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Vulnerability and activism in urban climate politics: An actor-centered approach to transformational adaptation in Malmö (Sweden)

De Rosa, Salvatore Paolo LU orcid ; de Moor, Joost and Dabaieh, Marwa LU (2022) In Cities 130.
Abstract
Climate change adaptation is rising on the agenda of cities. However, critics have argued that urban adaptation efforts largely focus on preserving economic growth while overlooking the root causes of unequal vulnerability to climate impacts, giving rise to climate injustices. In response, literature on transformational adaptation has politicized these issues but it has remained largely conceptual, particularly in relation to the question of which actors can define and advance transformative approaches. Furthermore, existing empirical studies focus on positive cases while ignoring why these issues more commonly are not politicized. In this article, we add empirical rigour to these debates through an investigation into Malmö's climate... (More)
Climate change adaptation is rising on the agenda of cities. However, critics have argued that urban adaptation efforts largely focus on preserving economic growth while overlooking the root causes of unequal vulnerability to climate impacts, giving rise to climate injustices. In response, literature on transformational adaptation has politicized these issues but it has remained largely conceptual, particularly in relation to the question of which actors can define and advance transformative approaches. Furthermore, existing empirical studies focus on positive cases while ignoring why these issues more commonly are not politicized. In this article, we add empirical rigour to these debates through an investigation into Malmö's climate politics. We analyse what enables or inhibits the role of three political outsiders – disadvantaged communities, climate movements and social justice activists – in politicizing urban climate adaptation. We find that, while the most vulnerable social groups struggle with climatic impacts and experience difficulties in politicizing these issues, climate movements remain focused on climate mitigation and largely ignore local adaptation. In turn, we highlight the untapped capacity of social justice activism to act as social infrastructure for adaptation. Our findings suggest that alliances between the victims of adaptation injustices and local activist groups could support the politicization of those grievances by responding to emerging needs and by building policy-oriented pressure for transformational adaptation. However, we identify several factors that limit this potential, thereby contributing to an understanding of why social movements sometimes do not live up to their transformational potential. (Less)
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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
climate change, activism, Malmö, vulnerability, adaptation
in
Cities
volume
130
article number
103848
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85133919552
ISSN
0264-2751
DOI
10.1016/j.cities.2022.103848
project
Global Attribution Models, Mediation and Mobilisation in Sweden and Spain
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
27aba217-4151-4073-a4ff-e73c31e1b1d0
date added to LUP
2022-07-15 09:30:33
date last changed
2023-09-11 07:38:17
@article{27aba217-4151-4073-a4ff-e73c31e1b1d0,
  abstract     = {{Climate change adaptation is rising on the agenda of cities. However, critics have argued that urban adaptation efforts largely focus on preserving economic growth while overlooking the root causes of unequal vulnerability to climate impacts, giving rise to climate injustices. In response, literature on transformational adaptation has politicized these issues but it has remained largely conceptual, particularly in relation to the question of which actors can define and advance transformative approaches. Furthermore, existing empirical studies focus on positive cases while ignoring why these issues more commonly are not politicized. In this article, we add empirical rigour to these debates through an investigation into Malmö's climate politics. We analyse what enables or inhibits the role of three political outsiders – disadvantaged communities, climate movements and social justice activists – in politicizing urban climate adaptation. We find that, while the most vulnerable social groups struggle with climatic impacts and experience difficulties in politicizing these issues, climate movements remain focused on climate mitigation and largely ignore local adaptation. In turn, we highlight the untapped capacity of social justice activism to act as social infrastructure for adaptation. Our findings suggest that alliances between the victims of adaptation injustices and local activist groups could support the politicization of those grievances by responding to emerging needs and by building policy-oriented pressure for transformational adaptation. However, we identify several factors that limit this potential, thereby contributing to an understanding of why social movements sometimes do not live up to their transformational potential.}},
  author       = {{De Rosa, Salvatore Paolo and de Moor, Joost and Dabaieh, Marwa}},
  issn         = {{0264-2751}},
  keywords     = {{climate change; activism; Malmö; vulnerability; adaptation}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Cities}},
  title        = {{Vulnerability and activism in urban climate politics: An actor-centered approach to transformational adaptation in Malmö (Sweden)}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2022.103848}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.cities.2022.103848}},
  volume       = {{130}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}