Five factors for urban sustainability - exploring influences on municipal strategic planning

In recent decades, there has been increasing consensus that sustainable urban development is critical to the future of human societies and planetary systems. The effects of population growth and the environmental impacts of human activities are evident around the world, observable not only in the rapid urbanisation of many large cities, but also in small-medium conurbations, rural communities, and even uninhabited areas. For this reason, sustainable urban development is the theme of this licentiate thesis. The thesis focuses on the role of municipal organisations in sustainable urban development, the ways in which processes to develop strategies and policies addressing urban sustainability are organised, and how other stakeholders participate in such processes. The thesis concludes by presenting a new conceptual framework that aims to inform such processes the “five factors” influencing strategic planning for urban sustainability in municipalities. The five factors concern the capacity of municipalities and others to act for urban sustainability; their mandate to do so; the resources available to them; the scope of their processes and intended outcomes; and their will, individually and collectively, to pursue urban sustainability. The five factors concept may aid future analysis of urban sustainability processes, both in planning and implementation. The five factors are based upon the findings of the three appended papers and the synthesis of their results in this thesis. The first and second papers present studies of energy and climate strategy planning processes in Swedish municipalities active in a national programme, the Sustainable Municipality (Uthållig kommun). Paper 1 focuses upon the organisation of processes to develop energy and climate strategies, whereas Paper 2 reflects upon the experiences of participating stakeholders in such processes. The two papers build upon existing theoretical frameworks and present empirical data from case studies of five municipalities, based on document studies, interviews and comparative analysis, in order to make conclusions about the advantages and disadvantages of variations in the form and composition of energy and climate planning (e.g. that early involvement of stakeholders results in more comprehensive strategies). In contrast, Paper 3 presents analysis of a multidisciplinary sample of academic journal articles addressing “urban sustainability” and published during the period 2011-2012. As such, this paper focuses on how urban sustainability is practiced, observed and represented in academic literature, and considers different issues that arise as a consequence (e.g. a lack of analysis of urban sustainability governance processes in municipalities). Whereas Papers 1 and 2 observe practice, making insights with reference to specific theoretical perspectives, Paper 3 provides overview and identifies wider challenges and opportunities for research on the theme of urban sustainability. Together, the three papers highlight a number of issues that influence the development of municipalities’ strategic work for urban sustainability – the five factors. Acknowledgements This thesis completes two and a half years of research at Linköping University, during which time I’ve been fortunate to meet many interesting people and travel to new places. I would like to thank my supervisors, Olof Hjelm and Sara Gustafsson, for their advice and support during this time, as well as my co-authors and colleagues at the Division of Environmental Technology and Management. The thesis builds upon work in the Sustainable Energy and Climate Strategies (HEKSA) project. I thank the Swedish Energy Agency for their support of this project. Similarly, I thank the Sparbanksstiftelsen Alfas Internationella Stipendiefond för Linköpings Universitet for the scholarship which enabled me to present results from this study at the 3 rd International Urban Research Symposium at the 2012 ICLEI World Congress. I first began studying Local Agenda 21 in Swedish municipalities under the tuition of Professor Richard Stren at the University of Toronto. Subsequently, my personal journey took me from England to Spain, on to Uppsala and then to work in Freiburg, Germany, for the ICLEI European Secretariat. I wish to thank the late Stefanie Lay, as well as Monika Zimmermann and my other ex-colleagues, for giving me the opportunity to work with them and a global network of municipalities. I owe a debt of gratitude to Göran Carstedt and others at the Clinton Foundation for providing me with the opportunity to continue working with cities and sustainable development, whilst establishing myself in Sweden. Similarly, I wish to thank Kristina Birath and other colleagues and clients from my time at WSP, particularly the staff of the Environment and Health Administration of the City of Stockholm. These, and other professional experiences, have contributed to my personal development and provide the context for my choice to pursue Ph.D. studies in this field. I wish to thank my parents and family for their love, support and patience. I especially wish to thank Naghmeh joonam and Darya khosgele, who fill my world with joy. List of Appended Papers 1. Fenton, P., Gustafsson, S., Ivner, J., Palm, J., (forthcoming). Sustainable energy and climate strategies: lessons from planning processes in five Swedish municipalities. Submitted to Journal of Cleaner Production (decision pending). 2. Fenton, P., Gustafsson, S., Ivner, J., Palm, J., (forthcoming). Stakeholder participation in municipal energy and climate planning – experiences from Sweden. Submitted to Local Environment (decision pending). 3. Fenton, P., (forthcoming). Exploring the state of the art in urban sustainability literature – what do recent articles reveal? Submitted to Local Environment (decision pending). My Contribution to the Papers Papers 1 and 2. Lead author, major contribution to data collection and analysis in a collaborative research project. Paper 3. Sole author responsible for research design and analysis. Comments and support provided by Olof Hjelm and Sara Gustafsson. Related Publications Fenton, P., Gustafsson, S., Ivner, J., Palm, J., (2012) Sustainable Energy and Climate Strategies: lessons from planning processes in five municipalities. Linköping: Linköping University.