Community Resilience to Climate Change: Theory, Research and Practice

226 Political economy of poverty In addition to historical or ‘thick’ mechanisms of injustice, contemporary political-economic conditions in cities, particularly political representation and access to decision making, have been consistently identified as drivers and maintainers of urban poverty and exclusion. The political economy approach emphasizes the politics of democracy and citizenship in urban decisionmaking processes, and the “rights of the citizen as an urban dweller, or citadin, and user of multiple services ” (Lefebvre 1996:34). Although local government is often the most representative scale of government, and this is true in India (Kaviraj 1991), political economy of poverty research has shown that the urban poor are still likely to have fewer opportunities than other groups to influence policy making processes in a meaningful way or help set spending priorities; consequently, the decisions made by municipalities are unlikely to benefit these groups. This dynamic creates a positive feedback loop and a type of poverty trap (Bowles et al. 2006). For example, although in Delhi poorer people are more likely to be politically active, this does not translate into political power because of the prevalence of middle class interests in civil society and newly developed channels of participation and state access that prioritize land ownership (Harriss 2005, Ghertner 2011). As people’s access to decision making and investment in the political economy of the city are diminished, so are the benefits they are likely to receive from this system. In many cases adaptation planning is embedded in existing policy and planning processes (Anguelovski and Carmin 2011), which will further tie adaptation decisions and outcomes to the political economy of urban poverty. Drawing on this approach, we would predict that the inability of vulnerable groups to currently participate in, influence, and be prioritized by the policy process will inhibit just outcomes in urban climate change adaptation. Conversely, from a political economy of poverty perspective, we would expect that cities whose political and institutional arrangements allow for equal access to and influence upon decision making would develop more just adaptation strategies. Technocratic governance Technical information can often be an important input to urban environmental policy and climate change adaptation decisions. A dominance of technical information in policy making can marginalize groups that are not using, familiar with, or included by this information (Fischer 2005, Jasanoff 2007). Particular epistemologies can become institutionalized such that the way information is produced and used results in decisions that do not account for goals or processes that lie outside the dominant way of thinking. For example, Eden and Tunstall (2006) found that ecological restoration projects that rely solely on environmental data and do not account for the needs and motivations of the community are unsuccessful and controversial. Even the tools used to analyze policies, e.g., cost- benefit analyses and efficiency metrics, can lead us to different conclusions about the equity of their distribution of costs and benefits (Hajer and Wagenaar 2003). Government agencies are asked to undertake ever more complex analyses of the risks and benefits of regulation and elite advisory committees are often used as advisers (Jasanoff 1990). The type of information that is used in decision making and the way this information is generated and evaluated can help to determine the accessibility of decision making and its distribution of costs and benefits. Adaptation is often informed by large-scale climate models and aggregate statistics that underlie temperature and precipitation scenarios for the future. Adaptation, therefore, has the potential to be seen as a purely technical enterprise with justice concerns considerably marginalized (Finn and McCormick 2011). From a technocratic governance perspective, adaptation planning processes that rely heavily on experts and technical information and do not include local knowledge and participation in decision making are less likely to meet the justice criteria. Climate adaptation planning processes should ensure that technical materials are accessible even to those with minimal technical skills and understanding, and more diverse sources of information should be included. Institutional capacities Institutions underlying policy processes can play an important role in determining their outcomes (March and Olsen 1989, Polski and Ostrom 1999). Research has shown that local governmental institutions often lack the administrative, financial, or technical capacity to successfully develop and implement new policies and programs. Because of rapid growth and relatively weak accompanying governance structures, cities in low and middle income countries may particularly lack the qualities of good urban governance: decentralization and autonomy, transparency and accountability, and responsiveness and flexibility (Pelling 2003, Dodman and Satterthwaite 2008, Kraas 2008, Parnell and Walawege 2011). In some cases, a municipality may not have the authority it needs to reach its climate goals because of complex institutional networks and jurisdictions, such as in the case of Mexico City (Romero Lankao 2007). Policy efforts that seek to alleviate urban poverty often have very different approaches and priorities, and any given department is likely to have an incomplete understanding of the problem. Cities may also lack the necessary financial resources caused by an inability to generate and collect adequate tax revenue. Municipal governments in highly centralized countries may have limited control over their financial resources. Further, decision makers may lack the technical capacity and training necessary to address the needs of the vulnerable. Cities may lack the institutional capacity to address the needs of vulnerable groups, despite any good intentions. From this perspective, institutional capacity will play a role in determining whether and to what extent urban climate change adaptation is just. The greater the institutional capacity, e.g., authority, financial resources, and expertise, the more likely a city will be able to develop climate change adaptation strategies that are just.