FINDINGS FROMINNOVATE4CITIES 2021 AND
UPDATE TO THE GLOBALRESEARC H AND ACTIONAGENDA11 - 15 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 1#Innovate4Cities
www.innovate4cities.org

Findings from Innovate4Cities 2021 and Update to the Global Research and Action Agenda
This report has been developed by the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM) and UN-Habitat
based on the outcomes of 2021 Innovate4Cities Conference co-sponsored by UN-Habitat, GCoM and theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. It is intended to inform research, policy and public discussions on
the global research and action agenda for cities and climate change science. The authors have sought to ensure
the accuracy of the material in this document, but they will not be liable for any ramifications incurred through theuse of this report.
Published by Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM) and UN-Habitat, 2022.
Coordinating Lead Authors: Brenna Walsh and Julie Greenwalt
Authors: Brenna Walsh, Julie Greenwalt, Cathy Oke, Paris Hadfield, Ariana Dickey, Marlies Craig, Michelle North,
Nina Hunter, Andrew Okem, Steven Bland, Jorn Verbeeck, Bernhard Barth, Andy Deacon, Hedda Roberts, Jasdeep
Randhawa, Sai Joshi, Diana Carrillo Silva, Margot Lootens, Meredith Adler, Kyra Appleby, Silvia Assalini, Aditya Bahadur,
Xuemei Bai, Aliyu Barau, Pandora Batra, Paolo Bertoldi, Sanjaya Bhatia, Edgardo Bilsky, Natalia Bonilla, Harriet
Bulkeley, Oscar Chamat, Winston Chow, Maria Cortes-Puch, Elena Crete, Ivana Del Rio, Gian Carlo Delgado Ramos,
Maria Dombrov, David Dodman, Aklilu Fikresilassie, Rich Freeh, Curt Garrigan, Nick Godfrey, Leo Horn-Phathanothai,
Rachel Huxley, Nicola Iezza, Arne Janssen, Indy Johar, Ghislaine Kieffer, Merlin Lao, Elsa Lefevre, Eugenia Mansutti,
Augustin Maria, Joanna Masic, Wanjira Mathai, Tadashi Matsumoto, Rodrigo Messias, Dhanashri Miraijkar, Arnoud
Molenaar, Greg Munro, Youssef Nassef, Thomas Osdoba, Martina Otto, Firdaous Oussidhoum, Sheela Patel, Alfredo
Redondo, Aromar Revi, Debra C. Roberts, Mauricio Rodas, Cynthia Rosenzweig, Pourya Salehi, Simone Sandholz,
Aniessa Sari, Dewi Sari, Derya Sasmaz, Seth Schultz, Himanshu Shekhar, Giles Sioen, Marco Silvestri, Richard Sliuzas,
Raisa Soares, William Solecki, Meggan Spires, Maryke van Staden, Bruce Stiftel, Kate Strachan, Sandra Swanson,
Diana Ürge-Vorsatz, Octavia de la Varga Mas, Jon Walton, Helen Watts, Panmao Zhai & Shu Zhu.
To cite this report: Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy & UN-Habitat. (2022) Discussions and Findings
from the 2021 Innovate4Cities conference: new insights for the 2018 Global Research and Action Agenda on Cities
and Climate Change Science. Walsh, B. (ed) and Greenwalt, J, (ed). Oke. C., Hadfield, P., Dickey, A., Craig, M., North,M., Hunter, N., Okem, A., Bland, S., Verbeeck, J., Barth, B., Deacon, A., Roberts, H., Randhawa, J., Joshi S., Carrillo Silva,
D., Lootens, M., Adler, M., Appleby, K., Assalini S., Bahadur, A., Bai, X., Barau, A., Batra P., Bertoldi, P., Bhatia, S. Bilsky, E.,
Bonilla, N., Bulkeley, H., Chamat, O., Chow, W., Cortes-Puch, M., Crete, E., Del Rio, I., Delgado Ramos, G.C., Dombrov, M.,
Dodman, D., Fikresilassie, A., Freeh, R., Garrigan, C., Godfrey, N., Horn-Phathanothai, L., Huxley, R., Iezza, N., Janssen, A.,
Johar, I., Kieffer, G., Lao, M., Lefevre, E., Mansutti, E., Maria, A., Masic, J., Mathai, W., Matsumoto, T., Messias, R., Miraijkar,
D., Molenaar A., Munro, G., Nassef, Y., Osdoba, T., Otto, M., Oussidhoum, F., Patel, S., Redondo, A., Revi A., Roberts, D. C.,
Rodas, M., Rosenzweig, C., Salehi, P., Sandholz, S., Sari, A., Sari D., Sasmaz, D., Schultz, S., Shekhar, H., Sioen, G., Silvestri,
M., Sliuzas, R., Soares, R., Solecki, W., Spires, M., van Staden, M., Stiftel B., Strachan, K., Swanson, S., Ürge-Vorsatz, D., dela Varga Mas, O., Walton, J., Watts, H., Zhai, P., & Zhu, S. https://doi.org/10.26188/62795d16f3bab
This report is under a Creative Commons
https://doi.org/10.26188/62795d16f3bab

license(Attribution-Non-Commercial

4.0International).

HS Number: HS/003/22E
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Views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations Human Settlements
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to IPCC review.

table ofcontents
Executive Summary

5

Section 1: Catalyzing Action and Implementation

11

Context and Purpose

Changing the Mindset: Integrated, people centered visions forthe future of cities
Transformative Processes to Close the Implementation Gap
Diverse local participation and co-creation

8

13
13
13

Finance

15

Capacity

16

Partnerships

17

Research

18

Recognizing and overcoming constraints to climate action in cities

18

Section 2: Research Gaps by GRAA Topic

20

Built and Blue and Green Infrastructure

21

Key Topical Research Areas

21

Urban Planning and Design

21

Informality

24

Finance25

Uncertainty

26

Sustainable Consumption and Production

27

History and Cultural Heritage

28

Cross Cutting Issues

29

4

Systems Approach

29

Health

30

Scale

31

Governance and Institutions

32

Digitalisation and Smart Cities

33

Observations, Data and Modelling at the City Scale

34

Justice and Equity

35

Section 3: Regional insights
Key Topical Research Areas

Built and Blue and Green Infrastructure

37
37
37

Urban Planning and Design

38

Informality

39

Sustainable Consumption and Production

39

Finance

39

History and Cultural Heritage

40

Cross Cutting Issues
Health40

40

Governance and Institutions

40

Digitalisation and Smart Cities

41

Observations, Data and Modelling at the City Scale

41

Justice and Equity

42

Methodology

Acknowledgements
References

43

44
45

5

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

According to the most recent UN estimates approximately 56% of the world’s 7.9 billion inhabitants live incities and their extended urbanised regions (UN DESA, 2019). It has become clear that cities represent both asignificant challenge and opportunity for those focused on addressing the climate change crisis. Small andmedium sized cities in the Global South, for example, have high levels of vulnerable populations and limited
response capacity. Additionally, cities, their stakeholders and leaders are very innovative with respect toclimate change adaptation and mitigation
After a proposal for a Special Report was put forward by the government of South Africa during the 6th assessment
cycle (AR6), at the 43rd Session, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), committed to aSpecial Report on Climate Change and Cities as part of the AR7. To stimulate knowledge exchange, and the
production of evidence-based reports and peer-reviewed publications on cities and climate change, at its 44th
meeting, the IPCC approved a co-sponsorship proposal for an international Cities and Climate Change Science
Conference, held in Edmonton, Canada in March 2018. Urban policymakers, urban practitioners, researchersand other societal actors came together to. The primary output of this conference was the Global Researchand Action Agenda on Cities and Climate Change Science (GRAA)(World Climate Research Programme, 2019)
which emphasized the research needs for increased action on climate change in cities.
In the months following the conference, the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM) launched
the Innovate4Cities initiative to support and expand the research and action called for within the 2018 Cities
and Climate Change Science conference’s GRAA. The first Innovate4Cities conference (Innovate4Cities 2021)
was held virtually in October 2021 by GCoM and UN-Habitat, and co-sponsored by the IPCC, bringing together
representatives from academia, the private sector, NGOs, local governments, national governments, city
networks, youth, international organisations and other stakeholders engaged in addressing climate change incities. Building on the Global Research and Action Agenda, the Innovate4Cities 2021 conference was centred on
the nexus between science, practice and innovation vital to realizing ambitious climate change action in cities
across the globe, with a strong focus on local and regional voices. The Innovate4Cities 2021 conference had
6901 registered participants from 159 countries and featured 886 speakers across 191 sessions.
The Innovate4Cities 2021 conference was an important stocktaking of progress in the production of evidencebased reports and peer-reviewed publications on cities and climate change, and emerging research gaps
which have come about since the Cities and Climate Change Science conference, and which can contribute to
the preparation of the AR7 Special Report on Climate Change and Cities.

6

CATALYSING ACTION AND IMPLEMENTATION
While the 2018 Cities and Climate Change Science
Conference
discussions
focusedonbringing
together the scientific community, practitioners andpolicymakers to discuss the next frontier of research on
cities and climate change, Innovate4Cities 2021 focusedon research and innovation as well as closing the gap
between ambition and implementation. To catalyse
action to close the implementation gap, new researchand knowledge on methods to change the mindset ofurban stakeholders around addressing climate change

and the tools and processes to do so, as illustrated infigure 1 came through very strongly as needs throughout
the Innovate4Cities 2021 conference. This initial sectionin this Findings report is a new addition to the research
and action agenda. It is an important framing fromwhich to view the new and updated research gaps
identified during Innovate4Cities 2021 to support urgent
and widespread uptake of climate change mitigation
and adaptation actions, and important factors toconsider in filling many of these gaps.

Figure 1: Changes in Mindset and Tools and Processes to catalyse action and implementation.
Designed by Barbara Summers

7

RESEARCH GAPS: TOPICAL RESEARCH AREAS AND CROSSCUTTING ISSUES
The second section focuses on the new and emerging research gaps for the topical areas and cross-cutting
issues identified in the Global Research and Action and Agenda and the Innovate4Cities process, including theaddition of a new topical research area on History and Cultural Heritage (see Figure 2).
The research gaps identified within each topical and cross-cutting issue reflect a wide array of challenges
and efforts in addressing climate change that face the diversity of stakeholders in cities across the world.
The research gaps also demonstrate the synergies and interconnectedness of many of these problems andsolutions. The full list of new research gaps, with their synergies to other topical and cross-cutting issues aswell as the gaps identified under these topics in the Global and Research Action Agenda for Cities and Climate
Change are provided in Section 2 of the report.
The final section is another new addition which covers the regional insights on the topical and cross-cuttingareas to highlight how research and implementation gaps vary with regional and local context across the ten
regions of Latin America and the Caribbean, European Union and Western Europe, South Asia, North America,
Africa, Southeast Asia, East Asia, Oceania, Middle East and West Asia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Sustainable&pr consu
odu
cti mpt
on io
n

In
f
o
rm
ali

ty

Digit
alisa
tio
n

g
nin
an n
l
p
n esig
d
d

ce
Finan

Historyand cu
heritag ltural
e

lue
en/b
gre cture&
ilt stru
Bu nfra
i

Ur
b
an a

Uncertainty
Figure 2: Updated Topical Research Areas and Cross cutting themes (inner ring), Topical themes (middle ring) and Delivery
Approaches (outer ring). Modified from original GRAA graphic design by Amanali Cornejo V,
World Climate Research Programme (2019).

8

CONTEXT AND PURPOSE

The world continues to experience rapid urbanisation.
According to the most recent UN estimates
approximately 55% of the world’s 7.9 billion inhabitants
lived in cities and their extended urbanised regions in2018 (UN DESA, 2019). By the year 2050, it is projectedthat more than two-thirds of the population will live inthese places and much of the population growth overthe next 30 years will occur in cities (predominantly
those of the Global South). As a well-recognized global
mega-trend, it has become clear that cities and their
expected growth represent both a significant challenge
and opportunity for those focused on addressing theclimate change crisis. Small and medium sized cities
in the Global South, for example, have high levels ofvulnerable populations and limited response capacity.
At the same time, cities and their stakeholders andleaders have been well documented as being very
innovative with respect to climate change adaptationand mitigation. It is in this multi-faceted and dynamic
context that cities and their residents emerge asimportant actors in the global climate change response.
After a proposal for a Special Report was put forward
by the government of South Africa during the 6th
assessment cycle (AR6), at the 43rd Session of theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in
2016, the IPCC committed to a Special Report on Climate
Change and Cities as part of the 7th assessment cycle.
To stimulate knowledge exchange, and the productionof evidence-based reports and peer-reviewed
publications on cities and climate change, at its 44th
meeting, the IPCC approved a co-sponsorship proposal
for an international Cities and Climate Change Science
Conference, to be held in 2018. The Cities and Climate
Change Science conference was subsequently held in
Edmonton, Canada in March 2018.
The 2018 Cities and Climate Change Science
conference initiated a process of engagement between
urban policymakers, urban practitioners, researchersand other societal actors involved in ensuring a safe
transition to sustainable urban societies in the face ofhuman-induced climate change. These groups came
together to map and evaluate the state of researchand progress on the intersection of cities and climatechange with an emphasis on research needs forincreased action. The primary output of this conference
was the Global Research and Action Agenda on Cities
and Climate Change Science (GRAA)(World Climate

