City diplomacy and the responsibilities for the green transformation
Photo by Meysam Soheili from Pexels
BY MADALIN BLIDARU
In recent years, important cities have been transformed into hubs for global cooperation, dialogue, and international mediation.
Some of them had a traditional role in diplomatic craftsmanship given their role within the state and state-led international relations, while others are newcomers. What makes them relevant in today’s debate about the green transformation is that cities can deliver results for their citizens, business, and organisations in a measurable way.
With 55% of the population living in urban areas and 80% of the global GDP generated in cities, their city-level responsibilities cannot be neglected.
They can build strategies to push forward the green agenda despite opposition from governmental level, and they have the capacity to engage and educate the citizens on why greening instead of greying matters.
From associations and networks to political fora and international twinning, the diplomatic potential of cities is changing how they are perceived and how they act. Competitions to provide best practices showcase the radical changes in only a few decades. With the urban transformation processes within these municipalities, the social, economic, political, and environmental factors are amalgamated.
The green transformation revives the potential of the urban spaces to support the people, the businesses, and nature on good terms, having the potential to bring back or to build their competitiveness.
Multiple examples in North America, Europe, and Asia are examples that it is possible to masterly combine economic, social, and environmental interests and to deliver on all three fronts.
However, this is not the global norm. It is valid for important cities in the developed world. It remains a dream in many big cities located in emerging markets.
Unplanned and uncontrollable urban development damages the wellbeing of people and economies.
In spite of having the potential to transform the life of their citizens, they neglect the need of and the dividends of the green transformation.
If diplomacy is a tool to build channels of communication, to send messages and to create the platforms for negotiations, then city diplomacy can shape how the responsibilities for the green transformation are widely assumed by the urban centers around the world.
The argument for pro-active engagement is based on the benefits this model of cooperation can bring.
There is an emergency in dealing with the contribution of cities to climate change, public health issues, and even unhappiness of their populations.
We can ask the residents in many cities about the biodiversity they have witnessed. The answers are mostly limited, from the pigeons stalking everyone around to the trees in the nearest park, and similar replies.
In this grey context, there are events showing that the urban biodiversity can be shaped and restored.
Sir David Attenborough’s The Year Earth Changed serves as food for thought. As many others, while I was in lockdown, I listened again to birds from my window. Unnoticed until that moment. These are personal and emotional experiences, but the innovative cities back them. Urban rewilding is happening: Singapore, Sydney, Frankfurt, New York, and others. These municipalities decided that supporting biodiversity restoration and supporting ecosystemic development is required for their sustainability, at community level, and for the greater good, at macro level.
The economic benefits of green transformation encourage local leadership and administrative innovation.
Green cities are increasingly attractive for employers and employees, given their health, wellbeing, and sustainability dividends.
The spectrum of enabling criteria to harness this potential may seem difficult to cover. From energy efficiency to green mobility, from climate change mitigation to clean air and safe drinking water, and many others, including less known examples such as WHO’s night noise guidelines for Europe, recognising the effects on mental and cardiovascular health. Awareness on such benefits is required to make the greening processes more acceptable.
The green transformation is not a simple or overnight process. Greening policies and planning processes require local and national support, as well as critical support from residents. In a 2020 report, the Global Green Growth Institute highlighted 8 key transformations towards green cities, involving planning, buildings' design and operation, energy production and energy use, waste management, water resources management, smart and green mobility, inclusiveness, and the investment prospects for green finance.
And here is the opportunity for city diplomacy.
As sharing and learning hubs, their interactions could serve as platforms for:
sharing best practices on diverse greening efforts from (inter)territorial management and green procurement to urban rewilding and internal blue and green economy development;
for coalition building processes that can push forward the green agenda and gain support across countries;
for awareness raising opportunities, and even as public shaming fora in case of those refusing the efforts towards a responsible green transformation.
Some of the active measures towards greener cities may seem ambitious or have a level of magnitude that is not valid for others, especially for the developing ones struggling with their administrative and financing capacities. But these landmark urban developments provide a good start for the discussion and can serve as inspiration. This is why city diplomacy needs to be inclusive.
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Madalin Blidaru is a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy, a policy-oriented researcher and a political analyst specialised in International Relations, mainly EU foreign policy, EU neighbourhood, regional governance and interregional relations.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Pacific Council.
