Urban Transitions

Abstract

Cities are constantly changing, often attempting to reach environmental and health goals, such as Net Zero for carbon neutrality, Zero Waste cities for embracing circularity, Vision Zero to eliminate traffic deaths, or City Cancer Challenge to improve access to cancer care. While various policy options are usually available, sector-specific initiatives that target each goal separately are typically favoured, while multi-level approaches that concurrently address cross-sectoral needs are often overlooked. In fact, despite mounting evidence and growing urgency for cities to transition towards healthier and more sustainable urban environments, progress remains slow. This may be due in part to single-policy targets that enable relatively simple solutions to be implemented, but miss out on the opportunity to engage cities in more transformative solutions. Urban transitions involve policy shifts alongside structural, cultural, and institutional changes that unfold over time. They depend on a range of factors such as existing infrastructure, institutional inertia, and coordination among multiple stakeholders. The systems thinking approaches that are required to develop solutions that consider multiple benefits and tradeoffs, however, are complex to develop and to implement.