Research Programme, 2019), which identified four crosscutting areas and six topical areas where research andknowledge were needed.
In the months following the conference, the Global
Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM)
launched the Innovate4Cities initiative to support andexpand the research and action called for within the2018 Cities and Climate Change Science conference’s
GRAA. The Innovate4Cities initiative looks to define andaddress cities’ knowledge and innovation opportunities
and create partnerships between the scientific andacademic community, businesses, and governments
to overcome the challenges local governments face
between their publicly reported ambition and full-scale
implementation.
The first Innovate4Cities conference (Innovate4Cities
2021) was held virtually in October 2021 by GCoM andUnited Nations Human Settlement Programme (UNHabitat), and co-sponsored by the IPCC, bringing
together representatives from academia, the private
sector, NGOs, local governments, national governments,
city networks, youth, international organisations andother stakeholders engaged in addressing climatechange in cities. Building on the 2018 Cities and Climate
Change Science conference and the resultant Global
Research and Action Agenda for Cities and Climate
Change Science, the Innovate4Cities 2021 conference
was centred on the nexus between science, practiceand innovation vital to realizing ambitious climatechange action in cities across the globe. The conference
also examined local challenges and priorities, with astrong focus on local and regional priorities and voices,emphasised through the inclusion of a dedicatedgroup of regional meeting curators spanning theglobe. The recognition of the need for innovation at thecity level to support the shift from business-as-usual
and to overcome the challenges of incumbent/pathdependent modes of production and consumption,and governance and policy making is important to takethe research and action which began after the 2018conference further. The Innovate4Cities 2021 conference
was also an important stocktaking of progress in the
production of evidence-based reports and peerreviewed publications on cities and climate change
which has occurred since the 2018 Cities and Climate
Change Science conference, and which could be9assessed during the preparation of the 7th assessment
cycle’s Special Report on Climate Change and Cities.
Innovate4Cities 2021 was guided by the Science andInnovation Steering Committee and Partner Network
Organising Committee, the members of which
regularly work on and research climate change andcity issues, alongside the Global Covenant of Mayors’
Research and Innovation Technical Working Group.1
Science and Innovation Steering Committee members
were nominated in their personal capacity and wereselected due to their outstanding scientific contribution
in urban climate science in the six topical researchareas identified in the GRAA (urban planning anddesign, built and blue/green infrastructure, sustainableconsumption and production, finance, informality
and uncertainty) experience in guiding innovative
processes, and in-depth experience and knowledgeof urban development issues. Partner Network
Organising Committee members were self-nominatedor nominated by GCoM and UN-Habitat. The members
were selected to ensure the group had a set of individuals
representing organizations with global and regional
representation and geographic balance, expertiseon the different GRAA topics and additional topics
identified in the Innovate4Cities City Research Agenda,2 as well as gender balance. Organisations who came
together to host the 2018 Cities and Climate Change
Science conference were also invited to nominate
individuals to represent their organisations in thePartner Network Organising Committee. The purpose
was to promote continuity between the two processes.

The Innovate4Cities 2021 conference had 6901
registered participants from 159 countries, 886 speakers
across 191 sessions and over 20,000 site visits during
the week of the conference. While the Innovate4Cities
2021 conference built on and advanced the discussion
held at the 2018 Cities and Climate Change Science
conference, the context within which the conference
was held was fundamentally different.
The Research and Innovation (R+I) Technical Working
Group, established late 2018, steers Innovate4Cities,
one of the key initiatives of the GCoM, focused on furthering its
City Research Agenda.
2
The Innovate4Cities Agenda was launched by GCoM
in Sept 2018, after identifying that further consultation withcity governments, the private sector, academia and urban
practitioners was needed to further the research needs
identified in the GRAA, and to promote implementation andaction on urban climate change issues. The Innovate4Cities
City Research Agenda prioritises evidence based action withsignificant focus on local context. It identified topical researchareas for urban climate change science and innovation:
urban planning and design, energy, waste, buildings, water,transportation and food and three cross cutting issues, finance,
governance and public procurement as key to advancing
urban climate change research and innovation.
1

The 2018 Cities and Climate Change Science
conference was held prior to the release of the IPCC’s
Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5o C which clearlycommunicated the difference in impacts between
1.5 and 2 oC of global warming for the first time. At the2018 Cities and Climate Change Science conference,
700 participants came together in person for threedays, while the Innovate4Cities 2021 conference wasentirely virtual because of the COVID-19 pandemic. A
virtual meeting facilitated broader participation with aprogramme spanning all global time zones. However,it provided only limited opportunity for networking andinformal discussions that often happen at an in-person
event. The Innovate4Cities 2021 conference was held in
the lead up to the Convention on Biological Diversity’s
COP 15 and the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change’s COP 26 (both of which had
been delayed from 2020 to 2021 due to the COVID-19
pandemic). The Innovate4Cities 2021 conference
was also held shortly after the release of the IPCC’s
AR6 Working Group I main assessment report which
utilized stronger and more direct language than had
previously been used by the IPCC to communicate theunprecedented impacts of climate change that theworld is experiencing and will continue to face in the
future.
Between the two conferences there had also beena growing recognition of the importance and roleof cities and local governments in addressing
climate change globally. As an example, when the
Innovate4Cities initiative launched in 2018, 9,098 cities
had signed on to GCoM. By October 2021, the numberof committed cities had grown to 11,714. Further, climate
emergency declarations have begun to be adopted
by local councils, with approximately 2,000 cities andregions having declared climate emergencies since2019 (Climate Emergency Declaration, 2021). The
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change’s Race to Zero and Race to Resilience3
campaigns have also recognised the important roleof cities, calling out cities in the Cities Race to Zero andRace to Resilience initiatives, which had 733 and 33
signatory cities respectively when the Innovate4Cities
2021 conference took place.
The Race to Zero is a United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change initiative to bring together leaders in various
sectors outside of national governments to commit to net zerocarbon emissions by 2050, led by the the High Level Climate
Champions for COP26 in 2021. The Race to Resilience campaign
is a sister campaign bringing a strong focus from the same setof sectors and actors -again outside of national governmentsaround building resilience and adaptation to climate change.
In both the Race to Zero and Race to Resilience initiatives, cities
have been highlighted as a key sector and cities around theworld have been invited to commit to these initiatives.

3

10Over the past several years, there has been increased
media attention and larger citizen mobilization
around the issue of climate change, with strong calls
for implementation of mitigation and adaptation
actions. Especially from young climate activists with
‘Fridays for Future’ climate school strikes starting in
the fall of 2018, now a well-recognized and widespreadoccurrence across the globe (Fisher, 2021). Concerns
about historical and on-going inequities in cities thatcompound impacts of climate change on health havealso broadened the discussion on the intersectionalityof climate change and the need to address issues ofjustice, gender, inequality, and marginalization as partof climate responses (Waldron, 2021).
The last two years (2020-2021) have also seen theemergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. This resulted
in the largest year on year decrease in CO2 emissions
since World War II, with emissions dropping 5.8 %compared to 2019 (IEA, 2021). In 2021, global carbon
emissions rebounded to their highest level in history(IEA, 2022). The COVID-19 pandemic has also negatively
affected municipal budgets in many cities and resulted
in shifting priorities in national budgeting to deal withthe health and economic crisis (UCLG, 2021, European
Union, 2021). In addition to the topical areas where future
research is needed and cross cutting issues which wereidentified in the Global Research Agenda on Cities andClimate Change Science, three additional cross cuttingareas were added as themes for the Innovate4Cities
2021 conference: Digitalisation and Smart Cities, Healthand Wellbeing, and Justice and Equity.
The following sections present the discussion andfindings from the Innovate4Cities 2021 conference,
which add to and build on the 2018 Cities and Climate
Change Science conference’s GRAA. This report includes
new and more action-oriented insights on strategicand effective research and innovation to address therisks and impacts of climate change in cities. With an
overarching focus during the conference on how to use
science and knowledge to inform the implementationof regionally appropriate climate change responses incities at the scale and speed required (reflecting recent
work on regionalising the Innovate4Cities City Research
Agenda (Hadfield et al., 2021)), this update is intended to
inform urban researchers, practitioners, and decisionmakers about the options available to accelerate more
integrated and holistic climate change mitigation andadaptation research and action.

Innovate4Cities 2021 had three primary objectives4,•

Advance progress towards meeting the
research and knowledge gaps identified by
the Global Research and Action Agenda, as
well as newly identified gaps, especially inlight of the COVID-19 pandemic.

•

Catalyse engagement between scientists andpractitioners for inputs to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change
discussions and to support the strengthened
focus on regional and urban issues in the
IPCC AR6 cycle.

•

To generate new platforms and partnerships
and to strengthen those that already exist
for the co-creation and disseminationof promising policy, technology andorganisational innovations for climate neutral
and resilient cities.

Section 1 of this report, Catalyzing Action and
Implementation, introduces the motivations andobjectives of the conference. It also introduces one of the
key overarching points of discussion evident throughout
the conference: that while the 2018 discussions focusedon cities increasing climate change action ambition,
those at Innovate4Cities 2021 focused on closing the gap
between ambition and implementation. In other words,
putting solutions in place on the ground which mitigate
the effects of climate change and build adaptive
capacity in cities. This was specifically highlighted in thesummary provided of the opening plenary. It detailed
the key processes, tools, and challenges involved inachieving transformative change. That is, moving fromincremental change to change at the level of systems
at the city level and addressing the implementation
gaps linked to climate change solutions for cities.
Section 2 highlights the research gaps identified during
the Innovate4Cities 2021 conference, noting synergies
between other topical areas or cross cutting issues(of the GRAA). It also compares the research gaps
identified at Innovate4Cities 2021 to those which wereidentified in the Global Research and Action Agenda
on Cities and Climate Change Science. Finally, Section
3 explores more detailed insights into, and illustrative
examples of, research and innovation needs associatedwith particular regions categorized by topical and crosscutting areas found in the GRAA.
4
In accordance with the conference co-sponsorshipproposal and subsequent agreement submitted by UNHabitat
and GCoM to the IPCC, these taken from shortened list of
objectives for communication.

11

SECTION 1: CATALYSING ACTION AND
			IMPLEMENTATIONThe conference engaged with a broad range of topics
on cities, climate change science and innovation withnine Thematic Plenaries, acting as important touchpoints for discussions that had been conducted during
parallel sessions across time zones. It also had three
regionally focused Plenaries and six regionally focused
Mayoral Receptions. Many of the ideas presented in
the first section of this document were raised in thesehigh-level Plenaries andelaborated in parallel andinnovation lab sessions.
The core writing team led
the recording process forall sessions and hostedapost-conference
workshop with the Scienceand Innovation Steering
Committee,
Partner
Network
Organising
Committee and GCoM’s
Research and Innovation
Technical Working Groupto obtain feedback fromthese groups on the key
messages and researchgaps presented in thisdocument.
The sectionof the illustration createdduringtheclosing
plenary highlighting theconference
takeaways(Figure 1) captures manyof the important messages
highlighted in this section.

and adaptation in cities. During the opening plenary,
IPCC Lead Author, Francois Engelbrecht presented key
takeaways of the recently released Working Group I
contribution to the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment cycle: “ThePhysical Science Basis’’ indicating that the world is very
close to exceeding 1.5oC of warming, even with ambitious
mitigation. Staying below 1.5oC of warming would require
halving emissions by 2030 with continuous reductions
until net zero emissions isachieved at the very latest
by 2050. Realising this levelof mitigation would require
local governments and theircities to play a critical role inincreasing global ambition.
Governance challenges andbarriers to change contributetotheimplementation
gap experienced by cities
in addressing the climatechange challenge. However,as was heard in conference
discussions, in many cities
it is evident that pushing forthis change is not just about
percent
decarbonization
or reaching net zero, as it
can support making a morejust and liveable city for all
residents. As Mayor Pekka
Timonen of Lahti, Finland
said in the EU and UK Mayoral
reception: “A sustainable
city is a better city for people
and businesses, not just in
numbers”.

From
theOpening
Plenary and throughout
Figure 1: section from Graphic summary of the
Closing Plenary, illustrator Desiree Llanos
theInnovate4Cities2021
Alongside the need forconference,
discussion
ambitious mitigation there
focusedontheis a need for increased
implementation
gap
adaptation as the world isin cities related to climate change action and theexperiencing unprecedented impacts resulting fromneed for research to support this action. During theheatwaves, heavy precipitation events, droughts,
Innovate4Cities 2021 conference’s opening plenary,storms and other extreme events that are expected
speakers identified the need for urgent, bold andto further intensify as global warming increases. The
ambitious responses to the climate change challenge;
impacts of climate change are and will continue to behighlighting the stark reality of climate change risks
unevenly distributed - demonstrating the critical needand impacts for cities in the present and near-term
for ongoing adaptation action in cities. Throughout theand focused on the need for the implementation ofconference, it was recognized that cities are influential
solutions which facilitate climate change mitigation
because of the number of people that live and12congregate there, the concentration of infrastructure
and businesses, and the intangible world of ideas,
culture, art, etc. that combine to make cities hubs ofinnovation5. But at the same time this congregationand concentration of people and assets makes cities
hot spots of climate risk. While recognizing that there isincredible diversity between and within cities in termsof size, density, history, demography, geographicallocation, economy and natural environment, it is clearthat all cities will be impacted by the dangerous levelsof warming and changes to the climate currently being
experienced and projected for the future. Cities needto adapt to the rapidly changing climate and limit theadverse impacts especially for the poor and vulnerable
human and natural communities.
Though cities are making increasingly ambitious
mitigation and adaptation commitments, fundamental
questions remain about how to translate this into action
at the scale and speed required to achieve the emission
reductions and increased resilience necessary for asustainable and prosperous future. The stakeholders
who came together at the Innovate4Cities 2021
conference presented solutions, frameworks, tools andgranular data gained from physical and social science
research, public consultation and other sources.
With this large implementation gap never far fromthe minds of conference participants, two recurring
areas of discussion in plenary, parallel and innovation
lab sessions were identified as primary enablers fortransformative change: (1) a shift in the mindset instakeholders working to address climate change incities and (2) the tools that these urban stakeholders
need to realise transformative change.
Figure 2 uses a triple helix to illustrate these two key
areas of discussion, with the backbones denoting
the elements related to change in mindset and therungs indicating the different tools to facilitate theadvancement of city climate action, at the speed andscale needed. Visioning for the future, people centeredsolutions and an integrated systems approach -which
are facilitated by the CHANGE IN MINDSET - are thebackbones of the triple helix and are meant to shape
how climate related decisions are put in place in cities,
but also how the outcomes on the ground themselves
look. The tools which are being called for to increase the5
GCoM’s Research and Innovation Technical Working
Group understands ‘innovation’ broadly defined as a “newidea, method, or device” and a “change made to an existingproduct, idea, or field” (Merrium-Webster 2020). In practice,city governments and other urban actors can engage in many
forms of innovation spanning problem-solving, creativity,
leadership, multidisciplinary approaches, visioning, anddiffusion of alternative policies, processes and products.

speed and scale of climate action in cities - finance,
partnership, participation, research and capacity

Figure 2:
Changes in mindset & the Tools and Processes toclose the implementation gap on climate change action incities.
Graphic designed by Barbara Summers

building - to realize this transformative change, are therungs of the triple helix.
There are three elements to how changes in mindset
can guide the closing of the implementation gap
for more equitable and holistic outcomes in cities,
illustrated as the backbones of the double helix:
1.

