SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This paper examines the process of building resilience to climate change in urban areas by scrutinising the manner in which initiatives to build resilience interact with the urban policy environments in which they unfold. The urban policy environment is broken into three analytical areas of actors, spaces and discourses. This illustrates the influence of actor networks, epistemic communities and policy entrepreneurs in helping climate change resilience gain traction in urban settings, how discourses attached to Resilience urban resilience are dissonant with those prevailing in ossified Discourses urban policy environments, and the dynamic interaction of interest, agendas and power in decision making that accompanies resilience building processes. The paper applies this framework to case studies of two Indian cities within a major international urban climate change resilience initiative. Using data gathered through a variety of rigorous qualitative research methods, the paper provides insights into the politics of policy processes around urban climate change initiatives. Findings from this study can inform urban development policies and allow resilience project planners to calibrate their efforts to better suit urban policy environments. The paper highlights how issues of politics and power are more significant determinants of such policy processes than conventional, science-led analyses would suggest.