toivonen

A strategic niche management framework to scale deep energy retrofits
T H King & M Jemtrud

Generative AI: reconfiguring supervision and doctoral research
P Boyd & D Harding

Exploring interactions between shading and view using visual difference prediction
S Wasilewski & M Andersen

How urban green infrastructure contributes to carbon neutrality [briefing note]
R Hautamäki, L Kulmala, M Ariluoma & L Järvi

Implementing and operating net zero buildings in South Africa
R Terblanche, C May & J Steward

Quantifying inter-dwelling air exchanges during fan pressurisation tests
D Glew, F Thomas, D Miles-Shenton & J Parker

Western Asian and Northern African residential building stocks: archetype analysis
S Akin, A Eghbali, C Nwagwu & E Hertwich

Lanes, clusters, sightlines: modelling patient flow in medical clinics
K Sailer, M Utley, R Pachilova, A T Z Fouad, X Li, H Jayaram & P J Foster

Analysing cold-climate urban heat islands using personal weather station data
J Taylor, C H Simpson, J Vanhatalo, H Sohail, O Brousse, & C Heaviside

Are simple models for natural ventilation suitable for shelter design?
A Conzatti, D Fosas de Pando, B Chater & D Coley

Impact of roofing materials on school temperatures in tropical Africa
E F Amankwaa, B M Roberts, P Mensah & K V Gough

Acceptability of sufficiency consumption policies by Finnish households
E Nuorivaara & S Ahvenharju

Key factors for revitalising heritage buildings through adaptive reuse
É Savoie, J P Sapinski & A-M Laroche

Cooler streets for a cycleable city: assessing policy alignment
C Tang & J Bush

Understanding the embodied carbon credentials of modern methods of construction
R O'Hegarty, A McCarthy, J O'Hagan, T Thanapornpakornsin, S Raffoul & O Kinnane

The changing typology of urban apartment buildings in Aurinkolahti
S Meriläinen & A Tervo

Embodied climate impacts in urban development: a neighbourhood case study
S Sjökvist, N Francart, M Balouktsi & H Birgisdottir

Environmental effects of urban wind energy harvesting: a review
I Tsionas, M laguno-Munitxa & A Stephan

See all

Latest Commentaries

Lessons from Disaster Recovery: Build Better Before

Mary C. Comerio (University of California, Berkeley) explains why disaster recovery must begin well before a disaster occurs. The goal is to reduce the potential for damage beforehand by making housing delivery (e.g. capabilities and the physical, technical and institutional infrastructures) both more resilient and more capable of building back after disasters.

The current situation is implausible: there are pledges for 2030 but no roadmaps for their fulfilment over time. Image: Giovanna Cassavia (TU Graz).

To achieve net zero GHG emissions by mid-century (the Breakthrough Agenda) it is vital to establish explicit sector-specific roadmaps and targets. With an eye to the forthcoming COP30 in Brazil and based on work in the IEA EBC Annex 89, Thomas Lützkendorf, Greg Foliente and Alexander Passer argue why specific goals and measures for building, construction and real estate are needed in the forthcoming round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC 3.0).

Join Our Community