People centered: People, development, justiceand equity are important considerations
in developing urban climate solutions that
address historical injustices, incorporate
cultural heritage and Indigenous knowledge
and provide equitable and sustainable
benefits.

2.

Integrated systems approach: An integrated
systems approach that considers interactions,interdependencies, and connections within

13

cities is critical for innovative solutions to theclimate crisis.
3.

New visions of the future: Instead of focusing
on where cities are now, envision a citytransformed and not limited by the current
reality.

In addition, there are five Tools and Processes for closing
the implementation gap which are depicted as therungs of the triple helix (1) participation (2) partnership(3) finance (4) capacity building (5) research

Changing the Mindset: Integrated,people centered visions for the
future of cities

At approximately the halfway point of the conference,the 5th Plenary introduced the provocative title: Beyond
Silos, Beyond Pilots: targeting systems transformations
in cities. The first of the catalysts for action andimplementation that were identified during theconference: the need for a CHANGE IN MINDSET was
heavily featured by speakers in this plenary, and others
throughout the conference as participants considered
how to enable transformative change within cities andcommunities.
As stated by Edmonton City Councillor Ben Hendersonin the Opening Plenary, when the local governmentin Edmonton wrote and committed to the Edmonton
Declaration6 in 2018, they discovered that they needed acompletely different mindset and framing to implement
their plan than it took to envision where they wanted
to go. The Councillor stated that this ‘...meant that
we needed a rigour of our own. We couldn’t just put
something down on paper and then continue to dowhat has been the history in cities of not meeting thosegoals and those targets.’ In Edmonton they shifted toworking on a carbon budget, as inspired by the city ofOslo, Norway to allow them to see how much carbon
they had available per year, and then asked city staff
to go back and rethink financial budgeting and otherprocesses to fit within this carbon budget.

6
The Edmonton Declaration is “a bold call-to-action for
mayors to take the mantle of leadership on climate change,
and amplify the message that rising greenhouse gas emissions
severely impact cities”. This Declaration came together in the
Edmonton Change for Climate Mayor’s Summit which was held
March 3rd and 4th 2018 to provide input into the Cities andClimate Change Science conference. The Declaration includes
a commitment to a 1.5 degree pathway by city signatories aswell as a call for partnership to achieve the goals of the Cities
and Climate Change Science.

This process of shifting the mindset from setting
ambitions to developing rigorous, data driven actionplans for implementation to meet a city’s climate goals
year-on-year will likely be unique to each individual
city; however, sharing and dialogue between cities
can help catalyse this evolution. Shifting mindset
also involves an ability to think about different timescales within the same planning and implementation
framework - determining not only what to do next
year but being able to re-evaluate those actions withrespect to goals on 5-, 10- and 20-year horizons, a point
raised by Prof. Kim Cobb from the Georgia Institute ofTechnology in the North American Regional Curator’sMayoral Reception. This involves critical evaluationof options, using evidence-based approaches andclimate models and projections to help inform future
implementation, and current response action to deal
with ongoing climate impacts.

Transformative Processes to Closethe Implementation Gap
Transformative change is defined in a recent IPCC
report as “A system-wide change that requires morethan technological change through consideration ofsocial and economic factors that, with technology,
can bring about rapid change at scale” (IPCC, 2018).
At the Innovate4Cities 2021 conference, transformativechange was discussed in many sessions, and several
processes to enable this change are elaborated below.

Diverse local participation andco-creation
There was increased recognition at the conference
that having all relevant actors - with special attention
needed regarding marginalized stakeholders –involved in the discussions and decisions relating toclimate change responses is essential and can expand
the range of benefits achieved beyond those related toclimate change. This inclusion of additional voices can
expand the solution space - in terms of set of possible
solutions or methods of implementation - and lead toinnovation. Whether acting at the mega city scale or
the neighbourhood level, innovative methods to foster
discussion and education are useful in ensuring that
community members understand the contexts, both
local and global, of a changing climate. For example,
in the Africa Regional Curators Mayoral Reception,
Patrick Njoroge, a community mobilization expert from
Kenya, suggested implementing targeted educational
campaigns that increase the climate knowledge of
specific community members who can then champion
and share knowledge in a locally contextual and14culturally appropriate way within their community toencourage local climate action.
Understanding existing power dynamics within a city,
and an ability to be flexible and to work within these
dynamics can also pave the way for innovation. However,existing dynamics and structures have in some cases
resulted in exclusion and marginalization, and shiftingthese power dynamics so that youth, Indigenous, nonfossil fuel/extractive industry, and non-capitalistic
interests etc. can meaningfully participate to strengthen
co-created solutions. There is a growing history of
the youth, climate activists, and Indigenous groups
mobilising to raise awareness and influence policy that
could help in identifying and informing priorities forclimate action and implementing this change. Other
critical groups that have been under-represented informal processes, but are critical agents of change for
cities include residents of informal settlements, workers

in the informal economy, and migrants, examples ofwhich were seen in the session Harnessing Informal
Innovation: Lessons from Three Climate Resilient
Development Projects in Pacific Island Cities and Towns
and Urbanisation and Climate Change Adaptation in
Coastal Areas of the Caspian Sea. Furthermore, diverse
representation in terms of gender, age, socio-economic
background, ethnicity, place of origin, expertise andprofession helps to ensure that processes are notdominated by homogeneous groups. This can support
more just and equitable implementation of climate
solutions. To solve the climate crisis, everyone has arole to play. However, this requires opportunity andaccess to decision making and resources to participate
meaningfully.
As participation in climate change planning andimplementation processes grows, it will be important tounderstand how participatory processes are designed,

Figure 3: Graphic summary of Plenary 6 on Emerging Topics for Future Science and Innovation, as drawn by conference
illustrator Lulu Kitololo

15

whether they are effective in reaching all membersof different communities, how the approach can be
improved, and how techniques vary between different
cultural contexts, city typologies etc. Sharing thesefindings between cities can also help support a cultureof not being afraid to experiment and fail, as well as
provide useful examples of where previously usedsystems have been transformed, and new structuresand forms of governance tested at the city scale.
Learnings from other cities on how implementation
has progressed on the ground can be shared and help
other cities to avoid the same mistakes and can assist
in driving implementation at scale. Plenary 6, which
focused on addressing emerging topics for shaping
future science and innovation, emphasized thatbringing people together and a whole society approach
are critical for future innovations in addressing climatechange in cities (see Figure 3).

FinanceFinancial flows remain concentrated at the levelof international and national government making
direct action in cities difficult to fund (CPI, 2021). Thisis especially the case in cities that have limited ownsource revenue or access to private capital even though
research has shown that local level action delivers longterm, and impactful benefits for informal settlements inthe areas of poverty reduction, disaster risk reduction
and climate change adaptation (C40 Cities, 2019).
Currently just 10% of climate finance reaches the local
level (Soanes et al., 2019). The significant finance gap
for implementation of climate solutions at the city
scale was identified in many plenaries and parallelsessions (Figure 4 is a graphic summary of the Finance
Plenary). It was noted in Plenary 4 on Informality and

Figure 4: Illustration from Plenary 7 Financing the Transition and Mobilizing Urban Climate Finance capturing the diversity of
aspects to consider in increasing and improving the ways in which urban climate finance is provided, as drawn by conference
illustrator Lulu Kitololo

16

Equity, as well as at other sessions that an increase infinance was needed, but that different mechanisms
for cities to access finance were also needed. A better
understanding of how to address the barriers faced bycities in accessing finance, such as lack of direction of
public funding of climate finance from the national tothe city level, inability for cities to access credit markets,the lack of appropriate mechanisms to fund adaptation
measures, and limited private sector investment isneeded.
Questions of how to fund the solutions which are fit
to purpose in a city (facilitating a just transition andsupporting other development goals) and how tobring together the actors needed for implementation
were also highlighted as priorities. In addition tothinking about how funding is delivered, discussions
on the incentives for different stakeholders in terms of
how current climate finance is structured at the city
scale and how this could be modified were also heard
through several Plenary and parallel sessions. Severalof these aspects are elaborated upon in Section 2
on Research Gaps, where finance is highlighted as a
topic for further research. However, Knowledge gaps
relating to finance are also present in the Built and Blue
Green Infrastructure, Urban Planning and Design and
Governance topics, highlighting the need for further
mainstreaming of finance for urban climate action
planning and implementation, and the elevation of this
topic in urban climate change discussion since the 2018
Cities and Climate Change Science Conference (PrieurRichard, 2019).

Capacity
Development of capacity (such as skilled personnel,
organisational resources, informational and researchcapabilities and financial resources and their
management) within local government, and amongst
other stakeholders was also raised as a key enabler
to accelerate implementation. Ensuring that the rightcapacity, data and finance are available at the righttime, was highlighted as critical in Plenary 3. Increased
capacity and data can help local governments invest
their limited resources strategically or apply for otherfunding sources more effectively. Lack of capacity canmake it difficult to explore, understand and implement
suggestions emerging from the latest climate scienceand to understand where gaps exist, and innovation may
be needed. Employing systems thinking and ensuringthat capacity building, data collection and funding
decisions are not occurring in silos can allow local
governments to move to large scale implementationand ensure solutions are more impactful.
Some key stakeholders such as the youth were identified
as not having the power, funds, access and networks
required to implement the radical changes they are
advocating for, as stated in the session led by Student
Energy: Achieving and Equitable and Sustainable Energy
Transition. This was highlighted as being particularly
challenging for many cities in Africa and Asia that will
be affected the most by climate change and where
the majority of the population is below the age of
25. Educational programs at universities and otherinstitutions can be very important to build capacity torespond to climate change and play an active role inproviding knowledge necessary to advocate for and to
implement urban climate change solutions. Funding
for such programs and clear pathways from training tojob creation should also be considered. To elevate therole of youth in responding to climate change in cities,
Meredith Adler from Student Energy in Plenary 3 called
for young people to have access to training to enable
them to increase their influence and act effectively. The
need for further support for the youth, including financial
support, was also recognized in Plenary 7 on Finance.
Urban stakeholders who will be important in shaping
current and future cities, like architects and engineers
also need training to enable them to undertake thetype of forward visioning envisaged at the conference.
The systems thinking needed to implement climatechange solutions in cities at the scale required must
be underpinned by collaboration within and acrossdisciplines, sectors and levels of government. In
addition, as digitalisation continues to be importantin advancing business, accessing information andconnecting with solutions, there is a need for capacity
building for local governments and communities toensure that they can harness new digital technologies.
This can allow them to take advantage of their potential
to support the creation of partnerships and enhancing
participation and collaboration instead of increasing
the digital divide between and within cities and local
government.

