• Deadline: ? 20th December 2024.
  – Select the section « Politics and International Relations » on ECAS web page: https://guarant.eu/ecasconference2025/call-for-papers/index.php?coo=1
  – And select the panel « From green to smart: the politics of labelling the sustainable city »

• Contacts: r.nakanabo.diallo @ sciencespobordeaux.fr  et Sina Schlimmer schlimmer @ ifri.org

Short description:

Africa’s rapid urbanization and climate change have become key concerns of the international development community. This panel assesses the transnational character of urban policy making, by focusing on the making of the “green city” label and its negotiated national and local implementation.

Abstract:

Since the 1987 Brundtland Report established the concept of « sustainable urban development », development and conservation agencies, municipalities, civil society organisations and the private sector, have contributed to creating normative narratives about urbanization and labels for African cities, which circulate internationally: « green-« , « new-  » or even « smart-  » city projects are presented as a solution towards achieving the overarching goal of sustainable urban development. At the same time, these new paradigms propose strategies for greening urban policies. The 22^nd Conference of the Parties on Biological Diversity (COP 22) in 2016 stressed the integration of the « green city » paradigm into the global nature conservation policy agenda.

« Green » urban expertise is increasingly built up from the Global South. A whole range of actors and organisations have become co-producers of the international agenda for the « renaturation » of cities, notably through their involvement in transnational city networks, where they develop policy standards and instruments. These are often in resonance and sometimes at odds with international organizations involved in these issues.

This panel will assess the transnational, multilevel and hybrid character of urban policy making, by focusing on the circulation and appropriation of the “green city” label. How do norms related to green cities circulate at international fora and knowledge sharing? How do decision-makers, municipal and civil society actors at different levels translate them into national and local policies? What do these labels mean locally and to what extent are they used to feed into local politics, while at the same time contributing to international policy-making?