aylett - solarize portland and networked urban climate governance

Networked Urban Climate Governance: Solarize Portland & the role of communities as

drivers of innovation

Alex Aylett, PhD Research Director, Sustainable Cities International

Sustainable Cities PLUSnetwork

My Work

ocio-political and institutional dynamics of designing and implementing urban climate change

mitigation policy.

Analyzing the socio-political and institutional dynamics of designing and implementing urban climate change mitigation policy.

Portland, OR Durban, SA

civil-society / municipal civil-society / municipal

120 in-depth interviews

My Work

ocio-political and institutional dynamics of designing and implementing urban climate change

mitigation policy.

Analyzing the socio-political and institutional dynamics of designing and implementing urban climate change mitigation policy.

Portland, OR

civil-society

To have a meaningful discussion of urban responses to climate change means moving our attention from municipally-led systems of climate government to more complex networks of climate governance. Networks where multiple state and non-state actors all have important roles to play.

Key Questions•a) What does a critical study of public participation and engagement bring to our understanding of urban climate governance, and the roles and capabilities of citizens and communities in those networks of governance?•

•b) How can we conceptualize community agency in the context of attempts to encourage innovative urban climate responses?

- community-based collective contracting

- competitive bidding

- bulk purchasing

- cost reductions:

24% economies of scale

65% coordination of incentives

- average installation cost: $18,000 $2,925

●

●

601 Installations (2009-2011)

Initial 2009 Installations in SE Portland

Spread of Solarize Portland

Impacts of Solarize

● 1.7MW of electricity

● GHG Reductions = 3156 Cars off the road

● 17% of Portland's 2012 Renewable Energy Goals

Impacts of Solarize

Transformation of the Residential Solar Market

From:

high margin

low volume

scattered

...installations

To:

low margin

high volume

clustered

....installations

“Wouldn't it be cheaper to install solar panels on my house if a bunch of my neighbors were doing it too?”

Selling Solar to Individuals

Mobilizing Communities Behind a Collective Energy Transition

“ Tim and I thought, we are going to consider ourselves successful if we get ten people.

Twenty is going to blow our minds.

I went home that night, picked a name, designed a logo, and within a couple of days I launched a website. ...

We started sending out e-mails to our contact lists, our contacts sent out e-mails to their contacts and within weeks 100 people had signed up. By the end of it I think 300 people had signed up.

– Interview, Stewart 2010/06/29

“ This project has truly brought our community together, all moving toward one goal. ...

It’s been great to see what we’ve been able to accomplish as a group.

- Tim O'Neal, in Rubado 2010

Social Ties TechnologicalTransition

Points for Discussion

Citizens/Civil-Society and:

Conceptions of Public Participation

Experimentation & Innovation

Public Participation

participatory planning

participatory implementation

Spectrums of Participation

participatory planning

Consultation Deliberation

participatory implementation

Behaviour Change

CommunityProjects

● Expressing Preferences● Changing Behaviour● Participating in Hyper-Local Campaigns

Collective Action

● Social Ties● Collective Action● Leadership

The discourse of the citizen as a consumer and object of government has blocked the local state from engaging with communities of citizens as active participants, even leaders, within networks of climate governance.

Civil-Society, Experimentation and Innovation

Civil-Society, Experimentation and Innovation

The “what” and the “how” of sustainable cities is still an open question.

what is innovation?

Civil-Society: an engine for innovation & experimentation

Innovation not at the level of technology, but at the level of market transformations and implementation pathways.

Civil-Society: an engine for innovation & experimentation

Smaller Scale

Higher Risk Tolerance

Locally Situated Understanding of Socio-Technical Transitions

Civil-Society: an engine for innovation & experimentation

Smaller Scale

Higher Risk Tolerance

Locally Situated Understanding of Socio-Technical Transitions

image: Portland Sustainability Institute

alex.aylett@gmail.com