Informed Cities : Making Research Work for Local Sustainability

The role of research (academic and policy-related) in the monitoring of local sustainable development across Europe is key in providing the evidence-based policy making that local governments are increasingly required to deliver. Yet the opportunities and mechanisms for collaboration between policymakers and researchers at local level, within a multi-level governance structure, have to date been somewhat overlooked in both theoretical and empirical debates. This book provides an evaluation of the delivery of sustainable development policies, and governance processes to support these, in local governments across Europe, focusing particularly on European tools that have specifically been designed to monitor local sustainability progress. This is particularly timely given the forthcoming Rio 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development and the key role of local governments in delivering sustainable development policies.

Informed Cities looks at the knowledge brokerage processes between cities and higher education institutions, and in particular evaluates governance mechanisms for monitoring local sustainability and the role of research within this.

The first part of the book provides an analysis of tools for governing sustainable cities and develops a typology of existing tools. It then considers approaches to monitor local sustainability on a European level, focusing on a number of key tools such as the Covenant of Mayors, Reference Framework for Sustainable Cities, and Green Capital Award. The second part of the book introduces an explorative application of two tools that the author team have used in practice to monitor local sustainability, Urban Ecosystems Europe and Local Evaluation 21, presenting and evaluating European level data collected from local governments.

The third part of the book looks deeper into a number of case studies discussing how a working and rewarding city-university connection can be created and nourished in an administrative and political setting. Finally, the last part of the book reflects on lessons learned from the application of the tools and accompanying research process and makes recommendations for further developing monitoring tools for urban sustainability on a European level.

This book will be essential reading for professionals in urban and regional planning who are tasked with monitoring the effects of sustainability policies, as well as for graduate students in planning, environmental governance, sustainable development and related disciplines.