ABSTRACT
This chapter begins to answer that question by looking at various North American cities that have started to plan their decarbonized urban futures. It reviews the literature on decarbonization and low carbon transformation and introduces the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance. The chapter considers the different ways in which carbon is being problematized, and what this variation means for integrating low carbon logics into urban development. It unpacks the socio-technical elements that are planned to be mobilized to achieve low carbon urban built environments of the future in North America. The chapter examines how the idea of 'carbon neutrality' within the building and energy sector is represented in some local North American authorities striving for deep decarbonization. It shows that imaginaries of carbon neutrality consistently mobilize a broad swathe of socio-technical elements, different kinds of carbon neutral urban futures are envisioned for different places.
