Lessons for New York: Comparative Urban Governance and the Challenge of Climate Change

Introduction I. New York City and Weather Disaster: Addressing Climate Change in a Scheme of Vertical Governance II. Engaging Climate Change Through Transnational Urban Networks A. C40 Cities: Developing Metrics and Best Practices Among Large Cities B. Rockefeller Foundation Initiatives: Promoting Multi-Sectoral Collaborations C. Resilient Cities III. Horizontal Urban Governance: Transnational Networks as a Comparative Governance Scheme IV. Addressing Possible Limitations Conclusion INTRODUCTION Climate change and the weather disasters to which it contributes are major challenges for urban governance. The impact of Superstorm Sandy on New York City (the "City"), resulting in loss of life, substantial property damage, evacuation of critical health care facilities, flooded infrastructure, and an extended period of power outage, required an extensive response from the City. (1) Using New York City's experience with Superstorm Sandy as a launching point, this Article addresses the fundamental question of urban governance that weather disasters present. Recognizing the direct and immediate connection local government bears to coastal land, infrastructure, and the people who live and work within its borders, the role of a municipality in preparing for and responding to weather disasters is clear. However, although the effects of extreme weather typically are experienced locally, the conditions that contribute to climate change are global in scope. The enormity and complexity of weather-related disaster preparedness limit the capacity of any individual local government to cope with these phenomena. To consider the governance challenge in the context of weather disasters, Part I of this article contextualizes the question by providing an overview of New York City's principal pre-Superstorm Sandy climate change mitigation measures under the administration of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg. It then examines, in Sandy's aftermath, the City's commitment to a set of initiatives to develop capacity to withstand future weather events. (2) It first considers the City's set of initiatives in relation to the governance structure in the United States that serves as the source of authority, policy guidance, and fiscal support for confronting the challenges of climate change. The structure of governance encompasses multiple levels of government in a hierarchical, vertical relation, operating at successively "higher" territorial and jurisdictional scales in relation to a city. (3) Thus, in the United States, we routinely think of a city's climate-change initiatives within the larger context of federal and state government programs and policies, as well as regional governance schemes wherever they happen to exist, that address the impact of weather-related harms. The balance of this Article explores an alternative approach for addressing climate-change challenges that links urban governments horizontally, across national borders. (4) Specifically, Part II introduces the interurban networks, which are a set of arrangements bearing some family resemblances to other networks, both public and private, in the sense that they are information-driven and embrace collaborative approaches to problem solving. (5) They operate within a normative framework established by international protocols. (6) This Part focuses attention principally on the foundational assumptions grounding three networks of cities: the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, an organization of large cities in partnership with the World Bank, the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI)--Local Governments for Sustainability, and a number of philanthropic organizations; (7) Rockefeller Foundation-initiated resilience networks; (8) and Resilient Cities, an annual global forum initiated in 2010 by ICLEI, the World Mayors Council on Climate Change, and the City of Bonn, Germany. (9) Part III discusses the concomitant possibilities for comparative urban governance of these transnationally connected cities. …