Dr Julia Neidig graduated with a thesis entitled “The making of a green city ideal: Challenges and opportunities for g(l)ocal climate action” today at Univ Autónoma Barcelona (ICTA). 

Dr Neidig  has participated in the Basque Government PIBA project Revalue and has been supported by a collaboration agreement with the Environmental Studies Centre of the Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council.. Dr Neidig’s thesis has been supervised by Professor Unai Pascual (BC3), Professor Isabelle Anguelovski (ICTA) and Dr. Aitor Alvaina (UPV-EHU)

Abstract: 

Under the paradigms of sustainability and climate urbanism, an ideal of a contemporary green city has been formulated globally that builds upon smart, low-carbon, and nature-based infrastructures aiming to increase its residents’ resilience to the multiple threats posed by an accelerating climate emergency. As this current ideal is being operationalized through multi-level and technocratic governance processes and funded by private climate finance, questions arise to what extent local actors can develop alternative locally situated visions of a green city ideal that foster equity, inclusivity, and participation in urban governance processes. I trace in three empirical stand-alone articles the plural notions of a green city as understood or/and operationalized by urban residents, social collectives, planners, and decision-makers by examining past and current green policies, initiatives, discourses, and broader forms of locally situated socio-natures. My analysis draws on a single case study of a city considered a European and international leader in the arena of green and sustainable policies and that is deeply embedded in cross-scale and multi-level governance dynamics: Vitoria-Gasteiz, 2012 European Green Capital, a mid-sized city of 250.000 residents in the Basque Country of Spain. 

Thesis Committee: 

Prof. dr. Esther Turnhout (University of Twente, the Netherlands) 

Dr. Annegret Hasse (Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, Germany)

Prof Esteve Corbera (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)