17Partnerships
Partnerships between local governments, academia, theprivate sector, other levels of governments, civil society
organisations (inclusive of marginalized populations,such as Indigenous peoples, women, youth, people
with disabilities, informal settlers etc.), international
bodies and other stakeholders were identified as being
important in reducing risk, facilitating scaling climatechange solutions across multiple cities and improving
the effectiveness of implementation. Partnerships can bemost beneficial when there is continued understanding,respect and learning from different communities within
the partnership. The conference highlighted, during
Plenary 8, that throughout history, cities have provento be important places for collaboration, convening,listening and learning. In creating partnerships, however,a balance has to be found between the need for timeand space for discussion and respect to be built, andthe speed and scale of action required to respond to theimplementation gap and required change.
One way to conceptualise these partnerships
highlighted in conference discussions was thinking
of a city’s climate change response as a race, but not
one that is carried out individually, rather a relay thatinvolves a number of actors playing a role. Seth Shultz
used this analogy in the closing plenary and highlighted
that the race could not be finished successfully
without each member of the team knowing their roleand handing over to the person who would carry the
responsibility for continuing the race. These hand-offs
between partners require trust and care if they are tobe effective. An example provided in the conference
was the Philippines government shifting away from a
conventional top-down approach in urban planning,towards a more participatory and risk-based approachthat uses nature-based solutions7 to climate change,
which requires not only trust to expand into this new
solution space but also the need to work with multiple
partners and participants (from session Financing
Green Innovation for Climate Goals).
The development of partnerships also requires aconsideration of power relations and dynamics that can
7
Parties to the United Nations Environment Framework(UNEA), on March 2nd 2022 adopted an official definition ofnature-based solutions, which is defined “as actions to protect,conserve, restore, sustainably use and manage natural or
modified terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems,
which address social, economic and environmental challenges
effectively and adaptively, while simultaneously providing
human well-being, ecosystem services and resilience andbiodiversity benefits”. This is the definition which will be used fornature-based solutions through this document

enable action and or act as barriers to implementation.
This requires an understanding of the incentives fordifferent actors within a partnership and how these canbe best aligned to deliver on the overall goal of scaled
up, ambitious and rapid implementation, independentof the motivation of the different partners. Additionally,
when an initiative is completed, evaluating whether
the partnership was fit for purpose, and included
consideration of all actors who may have benefitted
the project is important and helpful to shape future
partnerships and help to accelerate implementation.
The overall lessons emerging around partnerships
include the need for trust, being open to learning by
doing, flexibility, willingness to do things differently,
prioritising conversations about what is not working andinvolving all who can help to get across the finish line
more quickly.
Collaboration can open up space for local entrepreneurs
and social enterprises to innovate and drive forward
climate action. Local governments can also innovate.
For example, through changing their procurement
processes to support low-carbon and climate resilient
development. The training session Challenge Prizes:
How to Design and Run Open Innovation Competitions
to Develop & Test and Scale Innovative Solutions
In Cities provided examples of local governments
replacing standard procurement processes that focus
on “terms of reference” with an approach that invites
solutions providers to suggest ideas to meet the
local governments challenges. There are also many
opportunities for stakeholders to increase alignmentof their work, for example, the recent Global State of
National Urban Policy (OECD/UN-Habitat/UNOPS,
2021) report found that although 52 of the 67 countries
surveyed include both mitigation and adaptation
actions in their climate plans, only 30 had self-identified
as having direct institutional arrangements between theleading National Urban Policy ministry/agency and theirnational environment ministry. The number of countries
which engage in knowledge exchanges and capacity
building across these ministries, was only 26. This lackof coordination could be addressed by acknowledging
that there is a virtuous cycle of knowledge, and that noindividual or group holds all the information. For example,
approaches in which scientists and researchers canlearn from Indigenous people and local governments
can learn from entrepreneurs both in the formal andinformal sectors in ways that are respectful and don’t
reinforce a hierarchy of knowledge and experience will
help create knowledge and capacity to drive change.

18

ResearchResearch plays an important role in developing new
ideas and innovations for urban climate change
responses, but also helps to assess and compare
solutions and describe and evaluate future climate
scenarios, helping to understand how climate change
will affect cities around the world. Ongoing collaborationand partnership between the research community andother urban actors can increase the understandingof the best options and uncertainties in mitigation,
adaptation and building resilience. Research gaps
identified during Innovate4Cities 2021 (see Section 2for detailed theme by theme breakdown) showed anincrease in synergies between individual topical andcross cutting themes (ie. research gap under Urban
Planning and Design also having clear reference tourban climate finance), highlighting the need for aholistic, people-centered vision leading to increased
action to addressing climate change in cities.
It was highlighted in the closing plenary - which calledout the fact that there was only one single engineer
at the Cities and Climate Change Science conferencein Edmonton - as well as by Plenary 6 - featuring anarchaeologist, architect, historian and academic withexpertise in economics and physics - that there arestill many academic communities that have not yet
participated in urban climate change research andthe partnerships undertaking this research. With one of
the conference goals being to Catalyse engagement
between scientists and practitioners for inputs to the
IPCC discussions and to support the strengthened focus
on regional and urban issues in the IPCC AR6 cycle, oneof the ongoing challenges of the initiative started by the2018 Cities and Climate Change Science conference
and continued with the Innovate4Cities 2021 and any
future iterations of this conference series is to bring new
voices into the discussion with and within academia, tobuild stronger partnerships and strengthen researchwhere more information is needed to effectively tackle
climate change in cities around the world.

Recognizing and overcoming
constraints to climate action
in cities

There were many assertions of hope, possibility andexcitement about changes and progress in cities
addressing climate change during the Innovate4Cities
2021 conference, but there was also a recognition that
there is still much work to be done. The gap between
ambition and implementation was raised repeatedly
during conference discussions. At the same time,speakers also highlighted that the ambition of many
local governments does not match what climate
science suggests is needed, reflecting only what
seems possible. As noted previously, sustainabletransformations will not be attained if the possibilities
for local government action are limited to those foundwithin traditional path dependencies.
Large-scale implementation and innovation can be
impeded because local and national governments
are often constrained in their ability to explore new
approaches and to take risks, by risk-averse institutional
cultures, regulations, the risk of litigation andconservative attitudes to new or unusual thinking. Being
forward thinking, using imagination and taking risks are
not always things those working in local government
are trained and incentivised to do, as highlighted by
Kirsten Dunlop in Plenary 5. Many funding sources arerisk averse which can lead to a fear of failure insteadof incentives to act boldly and embrace setbacks
and small failures as a way of learning and moving
forward. Other stakeholders - such as entrepreneurs,
civil society, youth and activists - who may have moreexperience with bold innovation should be encouraged
to become partners and given the opportunity to help
drive the innovation agenda forward with researchers,international organization and city networks. Local
governments can also play a role in enabling andencouraging innovative practices and cultures andshould be brought into discussions throughout theplanning and implementation phase even when this isdriven by other stakeholders.
A deep analysis of structural barriers to innovative
action is also needed (taking into account culture
and historical differences), as was highlighted in
Plenary 6 by Indy Johar. How incentive structures
manifest in short term political cycles; how city budget
allocation influences decisions; how cities are treatedas autonomous entities but also have limitations
depending on their regional, state, provincial or national
contexts, are some examples of the institutional factorsthat shape climate planning in cities. Recognition ofsuch structural barriers and how they can be changed,
challenged or overcome as well as the risks and costs ofsystems remaining the same are all areas that require
better understanding.
There is increasing recognition from the global toneighborhood level, that difficult choices may lie
ahead regarding the prioritisation of action. A criticalexamination of questions such as those below may
be necessary to help prioritise actions that may best
position local governments to respond to the broad and19increasing range of climate change risks and impacts
that may now be inevitable in some places:•

How do we go beyond understanding justthe climate and ecological tipping points
to understand when stressors in society
may cause volatility and social stress that
fundamentally alters society?

•

What are the societal tipping points that cities
may confront in the face of growing impacts
from climate change?

•

How do we take into consideration some of themore extreme scenarios and the narrowing
range of response options?

•

How do we support cities facing existential
threats such as cities in small island states?

Scaling up and increasing the speed of action to
mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and adapt toclimate change is not easy for any city whether it is asmall to medium-sized city in Africa, a megacity in Asia
or a large metropolitan area in North America. It requires
knowledge, understanding, participation of diverse
groups, collaboration and finance on a scale thatcurrently does not exist. The collective power of cities
and the opportunities for ingenuity and collaboration
they create provide a global scale but time-limited
opportunity to drive the change required to meetthis challenge.

20

SECTION 2:

RESEARCH GAPS BY GRAA TOPIC

Building on the overarching insights presented in
Section 1, this section provides a summary of researchgaps identified at the Innovate4Cities 2021 conference.
It also revisits the research gaps identified in the GRAA,
which emerged from the 2018 Cities and Climate
Change Science conference (Prieur-Richard, 2018).
The research gaps are divided into the key topicalareas where research is needed and cross cutting
themes that were identified in developing the GRAA.
Three cross cutting issues were added in the planningfor Innovate4Cities 2021, these being Digitalization andSmart Cities, Health and Wellbeing and Justice andEquity. A stronger emphasis and understanding of

how culture and history can influence climate change
impacts and responses in cities emerged during the 2021
conference and therefore History and Cultural Heritageis included as a new topical research area within thisreport. The original GRAA and newly introduced topic
and cross cutting issues are illustrated in Figure 5, which
is an update from the wheel diagram introduced in
Figure 1 of the GRAA in 2018.
Throughout this section, synergies between researchgaps found under other topical or crosscutting areas
have been denoted on the right most column of theresearch gap tables.

Sustainable&pr consu
odu
cti mpt
on io
n

In
f
o
rm
ali

ty

Digit
alisa
tio
n

g
nin
an n
l
p
n esig
d
d

ce
Finan

Historyand cu
heritag ltural
e

ue
n/bl
ree ureg&ct
ilt stru
Bu nfra
i

Ur
b
an a

Uncertainty
Figure 5: Expanded from Figure 1. Global Research and Action Agenda on Cities and Climate Change Science illustrating
topical areas (middle ring) where research is needed, as well as cross cutting (inner ring) areas for action and delivery
approaches (outer ring) Modified from original GRAA graphic design by Amanali Cornejo V, World Climate Research
Programme (2019).

21

Key Topical Research Areas
Built and Blue and Green Infrastructure

The built and blue and green infrastructure researcharea covers both the built infrastructure for transport,
energy, and communications that deliver services
across cities, as well as the natural environment thatprovides ecosystem services that support people, theeconomy and biodiversity.
Global Research and Action Agenda ResearchGap, Cities and Climate Change Science
Conference, 2018
Further exploration is needed of low-carbon
and environmentally friendly infrastructure
options that go beyond traditionally dominant
grey infrastructure for transformational climate
solutions in developed and rapidly developing
urban areas.
Further research is needed to understand theco-benefits of blue/green infrastructure andecosystem-based adaptation, and how mitigation
projects could support decision-making in termsof future infrastructure priorities to address climatechange in cities.

Building from the 2018 Cities and Climate Change
Science conference, interest in nature-based solutions
has been on the rise, given the potential for adaptationand mitigation benefits as well as societal and economic
benefits (Frantzeskaki et al. 2019). The potential fornature-based solutions to be utilized in cities to build
resilience and enhance urban nature for the wellbeingof people and biodiversity across different types of cities
was highlighted throughout the conference. It was alsoemphasized, however, that nature-based solutions
should be developed for local contexts and planningfor them should consider equity and justice, especiallywhen working with local communities to use naturebased solutions in informal settlements and lowincome communities.
The first two research gaps identified in the
Innovate4Cities 2021 conference on this topic have astrong correlation to the research gap in the original
GRAA with a focus on co-benefits. In general, there wasmore emphasis on blue/green infrastructure, under thescope of nature-based solutions emerging from theInnovate4Cities 2021 conference.

Research and knowledge which provides a moregranular and location specific understandingof the carbon lock-in risks and opportunities for
mitigation and adaptation to inform planning andpolicies for building and upgrading infrastructureis needed.

Innovate4Cities Identified Research Gaps

Synergies withother Topics

Research is needed to better understand the benefits and diverse values of urban nature, including
for health and wellness, and how these vary by socio-economic groups, including Indigenous
peoples, within and across cities. Then building from this understanding further research is neededon how utilizing nature-based solutions can maximize benefits for climate, nature and people aswell as how improving this understanding can reduce conflicts that may arise around approaches
to conservation and restoration.

Justice & Equity, Health

Further research is needed to develop full cost benefit analysis of the built, blue and green
infrastructure solutions to adaptation and mitigation, that includes financial and economic
implications and social/societal co-benefits, at scale and across different urban environments isneeded.

Finance

An improved understanding of lifecycle costs of blue/green infrastructure is needed to support
planning for projects, better justify additional measures for green and resilient design and ensure
maintenance can be sustained throughout the project lifetime to maximize outcomes and benefits.

FinanceResearch is needed on ways in which communities can be empowered to lead on nature-based
solutions for wide scale public participation and long-term support and sustainability of projects.

Justice and Equity

Further research/guidance is needed from urban ecologists that helps planners, designers andarchitects to mainstream urban nature in a way that is scientifically robust and leads to specificspecies and urban ecosystem regeneration and/or specific health or air quality benefits.

Urban Planning and
Design22

Urban Planning and Design
Global Research and Action Agenda Research Gap,
Cities and Climate Change Science
Conference, 2018
Further development of more rigorous
understanding and characterisation of theconnections between urban planning, design andinfrastructure and climate change mitigation andadaptation action is needed.
It will be increasingly important for bothresearchers and decision-makers to understandhow urban micro-climates integrate into urban
planning and design to simultaneously improveurban environmental outcomes, reduce risk andaddress the need to adapt to, and mitigate, climatechange.
It will be important to explore the role of urban
and spatial planning in reducing vulnerability andenhancing adaptation to climate change for bothformal and informal settlements.
In planning for future urban expansion, there is aneed to document and quantify the impacts ofclimate change on human health, and to map thefull range of health co-benefits of adaptation andmitigation.

Urban planning and design are influential in setting thestage for effective climate change action in cities andcan help both mitigate and adapt to climate change.
Critically, the most rapidly growing world regions havethe fewest urban planners, architects and engineers,with the result that they struggle to define and adopt
effective planning responses to climate change. All
too often, planning systems are designed based onprinciples developed in industrialized countries or oncolonial influences that do not adequately reflect theunique characteristics of low- and middle-income
countries, and nations with transitional economies.
Sessions at the Innovate4Cities 2021 conference
explored how traditional instruments of urban planningand design for example often do not integrate orcoordinate with climate action plans produced in thesame jurisdictions. Thinking on what decisions would bemade if traditional urban planning offices and climate
planning offices were better integrated could allow forconsiderations of different decisions, and best practices
for mainstreaming climate action within a city.

Innovate4Cities Identified Research Gaps

Synergies with other
TopicsFurther research and understanding are needed on how synergistic, and systems based urban
planning and climate resilient design have been and can be enacted in cities, especially in different
city contexts and planning practices, with a view to future urban growth.

Systems Approach

Further exploration is needed of how possibilities of ten- and 100-year weather/climate events should
shape overall planning strategies of cities. Additionally, with climate hazards becoming more frequent,
it is also important to gain a better understanding of how short-term uncertainty can be better
incorporated into long-term planning.

Uncertainty

Further research into how climate change can be mainstreamed into city decision making, particularly
within the context of integrating mitigation and adaptation considerations into comprehensiveplanning, and into capital investment plan/capital improvements programming of a city is needed.

Governance,
FinanceResearch is needed on best practices for how local government budgets can be climate smart,aligned and sensitive, and how this would vary based on the context of different cities.

