Volume 7, 2007

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Think Locally, Act Globally: Lessons to Learn from the Cities for Climate Protection Campaign
(2007) Fay, Chris; Fitzsimmons, Scott; McDougall, Alex
As large concentrations of producers and consumers, cities are host to a number of environmental problems that only increase as more and more of the world’s people leave the countryside for the opportunities of urban centres. Fortunately, there is increasing recognition of this contribution in the form of transnational networks of cities, acting together to ameliorate urban environmental problems. One such example is the Cities for Climate Protection Campaign, a network of almost 700 of the world’s cities that has formed to confront climate change at the local level. Framing the question as a collective action problem, I consider what factors encourage the members of Cities for Climate Protection to come together and confront what is traditionally considered an issue to be solved at the international level. After examining these factors I point to lessons for other transnational networks of local level actors to take from Cities for Climate Protection. Cities are often seen to be at competition with one another to attract investment, but increased urban ecological degradation will necessitate a local response. Examining the Cities for Climate Protection Campaign sheds light on how this response can be achieved.