Periodic Reporting for period 4 - LO-ACT (Low Carbon Action in Ordinary Cities)
Reporting period: 2023-08-01 to 2025-01-31
LO-ACT studied low-carbon urban development in medium and small cities in rapidly urbanising areas across East, Central, and West Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Most emissions in the next century will come from infrastructures yet to be built, particularly in rapidly urbanising areas where such infrastructure is lacking. Population forecasts suggest that most growth will take place in small and medium cities. However, research on effective urban climate action focused on showcasing strongly branded, successful initiatives in global cities. The transition to low-carbon cities depends on a myriad of actions in ordinary cities, that is, cities outside global networks of climate innovation and leadership.
LO-ACT addressed this critical gap working on four interlinked areas of work:
First, LO-ACT examined how narratives of urban climate action have shaped global environmental politics, and the evolution of discourses of local and subnational action over the past 30 years.
Second, LO-ACT analysed how social, technological, and institutional innovations travel and adapt across urban contexts, shifting focus from cities as static theatres for action to sites of dynamic interaction and policy exchange.
Third, LO-ACT compared urban development trajectories in over 100 cities and worked with international partners in case studies that explored the nuances of urban climate action in specific contexts.
Fourth, LO-ACT reassessed urban governance theory to better reflect the complexity of everyday city contexts.
LO-ACT addressed this critical gap working on four interlinked areas of work:
First, LO-ACT examined how narratives of urban climate action have shaped global environmental politics, and the evolution of discourses of local and subnational action over the past 30 years.
Second, LO-ACT analysed how social, technological, and institutional innovations travel and adapt across urban contexts, shifting focus from cities as static theatres for action to sites of dynamic interaction and policy exchange.
Third, LO-ACT compared urban development trajectories in over 100 cities and worked with international partners in case studies that explored the nuances of urban climate action in specific contexts.
Fourth, LO-ACT reassessed urban governance theory to better reflect the complexity of everyday city contexts.
LO-ACT studied how low-carbon transitions occur in small and medium-sized cities, particularly in rapidly urbanising regions of Africa and Asia. The research produced 42 peer-reviewed publications, including two monographs, two special issues, and multiple policy reports, which have attracted over 1,300 citations to date. LO-ACT established a climate urbanism network with two major international conferences and positioned the Urban Institute at the University of Sheffield as a leading centre for research on equitable, low-carbon urban futures.
• WP1 (Urban Imaginaries) revealed a shift from “urban optimism” to “urban pragmatism” in global climate politics. Growing calls for measurable results have led to a homogenisation of climate discourses, reducing space for diverse and locally grounded innovations. It analysed the impact of emergency narratives on local action, and how professionals use dominant imaginaries creatively to drive innovation.
• WP2 (Climate Policy Mobilities) introduced a correlative epistemology grounded in Chinese social theory, challenging Western-centric models of transition. The research also explored how innovations in transport, energy, and waste systems travel between cities, incorporating insights from pandemic-related health crises and justice-driven grassroots movements.
• WP3 (Patterns of Local Action) mapped over 800 local climate initiatives in the largest comparative database of climate action in rapidly growing cities. LO-ACT’s concept of mundane innovation revealed locally grounded, everyday forms of experimentation driving change from below. Nuances and mechanisms were explored in case studies from China, India, Brazil, Spain, the Philippines, Nigeria, Mozambique, and Tanzania.
• WP4 (Governance and Messiness) reimagined theories of urban governance to account for uncertainty. New concepts such as messy governmentalities, reparative governance, and urban unknowability built an argument plural, justice-oriented forms of climate action.
LO-ACT’s methodological innovations include:
• New conceptual frameworks to understand climate governance (action imaginaries, Ivy discourses, and correlative epistemologies).
• Large-scale comparative methods with archival research, action-research case studies, and arts-based methods. Participatory innovation workshops in cities such as Mzuzu (Malawi), Bauchi (Nigeria), and Pune (India).
• A new design-led methodology (life bio-graphics) to connect professional experience with innovation capacities.
Impact on global climate policy and local urban practice:
• Authoring major parts of the AR6 Working Group II report (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC).
• Writing chapters for UN-Habitat’s World Cities Reports in 2020, 2022, and 2024. A chapter in the 2024 advocated for people-centred urban innovation .
• Engaging in policy development at intermediary organisations such as the British Academy or United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG).
• Institutionalising a research programme on climate change and informal work within the international NGO WIEGO.
• Informing action to build resilience in informal settlements with the NGO TAMPEI and the Philippines Alliance.
Capacity Building and Legacy
• Climate Urbanism research has transformed the Urban Institute, University of Sheffield into an international hub for urban climate research.
• Visiting scholars and four postdoctoral researchers have built long-term research capacity across Africa, Asia, and Europe. One postdoctoral researcher secured an ERC Starting Grant on just transitions in china.
• The PI secured major follow-on funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) on community energy (2020–2025), and on a feminist perspective on energy transitions (2025–2028).
• The PI received the AXA Prize for Climate Science (2021) and was appointed by the UN Secretary-General to the International Group of Scientists (2025) to co-author the Global Sustainable Development Report.
• WP1 (Urban Imaginaries) revealed a shift from “urban optimism” to “urban pragmatism” in global climate politics. Growing calls for measurable results have led to a homogenisation of climate discourses, reducing space for diverse and locally grounded innovations. It analysed the impact of emergency narratives on local action, and how professionals use dominant imaginaries creatively to drive innovation.