Finance

There is a need for documentation and evaluation of early attempts to adapt cities to the impactsof climate change, including efforts at both fortification and retreat and different approaches toadaptation. This could include models for successful relocation from areas that will be uninhabitable
due to climate change as well as methodologies for assessing and evaluating the effectiveness ofadaptation options with the changing severity of impacts

Justice and Equity,
History and Cultural
Heritage

Better understanding is needed of the relationships between urban form and urban design andtransportation systems in the context of greenhouse gas emissions. Land use patterns drive what
is possible in terms of vehicle miles travelled, transit modal split, and bikeability/walkability. The
implications of different density patterns, subdivision regulations, and street/corridor design in termsof transportation behaviours must be understood in different cultural and climate contexts as well as
projected urban growth.

23

The research gaps identified at the Innovate4Cities
2021 conference build on the ones identified in theoriginal GRAA for example synergistic and systems
based planning relates to the call for understanding
the connections between urban planning, design,
infrastructure and climate change which was a research
gap in the 2018 GRAA. The role of urban and spatialplanning for reducing vulnerability in both informal andformal settlements was another research gap in the2018 GRAA which is related to the research gap to better

understand early adaptation efforts and long-termplanning that better accounts for uncertainty and oncein ten- and 100-year weather events to shape planning
strategies for cities. From the 2018 GRAA, there was alsoa research gap under this urban planning and design
related to health impacts and co-benefits of climate
action, which while not explicit in the identified researchgaps here, is taken up by the new cross-cutting area on
Health and Wellbeing.

24

Informality
Global Research and Action Agenda ResearchGap, Cities and Climate Change Science
Conference, 2018
Further understanding and research is needed on
how inhabitants of both informal settlements andslums are particularly vulnerable to the effects ofclimate change.
Research is needed to understand the extent andnature of the challenges posed by, and to provide
evidence for policy interventions on informalitythat simultaneously respond to climate change
and vice versa.
Further research could investigate the relationshipbetween climate change and the informal
economy to understand how to increase adaptive
capacity of informal sectors and how to scale-up
low-carbon and climate resilient solutions fromand for the informal sector.
Informality - both in terms of informal economy andsettlements - is a defining characteristic of many
economies and cities in low- and middle-income
countries. The inclusion of informality as a key research
gap at the 2018 Cities and Climate Change Science
conference recognized the importance of better
understanding informality to inform the developmentof appropriate climate adaptation and mitigation
strategies and harness the transformative potential of
informality in the majority of cities around the world.

Informal settlements are particularly vulnerable to theimpacts of climate change due to their often dangerous
locations that may be exposed to climate related
hazards (ravine flooding and sea level rise), substandard building materials, poor infrastructure, rapid
expansion and precarious livelihoods. People working in
the informal economy are also vulnerable to climaterelated shocks and stresses and make up large portionsof the workforce in several sectors that are critical to a
low-carbon transition in many cities.
In the GRAA, one of the main research gaps identified
focused on the relationship between climate change
and the informal economy. There are synergies between
this and two newly identified research gaps on thecontribution of informal waste collectors to low-carbon
and resilient cities and the need to better understandhow informal workers are more vulnerable and/or more
resilient to shocks and stresses. At the Innovate4Cities
2021 conference, there was a richness of experienceshared from local contexts that demonstrated theimportance of actions on the ground for improving
people’s lives and situations while current conditions
constrain transformative change. It was again
highlighted - as it had been in 2018 - that finance isurgently needed to address climate change challenges
in informal settlements as is research and innovation
to help understand how finance could best support the
inhabitants of these communities.

Innovate4Cities Identified Research Gaps

Synergies with other Topics

More research is needed, using evidence from the ground, based on experiences during the
COVID-19 pandemic, on how informal work can be more vulnerable and more resilient to shifts
in the global and urban context like those seen during the COVID-19 lockdown periods andsuccessive economic downturns and how this resilience may be translated to shocks andstresses caused by climate change.

Health, Justice and Equity

Further study is needed on cases of effective community participation and models in informal
settlement planning in the context of climate change, especially involving youth and children
who make up a large proportion of populations in cities in developing countries.

Urban Planning and Design,
Justice and Equity

Further information and data are needed on how the work of informal waste collectors
contributes to low-carbon and resilient cities and the costs and benefits of these systems

Sustainable Consumption
and Production, City level
data and models

Research is needed to understand and document how potential technologies, for example
drones, can inform planning within informal settlements, especially self-enumeration, andincorporate current and future impacts of climate change to improve adaptation efforts.

Digitalization, City level data
and models

Further understanding of how partnership networks that are inclusive of informal settlers
and those working in the informal economy can be designed so that implementation anddata collection are done from the bottom up and top down, and how methods and planning
informed from the bottom up and top down could result in design solutions that are equitableand people-centred, support development needs and build resilience to climate change.

Justice and Equity

25

Finance
The “finance gap” for investment in climate change
mitigation and adaptation is recognised as a global
challenge. City networks are calling for greater
localisation of investment to support city climate
policy implementation (CCFLA 2021). The finance gap
between mitigation and adaptation is also significant
with only 9% of all tracked urban project-level finance,
USD 7 billion (EUR 6 billion) in 2017/2018, used foradaptation and resilience measures (CCFLA 2021). City
authorities face a range of internal and external funding
barriers to achieving their climate ambitions including
siloed climate budgets, limited capacity to generate
revenue, inadequate coordination of investment fromhigher levels of government, and a mismatch between
standard financial metrics and necessary local
Global Research and Action Agenda Research Gap,
Cities and Climate Change Science
Conference, 2018

investments that may be small-scale or offer
low financial returns compared with social andenvironmental benefits. The 2018 GRAA highlighted
a need to understand how climate change can beeffectively mainstreamed in fiscal and financial
decision-making by local authorities, and how to
improve public and participatory funding processes
for public goods and services. This area of focus was
discussed and elaborated at Innovate4Cities 2021 withnew research gaps identified. Consideration of how
cities contend with the economic impacts of COVID-19
and the fact that stimulus packages have fallen shortof funding decarbonisation at scale was also raised as
an area where research and knowledge were needed.
In addition, as discussed previously (see Section 1) the
importance of finance in transformative change andthe need to involve marginalized urban residents suchas the youth, picks up on the research gap from 2018
on engaging low-income and marginalized urban
residents in fiscal decision making.

Research is needed to inform the development offrameworks and tools that enable the integrationof climate considerations into fiscal and financial
decision-making at the city scale.
Further research is needed to explore how publicbudgets can be strategically used, including to
crowd in private investment, to address the shortfall
in sustainable urban infrastructure investment.
Research is particularly needed on the role ofpublic finance where projected returns are too low
or perceived risks are too high to attract private
finance at scale.
Research is desirable on how to include low-income
and other marginalised urban residents in fiscal
and financial decision-making
Research on insurance options could empower
cities to better address disaster risk.

Innovate4Cities Identified Research Gaps

Synergies with other Topics

Further research is needed to better quantify the adaptation finance gap in cities andunderstand issues of finance accessibility at the local level. This could include an analysis ofuseful metrics for classifying and identifying urban adaptation finance at the local level forcomparability of adaptation finance across cities, regions and globally, and best practices forfinancial mechanisms to effectively distribute across various levels of governments.

GovernanceFurther exploration of best practices for public procurement, and other available tools aswell as the potential for tools that would unlock finance for local governments to increase
implementation is needed.

GovernanceFurther research is needed to forecast how insurance companies will respond if loss anddamage costs accelerate as the result of lack of adequate adaptation action within cities andprojections of the implications that this could have on cities.

Built and Blue/GreenInfrastructure

Scoping for a better understanding of the potential for digital finance, crowdsourcing and digital
green bonds for urban climate change projects is needed.

Digitalization

Analysis is needed on how the availability of climate finance in developing and developed
countries has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent impact on climate
plans and climate actions taken in cities.

Urban Planning and Design,
HealthInvestigation and further understanding of business models that could make innovation
possible is required. How to enhance the confidence of potential investors in climate initiatives
in cities should be considered.

26

Uncertainty
Global Research and Action Agenda ResearchGap, Cities and Climate Change Science
Conference, 2018
Further research is needed to evaluate the ‘fitfor-purpose’ attributes of models and to provide
guidelines for simplified approaches that would
strengthen the evaluation of the confidence inprojections and the associated uncertainties.
Further research should be conducted on toolsthat assess uncertainty considerations in different
city contexts to strengthen decision-making in
uncertain situations.
Research is needed to develop methodologies
to identify sources of uncertainty, to explore andunderstand the full range of uncertainty, and to
reduce it, where possible.

Climate modelling and knowledge generation is
predominantly global in nature, while as this conference
underlined, the majority of climate actions will happen
at the local level. Such actions need to be informedby scientifically sound, contextualised and tailored
forecasting and interpretation of climate models so thatthe local level policies and actions are forward looking
and build upon regional, and global synergies. At the2018 Cities and Climate Change Science conference,
the need for research into tools and methodologies
to assess and understand uncertainty in different city
contexts was highlighted. At Innovate4Cities 2021,
there was a change in focus towards maximising useof existing local data, improving risk management in
uncertain and changing conditions and uncertainties
related to emissions projections.

Innovate4Cities Identified Research Gaps

Synergies withother Topics

Research is needed on how to maximize the use of already existing local data and information
within climate models, as well as the identification of additional localized data and informationthat are critical to understanding locally specific risks and uncertainty and tailoring locallyappropriate adaptation measures.

City Level Data and Models

Increase understanding about how risk management and disaster planning data can best be
used and developed by and within cities in the face of constantly changing conditions.
More research is needed on innovative climate models and the emissions (savings) potential ineach model as well as uncertainties in these emissions projections.

City Level Data and Models;Digitalization

27

Sustainable Consumption and
Production
Global Research and Action Agenda Research Gap,
Cities and Climate Change Science
Conference, 2018
Further research is desirable on the implications ofdiverse types of urban economic structures, modes
and patterns of production, and their associatedlock-in effects, including regional, national andglobal relocation of manufacturing processes.
Research is required to better understand potential
pathways for social change that promote lifestyles
and cultures which are less resource intensive andthat increase adaptive capacity andwell-being.
Current methodological innovations in greenhousegas emissions calculations could be improved by
exploring the role of urban consumption.

It is estimated that cities account for about 60 % of
total domestic material consumption of raw materials(production + imports – exports) (IRP, 2018). Resource
use in cities under a business-as-usual scenario is

expected to grow substantially from 40 billion tonnes in2010 to 90 billion tonnes by 2050 for a projected urban
population of 6.3 billion (IRP, 2018). Such an increase inresource consumption translates into overexploitationof ecosystems, environmental degradation andgreenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climatechange. Urban circularity and the circular economy
were continuously raised as important issues atInnovate4Cities 2021 within new models of thinking thatembrace a systems approach and promote sustainableconsumption and production. Fostering changes at theindividual level and shifting from resource intensive
lifestyles were also discussed picking up on researchgaps identified in 2018. The consideration of locallyspecific contexts to maximize benefits and the value ofcommunity-based plans were emphasised during theInnovate4Cities 2021 sessions as well as the potential
to share best practices between cities, countries andregions, while recognizing that significant tailoring ofsolutions to fit certain contexts may be needed.

Innovate4Cities Identified Research Gaps

Synergies withother Topics

Further research is needed on how to best develop national government policy to fit the needs of local
governments to maximize the potential for public procurement in building urban climate solutions.
Exploring what options exist in terms of evaluation criteria that are not only based on lowest cost, forexample, indicators to quantity mitigation and adaptation co-benefits included in project requirements/
assessments.

Governance,
Scale

There is a need for a better understanding of waste value chains and how they can contribute to lowcarbon and circular economy transition, particularly in developing cities.

Informality

Further research is needed on how sustainable consumption habits can be fostered, and how local
availability and potential for sharing can be better understood and supported through digital platforms.
This could include how digital platforms can support growth of sustainable consumption habits from anindividual scale to influence the community and city scales and beyond through personal relationships,
friendly competition with neighbours etc.

Digitalization

Further research and information are needed to determine locally specific plans and the benefits ofurban agriculture for climate mitigation, food security, local production, ecosystems and biodiversity.

Built andBlue/green
Infrastructure,
Justice and Equity

Research is needed on how circular economic principles have affected consumption and production inregions where this concept is most prevalent, and how this framework may need to be tailored for best
impact in addressing climate change in cities where it has not been integrated in climate planning.

Systems
Approach

There is a need to further investigate the potential of community based sustainable energy production
to identify the best source(s) of energy production for the contexts of particular cities and communities,
the impact that energy production can have in reducing emissions as well as the contributions it could
have to other social and development dimensions at the local level (employment, community resilience,
securing access to energy and reducing energy poverty).

28

History and Cultural Heritage
Discussions at Innovate4Cities 2021 examined underutilized opportunities to expand climate action incities, which led to the identification of history andcultural heritage as a key topic and a potentiallyenabling condition for urban climate change action.
Examining the histories of cities can help build a better
understanding of power dynamics, who was involved
in decision-making and how that has shaped the city,
but also how those dynamics may influence future
decisions.
Embedded in cities’ institutions, norms and residents’memories is historical, cultural, and spiritual information
on how cities have responded to past stresses andcrises. These stories and narratives have been studied
by many academic fields including anthropology,archaeology, geography, history, planning and therapidly emerging urban system science. Discussions
at the Innovate4Cities 2021 conference focused on
identifying these untapped culture and heritage
sources, and how to utilise these resources to unlock
their potential to promote transformation change.
Specifically, urban adaptation (what is feasible andpossible) should be informed by a deep understandingof the nature of cities and the drivers of urbanisation,and such a perspective requires connection with ahistorical perspective. For example, what do we know
about broad patterns of urban persistence, resilience,and collapse across different time scales and especiallyin the modern era? It is clear that climate action could
be made more impactful through the integration of
local urban cultural values and experiences, especiallythose of the urban poor.

