Reframing urban climate responsibility: perspectives from the Asia Pacific

Traditionally, cities have been framed as both causally responsible for carbon emissions while also vulnerable to climate impacts such as flooding or heatwaves – perspectives which have been important for enabling socially and politically just responses to climate change. Such frameworks nonetheless remain limited, not only in terms of their capacity to fully capture the politics and contestation of urban climate responsibility but also in accounting for spatial difference in how climate responsibility is mobilised and practised in cities.

This paper therefore seeks to reframe urban climate responsibility in the context of the Asia Pacific region. It draws on a systematic literature review and an assessment of climate policies in cities across the Asia Pacific. The paper reflects on the multiple meanings of responsibility in the face of regionally-specific urban climate transformations and diverse modes of climate urbanism in the Asia Pacific. In so doing, it offers new theoretical perspectives on the shifting relationship between cities, climate change and responsibility.

Presenter: Dr Sara Fuller, Macquarie University

Biography: Dr Sara Fuller is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography and Planning at Macquarie University. Her research explores concepts and practices of justice and democracy in the field of the environment, with an empirical focus on grassroots, community and activist responses to climate change. Prior to joining Macquarie University, she held postdoctoral positions at Durham University, UK and City University of Hong Kong where she conducted research on low carbon transitions and climate governance; NGO discourses of energy justice; low carbon communities and social justice; and energy vulnerability in communities. Her current research investigates the politics and governance of urban climate justice across the Asia-Pacific region.

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