Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book reflects critically on a decade's work undertaken by a wide range of scholars across multiple disciplines – innovation studies, urban studies and environmental studies – concerned with analysing urban transitions. It updates previous scholarly research on cities and low carbon transitions, actualizing the nature of the challenges and pointing specifically to the decisively political nature of such socio-technical transformations in urban systems. The book discusses that moving towards the model requires rethinking what it means to design, practice and mobilize low carbon in the city, while also acknowledging the presence of multiple and contested developmental pathways. It looks at a broad range of activities and structures that make up climate responses at the local level, with a specific focus on municipal governance arrangements and intermediation practices.