Abstract
The climate crisis has created new urban governance models that are increasingly centred around climate change mitigation and adaptation. This intersection between climate change and urbanisation creates an ideal entry point for decolonial practice because it is where the futuring of African cities will take place. In addition, it is impossible to explore this intersection between ‘urban’ and ‘climate’ without grappling with the intrinsic colonial legacies and international influences that permeate urban governance frameworks across the continent. These influences have resulted in a homogenisation of the African climate change experience and a universalisation of both the policy approaches prescribed by international actors to address climate change risk, as well as the tools used by scholars to understand these risk response processes. To challenge this universalisation of African climate change governance experiences, the paper draws on the decolonial concept of pluriversality (holding space for multiple truths and ways of knowing). It provides a practical methodological pathway for better understanding the drivers of climate change adaptation policy decisions making in African cities. The framework presented in this paper hopes to provide an analytical tool for exploring the conflicts and confluences between the universal concepts and approaches prescribed by international development actors and the pluriversal values, beliefs, and perceptions of climate change risk that drive governance frameworks around these risks. It also explore the tensions between the local and international influences that inform these knowledge frameworks, definitions and value systems around climate change risk.
Presenters
Raisa ColeStudent, PhD in Public Administration and Policy, Wagening University and Research, Gelderland, Netherlands
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
AFRICA, CITIES, ADAPTATION, RISK, GOVERNANCE
