Innovations in Urban Climate Governance

Voluntary Programs for Low-Carbon Buildings and Cities

Jeroen van der Heijden

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9781108415361
• eBook ISBN:
  9781108246378
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Building on unique data, this book analyses the efficacy of a prominent climate change mitigation strategy: voluntary programs for sustainable buildings and cities. It evaluates the performance of thirty-five voluntary programs from the global north and south, including certification programs, knowledge networks, and novel forms of financing. The author examines them through the lens of club theory, urban transformation theory, and diffusion of innovations theory. Using qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) the book points out the opportunities and constraints of voluntary programs for decarbonising the built environment, and argues for a transformation of their use in climate change mitigation. The book will appeal to readers interested in sustainable city planning, climate change mitigation, and voluntarism as an alternative governance mechanism for achieving socially and environmentally desirable outcomes. The wide diversity of cases from the global north and south generate new insights, and offers practical guidelines for designing effective programs.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title
• Series information
• Title page
• Copyright information
• Table of contents
• List of Tables
• Moving Forward, Moving Sideways: Understanding Voluntary Programs and Their Role in Sustainable City Development and Transformation
• Acknowledgments
• 1 Why Focus on Voluntary Programs for Sustainable Buildings and Cities?
• 2 The Sustainable Building Challenge: Contextualizing the Problem
• 3 A World of Voluntary Programs: Prevailing and Advanced Theoretical Perspectives
• 4 Certification and Classification: Bridging Supply and Demand
• 5 Urban Governance Networks: Generating and Sharing Knowledge
• 6 Innovative Climate Financing: Providing Funds
• 7 Separating the Wheat from the Chaff: A Crisp-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (csQCA)
• 8 Voluntary Programs for Sustainable Cities Elsewhere: Certification and Classification in India, Malaysia, and Singapore
• 9 Beyond the Leadership Delusion: What Role for Voluntary Programs in Decarbonizing Buildings and Cities?
• Appendix A Country Snapshots
• Appendix B Voluntary Program Snapshots
• Appendix C Application of QCA in This Book and an Additional fsQCA
• Appendix D Interviews
• Notes
• References
• Index