Number 1

November 2010
Database of climate
change experiments
BRI EFI NG NOTE
URBAN TRANSITIONS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Climate change experiments
are purposive interventions
which attempt to reconfigure ur-
ban socio-technical systems in
the name of climate change.
Within the UTACC project we
have developed a database of
climate change experiments to
understand urban responses to
climate change in a sample of
100 global cities.
This briefing note explains the
methodology of the database
and presents some preliminary
results.
DATABASE FACTSHEET
Number of cities: 100
Number of initiatives: 627 records
Types of initiatives: urban infrastruc-
ture, built environment, carbon seques-
tration, transport, urban form, climate
change adaptation
Information recorded: what it is, who
did it, where and when, how it was gov-
erned, how it was funded, types of inno-
vation, technological characteristics,
does it consider environmental justice
P A G E 2
B R I E F I N G 1 : D A T A B A S E O F C L I MA T E C H A N G E E X P E R I ME N T S
Sampling a 100 Global Cities
Events such as the Mayors Convention in Copenhagen have
highlighted the role that global cities play in driving climate change
innovation. To date, most climate change and cities research has
focused on medium-sized cities in the North and small numbers of
cases. In our research we hope to extend our understanding of urban
responses to climate change by exploring climate change innovation in
a broad range of 'global' oities in the global North and the global
South.

we seleoted 100 oities that oould be oonsidered 'global' in terms of
the size, role within the global economy and importance in climate
change debates. We ranked more than 400 cities according to the
following oriteria: total population, population density, oity's 0UP, world
city rank
1
, participation in climate networks and estimated climate
change vulnerability
2
. Ranks were added to select a sample of 100
cities which scored highly in most of the criteria selected. This sample
represents a variety of cities in all World regions (see Figures 1 and 2).
1
According to GaWC methodologies. See: Taylor, P.J., Ni, P., Derudder, B., Hoyler, M., Huang, J.
and Witlox, F. (eds) (2010): Global urban analysis: a survey of cities in globalization. London:
Earthscan.
2
Qualitative assessment following a key texts on climate change impacts such as the Stern
report and others.
Figure 2: Location of the 100 global cities selected.
Figure 1: Distribution of cities
by region
P A G E 3
B R I E F I N G 1 : D A T A B A S E O F C L I MA T E C H A N G E E X P E R I ME N T S
What is a climate
change experiment?
A purposive intervention
It has a explicit climate
change rationale
It is conducted on behalf of
an existing or imagined ur-
ban community
URBAN SECTORS
The database compiled ex-
periments in the following
urban sectors:
Urban infrastructure
(energy, waste, water)
Built environment
(domestic, commercial, pub-
lic)
Urban Planning
Transport
Carbon Sequestration
Adaptation
Data Gathering and Recording
Within the UTACC project experimentation is regarded as both a social
and a technical process. We examine experiments that are
interventions which aim to tackle climate change in an urban setting
explicitly. The database collects records for different initiatives that,
within their context, could be described as a climate change
experiment.

The data gathering process relied on secondary sources including
policy reports, academic papers, websites and newspapers. Some of
the sources were self-reported. The search was limited to information
provided in five languages (English, Spanish, Portuguese, French,
German).

The database contains 627 records. Depending on the information
available, we recorded the following data for each experiment:
What: actions, materials and technologies involved (Figure 3)
Where: record of cities and geographical areas
When: record of when initiatives were started and completed
Who: record of actors leading action, partnerships and donors
How: records of the policy instruments, mechanisms and modes
of governance, the urban services and systems of provision
which experiments seek to transform.
In particular, we focused on highlighting specific elements of socio-
technical innovation and experimentation.
Figure 3: Distribution of experiments by sector.
P A G E 4
B R I E F I N G 1 : D A T A B A S E O F C L I MA T E C H A N G E E X P E R I ME N T S
So far we have carried out
a descriptive analysis of
the database. The
regional distribution of
initiatives corresponds
loosely with the
distribution of our sample
of cities across regions,
which suggests that
climate change
experimentation is not
confined to specific
regions such as Europe or
North America.
Governing Experiments: A Preliminary Analysis of the Database
Figure 4: Different types of actors lead in each sector
For more info:
Harriet Bulkeley
Department of geography, Durham University
E-mail: h.a.bulkeley@durham.ac.uk
Tel: 0191 334 1940
Project website:
www.geography.dur.ac.uk/projects/urbantransitions/
Considering that 80% of the initiatives have emerged after the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol in
2005, we can describe climate change experimentation as a relatively recent phenomenon. In terms
of environmental governance, the municipal authorities maintain a predominant role in climate
change experimentation (Figure 4), particularly in the transport sector. However, a number of other
actors are also increasing their role. For example, the data highlights the growing importance of the
private sector in the urban infrastructure sector. This is more salient if we also consider the
participation of private sector actors as partners. For example, the private sector was a partner in 27%
of experiments in out database.
While the presence of climate change experimentation is ubiquitous this is not the same as saying
that a transition towards low carbon, resilient systems is taking place. The impact of initiatives may be
ambiguous and they need to be understood within the context in which they are implemented. Our
detailed case-study analysis of these issues is ongoing and will compliment the findings of this broad
survey.