Innovate4Cities Identified Research Gaps

Synergies withother Topics

Research across fields and disciplines to bring together experts on past and current culture andheritage of a particular city with urban planning and climate experts for collaborative researchis needed.

Urban Planning and
DesignFurther understanding is needed on how urban participatory planning processes to devise
and implement climate change solutions can be shaped by culture, heritage and history andhow these inputs can be considered in the participatory process to ensure that traditionallymarginalized communities are included and past injustices recognized.

Urban Planning and
DesignResearch is needed on how culture and heritage can better inform place-based responses toclimate change which better serve the needs of the community.
Further incorporation and representation of oral histories - inclusive of Indigenous oral traditions- in research and the generation of urban climate knowledge and data.

29

Cross Cutting Issues
Systems Approach
Global Research and Action Agenda Research Gap,
Cities and Climate Change Science
Conference, 2018
Knowledge is needed on how to use a holistic
approach to capture and weave together or
integrate diverse forms of knowledge and datafrom a wide range of sources and perspectives.
Systems knowledge is needed on importantinteractions, inter-dependencies and resource
flows between natural, built and social systems,
and between urban areas and the rural hinterlands.
New methods need to be developed to incorporate
integrative measures of valuation, bringing
together quantitative, relational, distributional,
behavioural and economic values to assess
synergies, trade-offs and co-benefits and potential
maladaptation between interventions the respondto climatic and non-climatic hazards.
Advancements in action-oriented research areneeded, focusing on multiple impacts, assessing
how uncertainty can be reduced, providing options
for transformative climate action plans, andhighlighting co-benefits for achieving the SDGs andother global agendas, within the context of rapid
urbanisation.

At the 2018 Cities and Climate Science Conference, thesystems approach was discussed as a way of identifying
and limiting negative externalities from various efforts
or minimising negative spillover effects.
As highlighted in Section 1, addressing climate change
requires deep transformations in every part of society
including government, civil society, academia andbusiness. Cities provide the living landscapes in whichthese transformations can be tested and scaled,interconnecting a system of systems.
Various sessions within the conference emphasized
the growing applications for a systems approach andalso noted interdisciplinary solutions being developed.
The GRAA from the Cities and Climate Change
Science conference included a research gap on aneed for knowledge on important interactions, interdependencies and resource flows between natural,
built and social systems. This was picked up at theInnovate4Cities 2021 in the research gap focused on therole of ecological placemaking, design and participatory
planning. Additionally, much of the content in the final
GRAA research gap on a systems approach, highlightingneed for action-oriented research, focused on multiple
impacts, and co-benefits was elevated in Section 1 ofthis document.

Innovate4Cities Identified Research Gaps

Synergies withother Topics

Research is needed to better understand how to effectively design urban climate goals andactions that take on a systems approach by incorporating the multiple, locally specific climate
and societal problems and pressures and the perspectives of different actors in cities
Further information is needed on how city systems and systems of cities operate at different
scales from the neighborhood scale to metropolitan regions and how this impacts regionaland national scale decision-making and the implementation of climate change mitigation,
adaptation and resilience solutions.

Sustainable Consumption
and Production,
Governance, Justice andEquityFurther work is needed to bring together different ways of thinking which currently contributeto how cities are built and shaped such as ecological placemaking, design and participatory
planning to build new creative approaches and ways to think and plan a city system which
increase resilience to climate change while also providing important co-benefits particularly for
marginalized and vulnerable groups.

Urban Planning and Design

Exploration of how thinking using a circular economy and systems approach framework can
open new possibilities, and allow for conceptualization about the future city, the different ways
it may operate and the necessary solutions to achieve sustainable and resilient cities is needed.

Sustainable Consumption
and Production

30

HealthClimate change is the single biggest threat to ourhealth (WHO, 2021). Furthermore, there are clear links
between the underlying drivers of ill-health and climatechange. There are also synergies between solutions
that promote better health and mitigate and facilitate
adaptation to climate change, and therefore enormous
potential to improve the health of people and planet
simultaneously (Watts, et al. 2015, IPCC, 2022).
Health was not an explicit theme of the 2018 Cities
and Climate Change Science GRAA, though it was
discussed in sessions in terms of the co-benefits ofclimate action. It is included as a cross cutting themein this report to reflect the increasing importance of

health within the cities and climate change agenda, as
well as the associated challenges and research gaps
(Hassan, 2021).
During the conference, health was a common, recurring
topic both from a climate mitigation and adaptation
perspective, and across a range of sectors including
waste, air quality, nature-based solutions and green
space, urban planning, food, housing and energy- and in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. Healthwas discussed as a cross-cutting issue that requiresa systems approach. Similar to climate, health was
acknowledged as an issue of equity, with multiplereferences to how the most vulnerable are hardest hit
by climate change and health crises.

Innovate4Cities Identified Research Gaps

Synergies withother Topics

Further research is needed on ways to account for benefits to health and wellbeing of urban
greenspace, including urban regeneration projects, in financial and other terms and there is aneed to explore how accounting for these benefits can influence urban planning, especially incities under-represented in existing research. Particular attention should be paid to effects on
traditionally marginalized and vulnerable communities as they may have distinct benefits andtrade-offs.

Urban Planning and Design,
Built and Blue/GreenInfrastructure, Justice andEquityFurther assessment of the benefits and best practices of integrating local air quality andclimate change plans is required to understand how to maximize impacts and benefits forhealth and climate.

Justice and Equity

Research is needed on which innovative financing mechanisms can be utilized by cities toadvance health and climate solutions.

FinanceResearch is needed to better understand the co-benefits of climate and health policy, and afurther understanding is needed on how to mitigate misalignment of these policies to promotesynergies.

Governance

31

Scale
Global Research and Action Agenda ResearchGap, Cities and Climate Change Science
Conference, 2018
To inform integrated action, new knowledge anddata are needed that are comparable acrossspatial scales and regions while remaining
meaningful at the local scale.
New knowledge is needed to increase ourunderstanding of the interplay between policies
and actions taken at different scales, and how
this affects the ability to take effective andcoordinated climate action at the city scale.
Further collaboration between urban stakeholders
and researchers to produce knowledge, data andinformation that is responsive to the temporalscales relevant to cities.
Spatial and temporal scale can have a major impact
on mitigation, adaptation and resilience measuresin cities. City decision making benefits from the best
available knowledge to determine actions in the shortterm (1-5 years) to react to climate events, shocks andstresses while balancing the need to consider longterm goals and scenarios. Though local governments
can be nimbler in their responses, they are often also
nested within provinces or states, regions and nations,and decisions made at these scales can impact how
local governments are able to respond. In addition to

the actions that can be taken directly within a local
government’s power, it is also important to understandthe influence of decisions at other spatial scales,
advocating for decisions which would increase theirability to act, and which would better align urban,
provincial/state, national and international climate
efforts.
At the 2018 Cities and Climate Change Science
conference, key research gaps were identified relating
to comparability and ability to integrate data acrossscales and for different world regions, the interplay
between climate policies developed at different scales
and how they impact urban climate action as well
as furthering work at time scales relevant to local
governments’ decision making.
At Innovate4Cities 2021, there was further discussion
about how decisions over different timelines can affectthe impacts of action and inaction, with a call for better
integration of top down and bottom-up efforts to help
close the implementation gap. Additionally, within thediscussion around adaptation and adaptation financing- which received a greater emphasis at Innovate4Cities
2021 than in 2018 - there was a consideration of how
co-benefits and trade-offs of particular adaptation
efforts could affect spatial scales beyond that of the cityboundary, and how this could be factored into decision
making and cost analysis on adaptation.

Innovate4Cities Identified Research Gaps

Synergies with other Topics

Further research is needed on how to calculate short- and long-term benefits of climate
solutions and how factors such as cost, inclusivity, difficulty of implementation, effectiveness inincreasing mitigative and adaptive capacity and sustainability of solutions should be weighedagainst the timelines for benefits (or the consequences in not acting) in order to prioritize
implementation options.
Increased learning from effective small-scale projects with significant community support isneeded to better understand how community support can be built for projects with larger scale
implementation potential.

Systems Approach

Further understanding is needed of the implications of delaying or accelerating climate action incities, both within the city and how local government decisions would impact on territories andpeople outside of city boundaries.

Justice and Equity

Further understanding is needed of upstream and downstream impacts of adaptation projects
in cities and how regional approaches could be employed to create more effective climate
solutions.

32

Governance and Institutions
Governance models and institutions that integrate
multiple levels, include multiple actors, and can respondto a multitude of issues in a timely manner are essential
for responding to the climate challenges in cities. Given
the differences of local contexts, there is a diversity of
governance approaches that can work to position a city
on a pathway to effective climate action.
However, as described in Section 1, there are many
areas such as capacity, finance, participation, andpartnerships that are critical for effective climatechange governance in cities. Section 1 also highlightsthat the distribution of power among diverse actors
within formal and informal governance structures
based on historical and structural factors can shape
their capacity to participate and act in response to
climate change.
As was reflected at the 2018 Cities and Climate Change
Science conference, there is a continuing need tounderstand the operational pathways and institutional
structures for governance that effectively support
climate action in different urban contexts and that areinclusive of diverse priorities and voices in planning anddecision making.
Global Research and Action Agenda ResearchGap, Cities and Climate Change Science
Conference, 2018
There is a need to develop knowledge tounderstand the operational pathways andinstitutional structures for governance that
effectively supports climate action in different
urban contexts and that is inclusive of diverse
priorities and voices in planning anddecision-making.
Knowledge is needed on different forms ofgovernance, including multilevel governance, thatcan best support climate action across a highly
uneven institutional landscape.
Deeper understanding is needed of howtransformative climate change responses canaddress urban inequalities and ensure inclusivemodes of governance.

Governance at the Innovate4Cities 2021 conference wasraised in discussions on policies, strategies and tools
to support governance and a better understanding of
how local governments are structured and function.
Additionally, reflections on new models for collaborationand partnerships that are inclusive of non-state actors,
especially marginalized communities came into many
conference conversations. For example, how multilevelgovernance can help unlock the utility and regional
scale support needed for carbon free energy which
maximizes local supply and meets local demand, as
well as how regulatory frameworks are needed forbroad scale adoption of many climate solutions.
The research gaps identified under the cross-cutting
theme of governance and institutions at the Cities
and Climate Change Science conference in 2018 havea strong connection to several of the gaps identified
during Innovate4Cities 2021. For example, the 2018 gap
which called for understanding institutional structuresthat support inclusive voices and priorities relates to
the gap identified in 2021 regarding the need for tools
for public participation and consultation and inclusive
organizational structures. The second gap in the2018 GRAA focused on different forms of governance,
including multilevel governance to best support climatechange action which is reflected in two research gaps
identified in the 2021 discussions, one on overlapping
jurisdictions and the other on how national and regional
policies might impact urban climate action by taking aterritorial or landscape perspective.

33

Innovate4Cities Identified Research Gaps

Synergies withother Topics

There is a need for information and research to support the co-creation of new models of
collaboration at the urban scale, bringing in local and Indigenous experiences, as well as thosewith potentially different perspectives such as the private sector and industry.
Further research is needed on innovative governance models which are most effective for cities
who are prioritizing circular economic principles.

Sustainable
Consumption and
Production

There is a need for further research on how land governance is influenced by extractive andexclusionary principles and models, and how this affects decision making on climate change
action at the local scale. Exploration of alternative models which include innovative ways toaddress property tax, different forms of property rights regimes, ways to de-fiscalize land use andenable broader horizontal distribution of resiliency are needed.

Justice and Equity,
FinanceResearch is needed on the barriers and blockages that prevent local governments from accessing
capital to implement climate change initiatives as well as potential changes to governancemodels and other societal structures that could facilitate that access and how to address politicalissues and corruption, to facilitate flows of capital.

Finance

Increased understanding of how overlapping jurisdictions and agencies, neighbouring nations,and special-purpose districts interact to devise strategies to move climate change policy.

Scale

There is a need to understand the best tools for public consultation and consensus building,public participation, and conflict management as well as potential new, inclusive organizational
structures. In particular, it is important to know how these methods work in varying contexts ofgender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, Indigenous status, and (dis)ability.

Justice and Equity

Further research is needed on how national level climate change and regional development
policies and strategies can incorporate a territorial or landscape perspective to support urban
climate change action.

Scale

Deep analysis of structural barriers preventing action are needed – for example examining shortterm political cycles, budget allocation, autonomous cities lacking engagement with the regional
level etc. and how combinations of these factors prevent action, and how overcoming barriers orchanging paradigms could enable it.

Justice and Equity

34

Digitalisation and Smart Cities
Innovation in digital technologies offers many
opportunities for implementing climate change action
in cities through improved operational efficiency, realtime data and analytics to aid decision making andthe creation of synergies between systems. In order tomanage the dynamic nature of climate change, there
is an urgent need to initiate innovative smart anddigital solutions, and upscale the existing innovations
developed based on cutting-edge digital technologies
that are able to deliver services that were not previously
feasible due to high financial costs and the long
timeframes required to deliver results.

Digitalisation was not included as a cross cutting
issue in the 2018 Cities and Climate Change Science
conference’s GRAA though it’s potential was discussed instrengthening city level models and the data available.
Since then, it has been increasingly recognized as animportant feature in addressing climate change in cities,
from the focus on Big Data in the Innovate4Cities City
Research Agenda (Global Covenant of Mayors 2018) tothe benefits of digitalization illustrated in addressing the
COVID-19 pandemic.

