IN-PERSON Lisbon Livable Cities. Section A

Abstract

Urban areas are at the forefront of the transition to a sustainable and climate-neutral future. Cities offer fertile ground for innovation and collaboration, where participatory approaches and community engagement emerge as key for tailoring measures and unlocking societal innovative and transformative potential, as well as for fostering legitimacy and acceptance. However, to achieve the desired effects, engagement needs to be carried out in a meaningful way, both for the citizens and the public authorities involved. In this context, the LOCALISED project (co)creates science-based tools that allow different urban actors, such as local authorities, urban planners, and citizens, to speed up their planning towards deep and just decarbonisation. In order to increase the feasibility of climate measures, collaborative approaches are applied, surfacing new insights based on local knowledge and expertise, taking into account different vulnerabilities and needs, and inducing social learning. The challenge lies in gaining a better understanding of which designs and implementation strategies are effective for enabling inclusivity, cooperation, and continuity in urban climate governance. The aim of this study is to identify barriers and strategies for successful collaboration in the climate science-practice interaction and with different urban actors for the practical implementation of local climate action plans (SECAPs), where the results feed the broader discussion on how to build more sustainable cities.