The Urban Working Group of the Earth System Governance Project was created at the end of a meeting on Urban transformations and disruptions held during the Earth System Governance 2020 Virtual Forum.
The foundational meeting of the working group gathered around 15 scholars. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, discussions revolved around the definition and usefulness of the concept of transformation, the idea of continuous crisis as a manifestation of modernity, and the dissolving of sectoral and scalar boundaries, among other elements. A collective piece is now in preparation and talks regarding the organisation of panels on thematic issues related to the concerns of the Working Group at the next Earth System Governance conference are in progress.
The Working Group includes early career researchers and senior scholars from the ESG community broadly concerned with the relationship between urban and environmental issues. The diversity of places, disciplines and backgrounds of these scholars allows for rich discussions and exciting opportunities for collaboration. Areas of interest include micro-local to global perspectives on how environmental issues affect urban areas, innovation and transformative urban experiments and policies, the elaboration of actionable knowledge and practical solutions to governance issues, to name a few. The Working Group is open to any scholar who wishes to integrate a diverse and inclusive community to help advance research on these questions.
Recent Publications
For more information about joining the Working Group, please contact Rachel Macrorie (r.m.macrorie@uu.nl), Marielle Papin (marielle.papin@mail.mcgill.ca), and Linda Westman (l.westman@sheffield.ac.uk).