Innovate4Cities Identified Research Gaps

Synergies withother Topics

Further research is needed on how digitalisation of city-level data and solutions canimprove key urban functions (water, waste, electricity management) increasing efficiency
and contributing to mitigation, in addition to building adaptive capacity and resilience andproviding other societal co-benefits.

City Level Data and Models

Exploration of how digital technology can support the creation of a co-produced databasewith innovative solutions and a function to sort and prioritize solutions according to criteriasuch as, transferability, scalability, replicability, circularity, sustainability, timeliness, mitigative
and adaptive potential, evidence-based, inclusivity, gender and age-sensitive and fit for
purpose in the context of a particular city to learn from past experiences and best practices inorder to select the best solutions for local needs.

Justice and Equity

Research is needed on how dynamic climate action planning, which relies on crowd sourced,
tailored and real time big data can be effectively used, and streamlined for the contexts ofdifferent cities around the world.

Urban Planning and Design,
City Level Data and Models

35

Observations, Data and Modelling at
the City Scale
Access to reliable multi-sector data at appropriate
spatial and temporal granularities is a key resource for
local governments in developing and implementing
robust and effective climate change mitigation andadaptation action plans. Local policy needs to be
grounded in sound, inclusive governance processes
in which all actors have access to the best available
scientific assessments of local climate-related risks andmodels and scenarios that support choices between
possible local socio-economic pathways. At the 2018
Cities and Climate Change Science conference, it wasrecognised that there were considerable shortcomings
in data and models to support local decision making
on climate change issues. For example, the lack ofdownscaled climate projections and detailed socioeconomic data at the local scale, especially in the
Global South, were highlighted as well as the high levelof uncertainty linked to downscaled projections. Also,suggestions were made to adopt more transdisciplinary
approaches that would include Indigenous and local
knowledge in data sets used for local modelling work, inparticular for complex coastal city environments.

Global Research and Action Agenda Research Gap,
Cities and Climate Change Science Conference,
2018
There is a need for an international and openaccess observational framework for collecting key
climate and socio-economic metrics at thecity scale.
Improving modelling capabilities is key to producing
higher resolution data, predicting near term
climate futures, and producing models that are
customisable to specific cities.
Future climate scenarios need to incorporatetransdisciplinary approaches that integratesociological, economic, climatic and ecologicalfeatures applicable at the city scale (and thatare informed by a range of expertise including
Indigenous and local knowledge), is crucial forscientific advancement.
Research is needed on the effect of, and the
dynamics between, adaptation alternatives forcoastal cities.

Synergies withother Topics

Innovate4Cities Identified Research Gaps
Further support is needed for local governments and partners to capture small scale casestudies and research is needed on how these can be integrated and shared to inform decision
making, providing information on best practices, barriers, failures, challenges and innovationsin individual solutions which may apply across different contexts within different cities.
Further research is needed on the potential for urban forests to contribute to mitigation efforts,
inclusive of location, species specificity and how future climate conditions will affect growthand sequestration potential.

Built and Blue/GreenInfrastructure

Research is needed on how mobile phone data can be used to understand exposure andcitizen response to climate disasters and risks and inform policy to reduce future risk.

Digitalisation

Location specific data are needed on how the integration of particular topographical,
geological, structural, social contexts influence the risk from climate hazards and how they
may affect potential to respond to risk.

Partnerships between local governments, scientists,
the business community and citizens are key featuresof many city activities in which innovative information
technologies, data and methodologies may be
combined with Indigenous and local knowledge.
The SMART city movement in which information andcommunications technology developments such as
big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning,and 3D GIS is growing in importance and was prominent
at Innovate4Cities 2021, and there are many synergies
with the Digitalisation and Smart Cities cross cuttingarea and with that of Observations, Data Modelling
and at the City Scale. Also prominent were examplesof transdisciplinary approaches to data, modelling anddecision making in which the roles of local citizens andcommunities, from data collection, analysis, decision
making and monitoring, were stressed.
In comparison to the research gaps identified at the2018 Cities and Climate Change Science conference,
gaps under Observations, Data Modelling and at theCity Scale from Innovate4Cities 2021 call for an increasein specificity of needs, which is consistent with further
development of city level data, as well as expansionof understanding, accessibility and use of data to anincreasing number of urban actors.

36

Justice and Equity
Justice and equity need to be considered in every
dimension of climate change responses. For example,
who will be impacted, where and how, as well as
considering co-benefits and trade-offs and thedifferent risks and impacts of climate hazards. The
recent COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives
Matter movement have elevated and highlighted
the importance of applying a justice and equity
lens to climate change responses . Studies haveshown that populations with higher exposure to air
pollution are more likely to have severe consequences
when contracting COVID-19 (Pegoraro, 2021). These
communities are more likely to be marginalized.
Urban planning practices such as red-lining have also
contributed to a higher proportion of highly polluting
sites, highways, landfills etc. being in neighbourhoods

which have higher proportions of people of colour in
the United States (Gutschow et al., 2021). A recent study
has shown that the particulate matter pollution causedby fossil fuel combustion resulted in 8 million deaths
globally in 2018 (Vohra, 2021). Therefore, mitigating
fossil fuel use can have significant contributions in
reducing climate change and air pollution risks forvulnerable communities. Citizens who live in informal
settlements often find themselves outside typicalplanning frameworks, and their particular needs andvulnerabilities are not addressed in urban climatechange responses. With investments in cities to support
a green and climate smart recovery from the COVID-19
pandemic, it is critical to ensure this delivers socially justand equitable outcomes. Adaptation and mitigation
strategies need to be developed using participatory
and inclusive structures, and deliver co-benefits suchas improved health outcomes, economic development,
jobs and gender and racial equity.

Innovate4Cities Identified Research Gaps

Synergies withother Topics

A better understanding of how historical inequities and intergenerational issues of justice and equity incities are compounding current climate and environmental justice issues is needed.

History andCultural Heritage

Further research is needed on how inequality is built into current urban planning cultures and norms
and how reorienting towards an urban planning framework which takes a human rights approach could
impact justice and equity issues in urban climate change planning.

Urban Planningand Design

Knowledge is needed on how interspecies impacts can be better included in urban climate action.
Further understanding and knowledge to inform who should speak on behalf of other species in urban
climate change decision making is also called for.

Built andBlue/GreenInfrastructure

Research is needed to better understand the synergies between climate action, development andpoverty reduction in cities, especially access to sustainable energy that would increase energy security
as part of a low-carbon development pathway.

37

SECTION 3:

REGIONAL INSIGHTS

The Innovate4Cities 2021 conference sought tomaximise geographical coverage in terms of content
and participation, recognising the importance of local
context in shaping the priorities and capacities of cities
to respond to climate change and advance researchand innovation. The conference was publicised in all
world regions to take advantage of the reduction in
travel time and costs associated with an online eventand to include more speakers and participants fromareas typically underrepresented at international
conferences. Additionally, conference organisers
invited four teams of regional curators from (1)Oceania and Southeast Asia, (2) East Asia, South Asia,
Eastern Europe and Central Asia, (3) European Union
and Western Europe, Middle East and West Asia andAfrica and (4) Latin America, the Caribbean and North
America. These teams were made up of researchers
and local government leaders and practitioners andallowed them to submit regionally curated content forthe conference program.
This section documents local insights that emerged
from discussions at Innovate4Cities 2021. These arelimited to documentation of conference proceedings
by rapporteurs and session descriptions that reference
localities and/or regional areas and are not intended torepresent the priorities or consensus for an entire region.
Especially as some regions were under-represented at

the conference (see Table 1). In addition, some topics- uncertainty, systems approach, and scale - do notinclude detailed local examples because of the lackof regional specificity in sessions on these topics. A
breakdown of abstracts tagged to locations is provided
in the table below.

Key Topical Research Areas
Built and Blue and Green Infrastructure
On the theme of Built and Blue Green Infrastructure, major
themes at the regional level and with local examples
include references to biodiversity and ecosystems,
water management and coastal development,
transport and mobility.
Biodiversity, ecosystems, urban greening, conservation
and regeneration, and soil were identified across all
world regions. Examples include:•

Understanding the potential of nature-based
solutions in the context of Sub-SaharanAfrica (as distinct from the Global North),
including overcoming governance barriers
and public perceptions, and basic services
provision, resilience, and wellbeing outcomesin informal settlements;

Total number of conference abstracts that refer to particular regions

RegionProgramme abstract references

Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)

39

European Union and Western Europe (EUWE)

34

South Asia (SA)34

North America (NA)28

Africa (AFR)

25

Southeast Asia (SEA)

22

East Asia (EA)

10

Oceania (OCE)10Middle East and West Asia (MEWA)

8

Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA)

2

38

•

Understanding the economic potential ofnature-based solutions in contributing to justtransitions in Malmö, Sweden, New York City,
USA, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Busan, South
Korea;•

Understandingtheeffectivenessof
geospatial data tools for prioritising urban
canopy development relative to urban heat in
Caracas, Venezuela;•

Understandinghownature-based
solutions can be mainstreamed in different
local contexts through co-design andforegrounding
Indigenous
perspectives,
across Australian cities;•

Understandingthecarbondrawdown
potential of nature-based solutions in cities
in Southeast Asia;•

Understanding the availability and potentialof open-source technologies to support
decision making and management of green
spaces in cities in Bangladesh;•

Understanding the potential for the use ofclimate risk and vulnerability assessment as
a way of prioritising afforestation in Paquetá
Island, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Similarly, water management and coastal development
were repeatedly referenced in sessions from Africa,
Southeast Asia and South Asia. For example:

through non-motorised transport facilities in
Makindye, Ssabagabo and Kira, Uganda, andbetter understood through digital simulation
tools for decision-makers applied in Kigali,
Rwanda, Quito, Ecuador, and Kathmandu,
Nepal;•

Gaining better understanding of how the
COVID-19 pandemic shifted perceptions ofsustainable travel and behaviours to support
new bike infrastructure in Rome, Italy;•

The role of public art in generating pedestrianfriendly streets in line with low carbon mobility
in Iran.

Urban Planning and Design
The urban planning and design context varies
greatly between regions and existing urban form
and infrastructure influence what would be locallyappropriate solutions for low-carbon and climate
resilient development. The regional and local
specific sessions covering urban planning anddesign emphasised differences in capacity, planning
frameworks and planning with residents of informal
settlements in the Global South and how this may
influence implementation of adaptation and mitigation
measures. For examples:•

Gaining a better understanding of significant
limitations in city planning capacity relating
to addressing climate change, especially in
Africa and South and Southeast Asia.

•

What is the potential for improved water
systemmonitoring
through
digitaltechnologies in poor African communities
with limited water resources such as Ndokayo,
Cameroon;•

Need for regionally specific understandingof urban growth and planning, especiallyin regions of the Global South that may nothave context-specific theoretical planning
frameworks.

•

Understanding (flood) risk relative to climatechange projections in low-elevation coastal
zones and possible solutions in Southeast
Asia.

•

Research is needed on the importance ofunderstanding how planning for the changing
climate will impact informal settlements in
Africa, Latin-America, and South/Southeast
Asia.

•

Research is needed to understand bestpractices for planning in response to climatechange impacts in island nations.

•

How cities can deliver affordable and climate
resilient housing for all, particularly across
Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

References to mobility and transport infrastructure
were discussed in sessions across Africa, the European
Union, Western Europe, Latin America,the Caribbean,
the Middle East and West Asia. For example:•

How reductions in emissions, air, and noise
pollution from road transport can be achieved

39

Informality
Recurrent references to informal settlements andinformal economy emerged in sessions spanning
Africa, East Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, andSouth Asian contexts. For example:•

The potential for adoption of biophilic andcircular economy principles and processes
in informal settlements in Cairo, Egypt, urban
green infrastructure for informal settlement
upgrading in Sub Saharan Africa, andeffective decision-making drawing on spatial
data and collaboration to improve wellbeingof residents in informal settlements across
Africa; and community-based mapping byresidents to identify flood-prone areas insettlements in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania;•

Resident-to-resident learning to share bestpractice in scaling up waste management
and recycling practice in India; and•Effective replication of resilient housing
programs established by cities in Colombia,
and, similarly, how informal settlement
upgrading through green infrastructureinterventions can improve quality oflife and local economic development in
Bucaramanga, Colombia.

Sessions related to (renewable) energy are identified
across world regions except for Eastern Europe, Central
Asia, Oceania, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. For
example:•The need for more reliable and accessibleenergy provision to support water supply incities in Africa;•

How local energy ownership adds value torenewable energy development and improves
public perceptions in Eeklo, Belgium;•

Exploring potential for implementation ofenergy efficiency measures in Karak, Jordan;
and in Buenos Aires, Argentina through an
open data and co-creation platform;•

The potential for district cooling systems toaddress extreme urban heat in Hong Kong,
China; and learning from a district heat and
hot water pilot in Victoria, Canada.

Various forms of waste management and resource
circularity are referenced across world regions except
for East Asia, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Oceania, andSoutheast Asia. For example:•

Understanding the degree of material
consumption in Latin America and the
Caribbean and prospects for circularneighbourhoods; and a pilot citizen sciencestudy and comparison of plastic pollution
in cities along the Mississippi River basin in
North America;•

A gap analysis of waste management
systems to address ocean plastic pollution
in Can Tho, Vietnam, Melaka, Malaysia,
Panama City, Panama, Pune, India, andSemarang, Indonesia, and investigating
factors contributing to waste accumulation
toinformpolicyimplementationinThiruvananthapuram, India.

Sustainable Consumption and
Production
There was a focus on food, energy and waste as criticalto more sustainable consumption and production
across multiple sessions and regions.
Localising food systems and achieving food security
were commonly highlighted in the conference acrossworld regions with the exception of North America andOceania. For example:••

Peri-urban areas in Uganda are considered
for their potential to support solar power
based irrigation;
Research is being conducted in response to
the issue of food deserts (lack of local accessto food) and food insecurity, to understandthe potential for sustainable local foodproduction in northern Italy in the context of
COVID-19, and at the neighbourhood level in
Mexico City, Mexico.

