Governing for Sustainable Urban Development

Providing an accessible introduction to sustainable development in cities, Yvonne Rydin highlights the role of learning in local governance and the need to utilize various policy tools. To deliver more sustainable strategies, urban decision makers should prioritize learning and seek new ways to reframe challenges. Other lessons include the importance of institutional arrangements, the politicized nature of planning negotiations and the need to build social capital. She notes that regulations and spatial planning may be especially useful, although financial incentives and informational tools can also promote sustainable development. Most examples are taken from the UK, particularly London, but the text’s discussion of governing and framework on sustainability could readily be applied to other cities.

The book begins with an overview of sustainable development and its relation to cities (Chapter 1), followed by a conceptual framework (Chapter 2). Rydin’s framework combines the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainability with three different urban scales (the building, development site and metropolitan region). The chapter ends with a table linking the three scales with several aspects of sustainable urban development. The third chapter explores urban construction processes and market structures, using a network model to capture the web of associated actors. Rydin then elaborates upon her conceptualization of governing, which helps guide her analysis. Chapter 4 argues for utilizing multiple policy tools and distinguishes between government, governance and governmentality processes. Through a network model of governing as learning, Chapter 5 discusses how policy makers can reframe challenges, foster knowledge-focused networks and promote sustainable urban development. Another framework helps to link governing and learning, and Rydin emphasizes that sustainable development requires governments to learn and shift from established practices.
The remaining chapters consider the role of different policy tools in urban sustainability. In Chapter 6, Rydin reviews informational approaches, including the UK’s building assessments, zero-carbon metrics and carbon footprints. These tools must be placed in context and embedded in institutional arrangements, so as to promote meaningful emissions reductions. For instance, she notes that energy meters cannot guarantee sustainability because occupants’ behaviour “…ultimately determines the level of energy use rather than the physical form alone” (page 78). Chapter 7 analyzes financial incentives such as congestion charges or feed-in tariffs, arguing again that supportive institutional arrangements are required. In Chapter 8 on spatial planning, she suggests that network managers and enhancing social capital are crucial to foster effective, long-term plans. Chapter 9 discusses British building regulations and zero-carbon developments as well as other aspects of learning within regulatory systems. She critiques past approaches to regulation, such as simple sustainability checklists that downplay the need for careful judgment. Chapter 10 concludes by advocating continuous learning and a holistic, trust-based governance model that can ensure sustainable urban development.