• WP2 (Climate Policy Mobilities) introduced a correlative epistemology grounded in Chinese social theory, challenging Western-centric models of transition. The research also explored how innovations in transport, energy, and waste systems travel between cities, incorporating insights from pandemic-related health crises and justice-driven grassroots movements.
• WP3 (Patterns of Local Action) mapped over 800 local climate initiatives in the largest comparative database of climate action in rapidly growing cities. LO-ACT’s concept of mundane innovation revealed locally grounded, everyday forms of experimentation driving change from below. Nuances and mechanisms were explored in case studies from China, India, Brazil, Spain, the Philippines, Nigeria, Mozambique, and Tanzania.
• WP4 (Governance and Messiness) reimagined theories of urban governance to account for uncertainty. New concepts such as messy governmentalities, reparative governance, and urban unknowability built an argument plural, justice-oriented forms of climate action.
LO-ACT’s methodological innovations include:
• New conceptual frameworks to understand climate governance (action imaginaries, Ivy discourses, and correlative epistemologies).
• Large-scale comparative methods with archival research, action-research case studies, and arts-based methods. Participatory innovation workshops in cities such as Mzuzu (Malawi), Bauchi (Nigeria), and Pune (India).
• A new design-led methodology (life bio-graphics) to connect professional experience with innovation capacities.
Impact on global climate policy and local urban practice:
• Authoring major parts of the AR6 Working Group II report (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC).
• Writing chapters for UN-Habitat’s World Cities Reports in 2020, 2022, and 2024. A chapter in the 2024 advocated for people-centred urban innovation .
• Engaging in policy development at intermediary organisations such as the British Academy or United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG).
• Institutionalising a research programme on climate change and informal work within the international NGO WIEGO.
• Informing action to build resilience in informal settlements with the NGO TAMPEI and the Philippines Alliance.
Capacity Building and Legacy
• Climate Urbanism research has transformed the Urban Institute, University of Sheffield into an international hub for urban climate research.
• Visiting scholars and four postdoctoral researchers have built long-term research capacity across Africa, Asia, and Europe. One postdoctoral researcher secured an ERC Starting Grant on just transitions in china.
• The PI secured major follow-on funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) on community energy (2020–2025), and on a feminist perspective on energy transitions (2025–2028).
• The PI received the AXA Prize for Climate Science (2021) and was appointed by the UN Secretary-General to the International Group of Scientists (2025) to co-author the Global Sustainable Development Report.
Key contributions
• Reconceptualising urban climate governance as a plural, situated, and contested process rather than a technocratic one;
• Decolonising sustainability transitions through postcolonial and feminist theory;
• Democratising innovation by foregrounding everyday and community-led practices; and
• Reimagining governance as inherently messy, relational, and reparative.
LO-ACT has questioned established dogmas in urban environmental policy moving away from universal policy templates and performance indicators. LO-ACT showed that homogenisation narrows the scope for innovation and diversity in local action. LO-ACT criticised a shift towards demanding measurable, standardised outcomes advocating new spaces for plural, context-specific approaches to urban climate governance.
LO-ACT has introduced a postcolonial perspective on sustainability transitions, such as the correlative epistemology approach rooted in Chinese social theory. The project challenges the Eurocentric assumptions underpinning urban climate action and demonstrates the limitations of universal, Western-derived models of thought.
LO-ACT has developed a concept of mundane innovation that demonstrates that innovation is not confined to elite institutions or high-technology environments. Instead, it emerges from the everyday practices of citizens and communities. The concept of mundane innovation enriches dominant models of inclusive innovation, as shown in UN-Habitat’s 2024 World Cities Report.
LO-ACT has advanced theories of messy and reparative governance. The project has seeded a new queer feminist perspective on urban climate action, unique to the LO-ACT research group. Questions of solidarity, epistemic injustice and reparative practices offer a plural, relational understanding of how cities negotiate the complexities of climate change amid radical uncertainty and the implacable presence of the unknowable.
• Reconceptualising urban climate governance as a plural, situated, and contested process rather than a technocratic one;
• Decolonising sustainability transitions through postcolonial and feminist theory;
• Democratising innovation by foregrounding everyday and community-led practices; and
• Reimagining governance as inherently messy, relational, and reparative.
LO-ACT has questioned established dogmas in urban environmental policy moving away from universal policy templates and performance indicators. LO-ACT showed that homogenisation narrows the scope for innovation and diversity in local action. LO-ACT criticised a shift towards demanding measurable, standardised outcomes advocating new spaces for plural, context-specific approaches to urban climate governance.
LO-ACT has introduced a postcolonial perspective on sustainability transitions, such as the correlative epistemology approach rooted in Chinese social theory. The project challenges the Eurocentric assumptions underpinning urban climate action and demonstrates the limitations of universal, Western-derived models of thought.
LO-ACT has developed a concept of mundane innovation that demonstrates that innovation is not confined to elite institutions or high-technology environments. Instead, it emerges from the everyday practices of citizens and communities. The concept of mundane innovation enriches dominant models of inclusive innovation, as shown in UN-Habitat’s 2024 World Cities Report.
LO-ACT has advanced theories of messy and reparative governance. The project has seeded a new queer feminist perspective on urban climate action, unique to the LO-ACT research group. Questions of solidarity, epistemic injustice and reparative practices offer a plural, relational understanding of how cities negotiate the complexities of climate change amid radical uncertainty and the implacable presence of the unknowable.