Cities and Global Governance: Greening Post-Industrial Cities : Growth, Equity, and Environmental Governance download book DOC, EPUB
9781138776135 1138776130 Cities are increasingly incorporating questions of environmental justice and social equity into their sustainability plans. But current literature does not adequately provide a rich comparative understanding of how the goals of environmental protection, social equity, and urban economic development are playing out in practice. Corina McKendry's book provides a comparative understanding of how the multilevel nature of social inequity and environmental governance intersect in urban areas, how the tensions between environmental protection, economic growth, and social justice are negotiated by city leaders, and the implications this has for the potential and limitations of cities as key players in moving global society towards "just sustainability." In order to understand the relationship between city environmentalism and the globalized economy, the book conducts a historical analysis of the extent to which the rise of cities as important players in furthering environmentalism paralleled and was enabled by the emergence of neoliberal globalization. McKendry then uses a comparative analysis of three cities (Chicago, USA; Birmingham, UK; and Melbourne, AUS) that have strived to establish themselves as key players in international environmental governance to help illuminate how global processes of economic and environmental change impact local areas and, in turn, are shaped by the choices local actors make in the face of these processes. Throughout the work, McKendry also investigates the factors that lead cities to incorporate issues of social and environmental justice into their sustainability initiatives and the limits and promises of such efforts. This book offers a comparative understanding of how the goals of environmental protection, social equity, and urban economic development are playing out in practice. McKendry's findings will interest scholars of urban environmentalism, global environmental governance, and comparative urban politics., City environmental initiatives have been heralded for their contributions to global environmental governance and critiqued for exacerbating displacement and inequality. Bringing these two disparate analyses into conversation, this book offers a comparative understanding of how the multilevel nature of environmental governance and social inequity are playing out in practice in three major cities of the global North (Chicago, USA; Birmingham, UK; and Vancouver, Canada). McKendry argues that these cities greening efforts have been closely connected to broader processes of post-industrial transformation and branding in the neoliberalized economy, often with regressive consequences. However, these efforts have also created space for communities to demand, often successfully, that a greener city also become a more just city. As such, though they remain deeply constrained by the globalized economy and the national policy contexts in which they are embedded, these cases show the potential of cities to negotiate a more just relationship between environmental protection, social equity, and economic development. Both critical and hopeful, McKendry s findings will interest scholars of urban environmentalism, environmental governance, and comparative urban politics."
9781138776135 1138776130 Cities are increasingly incorporating questions of environmental justice and social equity into their sustainability plans. But current literature does not adequately provide a rich comparative understanding of how the goals of environmental protection, social equity, and urban economic development are playing out in practice. Corina McKendry's book provides a comparative understanding of how the multilevel nature of social inequity and environmental governance intersect in urban areas, how the tensions between environmental protection, economic growth, and social justice are negotiated by city leaders, and the implications this has for the potential and limitations of cities as key players in moving global society towards "just sustainability." In order to understand the relationship between city environmentalism and the globalized economy, the book conducts a historical analysis of the extent to which the rise of cities as important players in furthering environmentalism paralleled and was enabled by the emergence of neoliberal globalization. McKendry then uses a comparative analysis of three cities (Chicago, USA; Birmingham, UK; and Melbourne, AUS) that have strived to establish themselves as key players in international environmental governance to help illuminate how global processes of economic and environmental change impact local areas and, in turn, are shaped by the choices local actors make in the face of these processes. Throughout the work, McKendry also investigates the factors that lead cities to incorporate issues of social and environmental justice into their sustainability initiatives and the limits and promises of such efforts. This book offers a comparative understanding of how the goals of environmental protection, social equity, and urban economic development are playing out in practice. McKendry's findings will interest scholars of urban environmentalism, global environmental governance, and comparative urban politics., City environmental initiatives have been heralded for their contributions to global environmental governance and critiqued for exacerbating displacement and inequality. Bringing these two disparate analyses into conversation, this book offers a comparative understanding of how the multilevel nature of environmental governance and social inequity are playing out in practice in three major cities of the global North (Chicago, USA; Birmingham, UK; and Vancouver, Canada). McKendry argues that these cities greening efforts have been closely connected to broader processes of post-industrial transformation and branding in the neoliberalized economy, often with regressive consequences. However, these efforts have also created space for communities to demand, often successfully, that a greener city also become a more just city. As such, though they remain deeply constrained by the globalized economy and the national policy contexts in which they are embedded, these cases show the potential of cities to negotiate a more just relationship between environmental protection, social equity, and economic development. Both critical and hopeful, McKendry s findings will interest scholars of urban environmentalism, environmental governance, and comparative urban politics."