FinanceFinance and funding were important topics across the
majority of regions. The regionally and locally specificreferences provide examples of innovative financemechanisms, sharing both lessons and barriers tofinance. For example:

40•

The role of subnational development banks inproviding fiscal support to local governments
for sustainable urban infrastructure provision(providing access to finance, building local
capacity for project preparation etc.) drawing
on lessons from Southeast Asia and Latin
America;•

The role of insurance and other financial
mechanisms to support relocation of
low-income
residents
facing“climate
gentrification” in low-elevation coastal cities
like Miami, USA;•The role of municipal green bonds, revolving
funds, and public private partnerships in
supporting cities in India, Portugal, and thePhilippines that lack credit ratings, facepolitical instability, and other capacity
limitations inhibiting low carbon and adaptive
infrastructures;•

Understanding the effects of communicatingsocial and environmental co-benefits toresidents to fundraise for establishing green
energy sources in cities in Japan.

•

Additional insights include challenges andpriorities in the African context in terms of lackof investment (in natural capital), support
from initial financing to implementation,
reducing public financial risk, and conforming
to international finance institution regulations.

History and Cultural Heritage
As History and Cultural Heritage was not a theme
identified prior to the conference, sessions were notclassified according to this theme and as a result a fullanalysis was not done as to how it was represented
across world regions. Nevertheless, the following
examples were identified that demonstrate local
application and interest in the topic.
•

How
traditional
morphologicaldesignresponds to solar radiation and how these
insights can inform design guidelines in Pune,
India.

•

Potential for the reintroduction of ancientIndus Valley Civilisation (South Asia)
drainage systems to mitigate flooding andimprove sanitation.

41

Cross Cutting Issues

adaptation and mitigation in the case of Ho
Chi Minh City, Vietnam help overcome siloedgovernance;

HealthRecurrent references to the public health dimensions ofclimate change adaptation and mitigation are identified
in sessions spanning Africa, the European Union,
Western Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean,
North America and Southeast Asia. For example:••

The sanitation needs and benefits associatedwith low-cost internet-based water systemmonitoring in the African context;
How green space improves air quality anddecreases heart disease risk in Louisville,
USA; and similarly, how city-level climate
and clean air action planning can provide
potential health and wellbeing benefits to citydwellers in Madrid, Spain and Mexico City,
Mexico;•How to use data mapping to detect andmanage environmental health hazards,
including mental health in Florida, USA;•How urban green space has positive effects
on mental health and can support treatment
of depression in Singapore.

•

How cities can mainstream climate action
by incorporating climate measures in fiscal
policy and capital investment plans andbudgets, based on examples from the UnitedStates, Europe, the Middle East, Sub-SaharanAfrica and South Asia; and•Effective models for collaboration between
municipalities
and
local
academic
institutions to address issues of social justice,
youth engagement, and COVID recovery incities, with examples from Canada, Norway
and Australia.

Digitalisation and Smart Cities
Digital technologies were less frequently referenced insession abstracts but they were identified in the context
of Eastern Europe and Central Asia and the European
Union and Western Europe:•

The use of a digital platform to support
interdisciplinary
collaborationonsustainability projects, with insights from
Leuven, Belgium, Oxfordshire, England, andPrilep, North Macedonia; and•How young and older residents can be
engaged by city authorities through digital
methods as a more inclusive approachto planning, with insights from Liverpool,
England.

Governance and Institutions
Governance principles and processes informing city
climate change research and action were discussed
in sessions across world regions, except for East Asia,
Eastern Europe and Central Asia, with comparisons andlessons shared across contexts. Examples include:•

How climate change challenge competitions
can promote urban innovation through thedevelopment of demonstration projects withinsights from Makindye Ssabagabo, Uganda,
Bristol, UK, Bogotá, Colombia, and Curitiba,
Brazil;•How city contributions to the Sustainable
Development Goals are driven by ‘elevating’city-led science and technology in foreign
policy and diplomacy in Barcelona, Spain;•

How integration of climate and clean air
action planning in the case of Madrid, Spainand Mexico City, Mexico and climate change

Observations, Data and Modelling at
the City Scale
Recurrent references to city level models and data wereidentified in sessions across world regions except for
Africa, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East andWest Asia. Examples include:•

How a Sustainable Development Goals
Project Assessment Tool can support cities
in aligning climate adaptation planningand design, with insights from a global
programme spanning Brazil, Indonesia,
Nigeria, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines,
South Africa, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam;

42

•

•

•

How a waste management gap assessment
tool aids cities in identifying systemchallenges,
vulnerabilities,andrisks,
informing the development of city proposals
for funding, based on the experience of Can
Tho, Vietnam; Melaka, Malaysia; Panama
City, Panama; Pune, India; and Semarang,
Indonesia;
The use of high-resolution digital simulations
to model outcomes of possible transportinterventions and inform decision making in
the case of Kigali, Rwanda, Quito, Ecuador,and Kathmandu, Nepal, scenario-modellingto provide recommendations to urban
planners and policymakers on effective
responses to extreme heat in the case of Hong
Kong, China, and replication of downscaled
climate change projections to inform local
development planning and budgeting
applied in Labutta and Pakokku, Myanmar;
How blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI)can enhance weather prediction, greenhousegas emissions tracking, and other climate
modelling, assessment, and management,
drawing on a microgrid example in Brooklyn,
USA;

•

What
city-specificdata
areneededto accelerate and scale up emissions
reductions in Australian cities compared withexisting knowledge frameworks, as well as
opportunities for peer-to-peer learning;•

The use of an Ecology Toolkit to bridge thebuilding and system scale of environmental
planning and development and informarchitectural design in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

•

The development and pilot of a coastal
city climate risk profile and data tool incollaboration with local research institutions
and governments to support strategy
development and implementation, initially inCastries Saint Lucia and Kingston Jamaica;
a climate risk atlas for Chile; and a digital
dashboard combining risk and resilience
indicators to optimise disaster preparedness
across the city of Shimla India;

Justice and Equity
Justice and equity, including co-production ofknowledge, was a widespread recurrent theme
throughout the conference programme with a diversityof interpretations across regions. Examples include:•

Effective participatory planning approaches
in the context of informal settlements in
African cities, particularly involving youth,and forums for local open public dialogue in
Uganda;•How cities can contribute to ensuring
equitable and high-quality employment andtransference of skills for those affected bydivestment from fossil fuels with insights fromthe US, Italy and South Africa;•

The role of non-state-led innovations likecivil society centred nature-based solution
initiatives in driving urban sustainability
transitions in China;•

How a human rights framework can beused to assess social impacts of municipal
government decisions in different climatechange scenarios to ensure equity and justicebased on the experience of Ecuador;•

How land-use plans can better integrate
climate justice as a form of city innovationand to effectively direct climate adaptation
investment
towards
low-income
anddisadvantaged
communities
in
California USA;•How diverse forms of knowledge and data
can inform climate vulnerability assessments
and action plans based on the experienceof Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, and Fiji
(Pacific Islands), and, similarly, the role ofCommunity-based Disaster Risk Reduction
initiatives among vulnerable populations inclimate change adaptation in the Philippines;•

How low-income communities can be
involved in air pollution measurement,interpretation, and problem-solving todevelop city government responses inIndore, India.

43

METHODOLOGY
Several mechanisms were put in place before
the conference to collect inputs from conference
presentations and subsequent discussions during theconference which would feed into this report. The twolead editors of the report were supported by a core writing
team who contributed throughout the writing process.
A group of student volunteers were also recruited
through an open Expression of Interest and coordinatedby the Melbourne Centre for Cities at the University of
Melbourne, which was shared within the network of the
Science and Innovation Steering Committee, Partner
Network Organising Committee, and GCoM’s Researchand Innovation Technical Working Group.

student writers were invited to discuss the topics they
were hearing emerge from conference discussions.
Inputs were recorded using the MIRO platform andmeetings were recorded for future reference by thewriting team. In addition to this, three workshops were
held in the week following the conference inviting
the Science and Innovation Steering Committee,
the Partner Network Organising Committee, and the
GCoM’s Research and Innovation Technical Working
Group members to provide further insights on what they
heard in conference discussions. Again, responses wererecorded and the sessions were available for review by
the writing team.

Session chairs and individual session presenterswere provided with a questionnaire requesting thatthey identify research gaps and areas of innovation
associated with their session. Student writers were also
provided with a similar questionnaire and were asked
to act as rapporteurs and note takers for all sessions.
Questionnaires asked similar questions thereby
supporting the student group in identifying researchgaps and areas of innovation for each session.

Participants in the conference were engaged toprovide input to this document in several ways on theconference platform. A discussion board, divided by
the conference themes was provided, and participants
were prompted to write down research gaps andother important insights they had heard in conference
discussions on the discussion board. Additionally, ashort survey which asked conference participants
to provide research and innovation gaps which they
heard come through conference discussions was alsoavailable to all participants throughout the week of theconference.

Responses to questionnaires resulted in a data set
which was used as a detailed reference to session
discussions, which supported writing of this document.
A subset of the student group used their inputs as theprimary source for the Innovate4Cities Conference
2021: Student Led Final Report (Dickey, A., and Oke C.
2021), which also served as an important summary in
finalizing this report.
In addition to detailed rapporteur notes and minutes
taken by the student group and writing team, coeditors hosted five working sessions during theconference, where the writing team, the Science andInnovation Steering Committee, the Partner Network
Organising Committee, and the GCoM’s Research andInnovation Technical Working Group members andKey messages and overall framing in Section 1 were
informed by the discussions with the Science andInnovation Steering Committee, the Partner Network
Organising Committee and the GCoM’s Research andInnovation Technical Working Group members during
and after the conference. Many of the examples in thissection emerged from the conference’s high level andoverarching Plenary sessions. The detail and specificity
seen through parallel session and innovation lab
sessions are reflected more strongly in Sections 2 and
3 of the document The responses to questionnaires
provided by session chairs and student writers wererelied upon more heavily within these sections, with
regional analysis conducted by Dr Paris Hadfield.

44

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Innovate4Cities 2021 Writing and Organising Teamswould like to thank and acknowledge the work done by
the following individuals and organisations who helped
bring Innovate4Cities 2021 and this document together.
Thank you to conference illustrators, Desiree Llanosand Lulu Kitololo, whose work we have used in Section
1. Additionally, thanks to the Regional Curator teammembers: Jacqueline Peel, Kathryn Bowen, RebekkahMarkey-Towler, Amelia Leavesley, Ariana Dickey, JudyBush, Sarah Bell, Janet Stanley, Niki Frantzeskaki, Kristie
Dunn, Michael Oke, David Meiklejohn, Christina Ting,
Jane Stanley, Perrine Hamel, Devansh Jain, Nusrath
Maharoof, Rohinton Emmanuel, John Lieber, Rose
Cawood, Gillian Dick, James Murray, Gerald Mills, Lee
Muir, Martin Johnston, Cornell Hanxomphou, Lynnda
Wardle, Murray McKellar, Ellie Harrison, Daniela Rizzi,
Joke Quintens, Nicolas Gharbi, Amanda Masha, Sara
Romero, Roman Tandlich, Peter Jacobus Brazer,
Joseph Okputu, Remy Mulamba, Dhanashri Mirajkar,
Namrata Dhamankar, Shivali Waichal, Ashwini Pethe,
Neeti Trivedi, Mukta Deshpande, Harshad Raisoni,
Sujata Karve, Nidhi Dixit, Prajakta Kulkarni, Poorva
Keskar, Anagha Paranjape-Purohit, Amol Umbarje,
Pranay Tode, Pamela Smith Guerra, Teresita Alcantará,

Alejandra Millán, Caroll Owen, Gonzalo Flores, Maria
Jesus Alfaro, Luis Pachas, Anderson Huayna, Elizabeth
Corzo Jara, Carla Rojas, Jesus Villaca, Michael R. Boswell,
Billy Riggs, Chris Read, Daniel Hamilton, Jairo Garcia,
Shelby Buso, Kim Cobb, Alexander Easdal, Chandra
Farley, William Hsu, Laura Parry, Pamela Jouven, Roland
Hunizker, Mike Foley and Mark Henning. Additionally, we
would like to thank the Rapporteurs who contributed
to note taking for conference sessions Sheku Bangura,
Stewart Yuen, Michelle North, Andrew Okem, Akima
Ringsdorf, Chukwuma Anoruo, Karina Berbert, Emily
Tammes, Dehao Kong, Marlies Craig, Tegan Clark,
Meremiya
Hussein, Xiaona Liang, Jack McGuane,
Balkiss Abdelmoula, Chang Liu, Yijia Deng (Alex), Chao
Chen, Noëlle Smits van Waesberghe, Janhvi Saini,
William Symons, Clive Donnley Omondi, Omisore Bimpe,
Maitreyi Koduganti Venkata, Marta Navas Rico, Kathryn
Gray, Jiayu Zhang and Ellen Vandenbroucke. We would
also like to thank the partner organisations within thePartner Network Organising Committee: IIED, Coalition
for Urban Transitions, Cities Alliance, The World Bank,
Planners 4 Climate Action, ESCAP, UCCRN, UNSDSN,
UNEP, Future Earth International, Student Energy, UNU,
CDP, WRI, Metropolis, ICLEI, UNDRR, OECD.

45

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Findings from Innovate4Cities 2021 and Update to the Global Research and Action Agenda
This report has been developed by the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM) and
UN-Habitat based on the outcomes of 2021 Innovate4Cities Conference co-sponsored by UN-Habitat, GCoM
and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. It is intended to inform research, policy and public
discussions on the global research and action agenda for cities and climate change science.
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