Cooperation with transnational networks to strengthen low carbon urbanization in developing countries : case study of ICLEI in Southeast Asia

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

As the world experiences rapid urbanization, cities have become important strategic actors to tackle climate change. The dynamics of global environmental governance is changing from the traditional state-centric top-down approach to a bottom-up approach that includes new stakeholders such as cities. It is now important for cities to actively pursue low carbon urbanization so that low carbon development can start at the local level of the society and build upwards. The aim of this thesis is to analyze how cities in Southeast Asia can most effectively strengthen low carbon urbanization since this region has the highest urbanization potential in the future. Multi-level governance theory and regime effectiveness theory are adopted as tools to assess the effectiveness of ASEAN and ICLEI. The analysis shows that ICLEI is a more effective option than ASEAN to strengthen low carbon urbanization. Therefore, Southeast Asian cities and ICLEI should strengthen cooperation to pursue this path in the region. This thesis will provide new insight into the prospects of low carbon urbanization in Southeast Asia, a region regarding which such study is still in its early stages.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• 1. Introduction 1
• 1.1. Research Background 1
• 1.2. Research Questions and Methodology 3
• 1.3. Structure of Thesis 3
• 2. Literature Review and Theoretical Framework 5
• 2.1. Cities and Low Carbon Urbanization – A Literature Review 5
• 2.2. Multi-level Governance Theory 11
• 2.3. Measuring Governance Effectiveness 17
• 3. ASEAN and Low Carbon Urbanization in Southeast Asia 20
• 3.1. Background of ASEAN 20
• 3.2. ASEAN’s Efforts in Climate Change Action and Low Carbon Urbanization 21
• 3.3. Assessment of Low Carbon Urbanization Governance of ASEAN 27
• 4. Multi-level Governance with ICLEI in Southeast Asia 33
• 4.1. Background of ICLEI 33
• 4.2. Assessment of Low Carbon Urbanization Governance of ICLEI 35
• 4.3. Linking Southeast Asian Cities and ICLEI to Create Multi-level Governance 42
• 4.4. Case study of Urban-LEDS project in Indonesia 46
• 4.5. Results and Implications 49
• 5. Conclusion 51