Compound urban crises

Linda Westman¹, James Patterson², Rachel Macrorie³, Christopher J Orr⁴, Catherine M Ashcraft⁵, Vanesa Castán Broto⁶, Dana Dolan⁷, Mukesh Gupta⁸, Jeroen van der Heijden⁹, Thomas Hickmann¹⁰, Robert Hobbins¹¹, Marielle Papin¹², Enora Robin⁶, Christina Rosan¹³, Jonas Torrens¹⁴, Robert Webb¹⁵

Affiliations

¹ Urban Institute, University of Sheffield, 419 Portobello, Sheffield, S14DP, UK. linda.westman@sheffield.ac.uk.
² Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Faculty of Geosciences, Vening Meineszgebouw A, Princetonlaan 8A, 3585CB, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
³ Transforming Cities Hub, Human Geography and Spatial Planning Department, University of Utrecht, Princetonlaan 8a, 3584 CB, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
⁴ University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada.
⁵ Department of Natural Resources & the Environment, University of New Hampshire, 134 James Hall, 56 College Road, Durham, NH, 03824, USA.
⁶ Urban Institute, University of Sheffield, 419 Portobello, Sheffield, S14DP, UK.
⁷ Schar School of Policy and Government at, George Mason University, 3351 Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA, 22201, USA.
⁸ Department of Environmental Sciences, Asian University for Women, 20/A M. M. Ali Road, Chattogram, 4000, Bangladesh.
⁹ Wellington School of Business and Government of Victoria University of Wellington, Rutherford House, Pipitea Campus, Wellington, 6011, New Zealand.
¹⁰ Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Political Science, Lund University, Allhelgona kyrkogata 14, 221 00, Lund, Sweden.
¹¹ Urban Studies Institute, Georgia State University, 55 Park Place NE, Atlanta, GA, 30303, USA.
¹² McGill University, 805 Rue Sherbrooke Ouest, Montréal, QC, H3A 0B9, Canada.
¹³ Department of Geography and Urban Studies at Temple University, 320 Gladfelter Hall, 1115 Polett Walk, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
¹⁴ Dep of Industrial Engineering and Innovation Sciences, Eindhoven University of Technology, PO Box 513, 5600 MB, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
¹⁵ Institute for Climate, Energy and Disaster Solutions and Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia.

PMID: 35157255
PMCID: PMC8853022
DOI: 10.1007/s13280-021-01697-6

Compound urban crises

Linda Westman et al. Ambio. 2022 Jun.

. 2022 Jun;51(6):1402-1415.

doi: 10.1007/s13280-021-01697-6. Epub 2022 Feb 14.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Urban Institute, University of Sheffield, 419 Portobello, Sheffield, S14DP, UK. linda.westman@sheffield.ac.uk.
² Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Faculty of Geosciences, Vening Meineszgebouw A, Princetonlaan 8A, 3585CB, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
³ Transforming Cities Hub, Human Geography and Spatial Planning Department, University of Utrecht, Princetonlaan 8a, 3584 CB, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
⁴ University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada.
⁵ Department of Natural Resources & the Environment, University of New Hampshire, 134 James Hall, 56 College Road, Durham, NH, 03824, USA.
⁶ Urban Institute, University of Sheffield, 419 Portobello, Sheffield, S14DP, UK.
⁷ Schar School of Policy and Government at, George Mason University, 3351 Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA, 22201, USA.
⁸ Department of Environmental Sciences, Asian University for Women, 20/A M. M. Ali Road, Chattogram, 4000, Bangladesh.
⁹ Wellington School of Business and Government of Victoria University of Wellington, Rutherford House, Pipitea Campus, Wellington, 6011, New Zealand.
¹⁰ Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Political Science, Lund University, Allhelgona kyrkogata 14, 221 00, Lund, Sweden.
¹¹ Urban Studies Institute, Georgia State University, 55 Park Place NE, Atlanta, GA, 30303, USA.
¹² McGill University, 805 Rue Sherbrooke Ouest, Montréal, QC, H3A 0B9, Canada.
¹³ Department of Geography and Urban Studies at Temple University, 320 Gladfelter Hall, 1115 Polett Walk, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
¹⁴ Dep of Industrial Engineering and Innovation Sciences, Eindhoven University of Technology, PO Box 513, 5600 MB, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
¹⁵ Institute for Climate, Energy and Disaster Solutions and Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia.

PMID: 35157255
PMCID: PMC8853022
DOI: 10.1007/s13280-021-01697-6

Abstract

The crises that cities face-such as climate change, pandemics, economic downturn, and racism-are tightly interlinked and cannot be addressed in isolation. This paper addresses compound urban crises as a unique type of problem, in which discrete solutions that tackle each crisis independently are insufficient. Few scholarly debates address compound urban crises and there is, to date, a lack of interdisciplinary insights to inform urban governance responses. Combining ideas from complex adaptive systems and critical urban studies, we develop a set of boundary concepts (unsettlement, unevenness, and unbounding) to understand the complexities of compound urban crises from an interdisciplinary perspective. We employ these concepts to set a research agenda on compound urban crises, highlighting multiple interconnections between urban politics and global dynamics. We conclude by suggesting how these entry points provide a theoretical anchor to develop practical insights to inform and reform urban governance.

Keywords: Cities; Complex adaptive systems; Compound urban crises; Critical urban studies; Governance.

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Figures

**Fig. 1**
Multiple crises facing cities, viewed as either A singular crises, or B compound crises based on differences in temporal dynamics

**Fig. 2**
Conceptualising urban governance challenges associated with compound urban crises according to three key boundary concepts (unsettlement, unevenness, unbounding), drawing on insights from CAS and CUT

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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Compound urban crises

Affiliations

Compound urban crises

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Figures

References

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Medical