Cities, Climate and Justice in the Global North and Global South

Urban systems now operate under conditions of permanent stress, intensified by climate change and crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. These pressures highlight the need for a fundamental rethinking of how cities function, how they are governed, and how climate action is implemented across the Global North and Global South.

List of Contents

1 Urban Climate Challenges in the Global North and Global South
2 From Incremental Adaptation to Transformative Urban Change
3 Discover ARC3.3
4 Human Needs, Circular Economy and Urban Resilience
5 Context-Specific Solutions Across the Global North and Global South
6 Climate Justice and Participatory Urban Planning
7 Conclusion: Shared Goals, Differentiated Urban Pathways
8 References
9 Human Needs, Circular Economy, and Urban Resilience
10 Context-Specific Planning and Knowledge Gaps
11 Climate Justice and Participatory Urban Planning

Urban Climate Challenges in the Global North and Global South

Cities in the Global North are primarily challenged by the need to retrofit existing urban systems to meet international climate commitments such as the Paris Agreement. These cities often rely on technocratic and infrastructure-driven climate solutions, which can overlook social equity. For example, climate-oriented urban densification policies in cities like Oslo have improved environmental performance but have also exacerbated spatial inequalities, particularly in lower-income and immigrant neighborhoods with limited access to green and blue infrastructure.

In the Global South, cities face rapid population growth alongside increasing exposure to climate risks. The need to provide housing, energy, and transportation while reducing emissions creates a complex policy environment. A clear illustration of this challenge is the experience of São Paulo’s Nova Luz project, where a climate-driven urban redevelopment plan faced strong resistance from local communities due to insufficient attention to affordable housing and social justice. Only when inequality became a central planning objective did the project gain broader support and achieve stronger emissions reductions.

Integrated climate action framework: Value proposition for climate resilient urban development. (Driskell, D. 2025)

From Incremental Adaptation to Transformative Urban Change

In both the Global North and Global South, urban climate policies have often relied on incremental and sector-based responses. While these approaches can offer short-term relief, they frequently fail to address the structural causes of vulnerability. Incremental adaptation may even reinforce inequalities or result in maladaptation, particularly for marginalized populations.

Transformative climate adaptation calls for systemic change across urban governance and planning systems. This includes reconfiguring planning discourses, institutional structures, policy tools, and everyday practices. For cities in both the Global North and the Global South, transformative change is essential to achieving long-term climate resilience and social justice.

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Human Needs, Circular Economy and Urban Resilience

A recurring critique in both the Global North and Global South is that climate action has been too narrowly focused on emissions reduction rather than on human needs. This gap is evident in failed innovation transfers, such as Seattle’s Pronto! bike-share program, which was discontinued due to low ridership. Despite successful bike-share systems in cities like Paris and New York, the Seattle project failed to account for local topography, weather conditions, and commuting patterns, demonstrating how climate-friendly solutions can underperform when human needs and local context are ignored.

Similarly, the Huangbaiyu eco-city project in China illustrates how climate-oriented urban redevelopment can fail when social and economic realities are overlooked. Homes were unaffordable for local residents, unsuitable for farming practices, and included features such as garages in a community with low car ownership, leading to widespread vacancy.

Circular economy strategies, when grounded in local needs, offer a more inclusive pathway. By linking climate action to livelihoods, resource efficiency, and resilience, circular systems can benefit cities in both the Global North and Global South.

Context-Specific Solutions Across the Global North and Global South

Urban planners frequently rely on best practices and case studies to guide climate action. However, experiences from the Global North and the Global South demonstrate that solutions cannot be transferred without adaptation to local contexts. Political conditions, social norms, cultural practices, economic structures, and geographic factors all shape whether a climate initiative succeeds or fails.

The lack of city-level research in many regions of the Global South—particularly in Africa, Latin America, and Oceania—limits the ability to assess climate co-benefits and scale successful interventions. Expanding locally grounded research and knowledge exchange between cities of the Global North and Global South is critical for effective and equitable climate action.

Climate Justice and Participatory Urban Planning

The article highlights multiple examples of climate policies that have exacerbated inequality in both the Global North and Global South. Urban greening initiatives, while environmentally beneficial, have contributed to green gentrification, increasing property values and displacing vulnerable communities. This phenomenon has been documented in cities such as Chicago, where publicly owned land has been converted into green spaces that primarily benefit higher-income residents.

In contrast, Vienna provides an example of how cities in the Global North can mitigate climate gentrification through strong social housing policies, rent controls, and equitable access to green spaces. By ensuring that all residents have green areas within walking distance, Vienna demonstrates how climate action and social equity can be pursued simultaneously.

Participatory planning approaches also feature prominently in cities of the Global South. The UCCRN Urban Design Climate Workshops (UDCW) in Isipingo, South Africa, show how collaborative, place-based planning can integrate climate mitigation, adaptation, and human well-being. By involving local stakeholders and accounting for socioeconomic and ecological conditions, the initiative strengthened resilience while addressing local development priorities.

Framework for climate-aligned urban design (Raven, J. 2025).

Conclusion: Shared Goals, Differentiated Urban Pathways

Cities in the Global North and Global South are critical actors in the global response to climate change. While their challenges and capacities differ, their goals are increasingly aligned: building resilient, inclusive, and low-carbon urban futures. Effective climate action in cities must go beyond emissions reduction to address governance reform, social justice, and human well-being. By embracing transformative, context-specific, and participatory approaches, cities across the Global North and Global South can become drivers of equitable and sustainable global change.

References

Coordinating Lead Authors

Jeffrey Raven, New York
Mattia Federico Leone, Naples

Lead Authors

Sanjukkta Bhaduri, New Delhi
Christian Braneon, New York
David Corbett, Munich
David Driskell, Seattle
Ursula Eicker, Montréal
John Fernández, Cambridge
Jing Gan, Shanghai
Anna Hürlimann, Melbourne
Ilana Judah, New York
Michael Neuman, London
Barbara Norman, Canberra
Dennis Pamlin, Stockholm
Chao Ren, Hong Kong
Rob Roggema, Monterrey
Pourya Salehi, Bonn
Anne Shellum, New York
Andréa Souza Santos, Rio de Janeiro
Joel Towers, New York
Cristina Visconti, Naples