Paper (10)

ORIGINAL RESEARCH
published: 18 April 2019

doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2019.00031
Risk Inequality and the

Food-Energy-Water (FEW) Nexus: A
Study of 43 City Adaptation Plans
Patricia Romero-Lankao 1,2,3* and Daniel Gnatz 4
1
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, United States, 2 National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden,
CO, United States, 3 Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States, 4 Institute for
Sustainable Urban Transformation, Boulder, CO, United States
Goals aimed at adapting to climate change in sustainable and just ways are embedded
in global agreements such as the Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban
Agenda. However, largely unexamined, are the ways that narrative understandings
conveyed in adaptation plans consider and attempt to address inequality in climate
risk to urban populations and FEW-systems. In this paper, we examine whether and
Edited by:
how adaptation plans from C40 member cities address inequality in risk, by planning
Fátima Alves,
Universidade Aberta, Portugal actions to reduce hazard exposure or tackling the drivers of social vulnerability. C40
Reviewed by: is a network of 94 of the world’s cities fostering policies to address climate change.
Sirkku Juhola, We apply a mixed methods approach, including a discourse analysis and meta-analysis
University of Helsinki, Finland
Hana Asfour, of adaptation plans. The discourse analysis helps to unpack framings of urban equity
Parallel Perspective Consulting issues as they relate to policy actions, and the meta-analysis seeks to quantitatively
(Q Perspective), Jordan
investigate patterns of framing and policy across adaptation plans. Our findings suggest
*Correspondence:
that FEW-nexus thinking is not yet embedded in narrative understandings of risk and
Patricia Romero-Lankao
paty.romerolankao@nrel.gov planned adaptation actions, within the adaptation plans we studied. In the city adaptation
plans we analyzed, we found multiple frames coexisting behind the broader adaptation
Specialty section:
visions (e.g., risk and resilience). Rather than converging, issues, and principles such
This article was submitted to
Medical Sociology, as those of equality, coexist with economic issues in an imbalance of incongruent
a section of the journal political movements and priorities. Techno-infrastructural and economic investments and
Frontiers in Sociology
concerns tend to take precedence over concerns and interests for inequality in climate
Received: 26 December 2018
Accepted: 29 March 2019
risks. We discuss some of the institutional factors explaining this. Knowledge integration,
Published: 18 April 2019 for instance, is constrained by the existence of a plurality of sectors, levels of government,
Citation: power, values, and ways of understanding and managing climate risk. We also suggest
Romero-Lankao P and Gnatz D (2019) that the relatively low importance of equality considerations in the adaptation plans will
Risk Inequality and the
Food-Energy-Water (FEW) Nexus: A likely limit the capacity of cities to support broader goals such as those of the New Urban
Study of 43 City Adaptation Plans. Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Front. Sociol. 4:31.
doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2019.00031 Keywords: inequality, FEW nexus, urban adaptation, discourse analysis, meta-analysis, urban climate governance
Frontiers in Sociology | www.frontiersin.org 1 April 2019 | Volume 4 | Article 31

Romero-Lankao and Gnatz Inequality, FEW-Nexus and Urban Adaptation
INTRODUCTION will be used to map attention given, in urban adaptation

plans, to FEW interactions with inequality, and thereby gain
Goals aimed at adapting to climate change in sustainable knowledge of how far these considerations have penetrated urban
and just ways are embedded in global agreements such as adaptation planning.
the Paris Agreement, Sustainable Development Goals and
the New Urban Agenda. These agreements seek to move Urban Adaptation and Climate Governance
environmental and climate concerns into the urban policy Having proven to be important agents of change globally,
action arena by developing strategies for risk management. cities, and transnational networks occupy a central role in the
Ideally, these strategies would be supported by the three pillars global governance of climate change because of many reasons
of sustainability (economy, equality, and environment), while (Bulkeley and Betsill, 2013; Romero-Lankao et al., 2018). There
increasing cities’ resilience to chronic and acute physical, social, is a wide acknowledgment among scholars of the incapacity
and economic stressors and hazards (Zeemering, 2009; Campbell, of national actors alone to produce policy actions that can
2013; Romero-Lankao et al., 2016a; Simon et al., 2016). However, address the complex dynamics of climatic risk (Gordon and
in practice, tradeoffs are often present that shrink the size one Johnson, 2017). Attention has shifted to the array of governance
pillar and augment another. initiatives undertaken outside of interstate climate negotiations
In the last decade, scholars and decisionmakers have shown and policies. These initiatives, taken by state, municipal, market,
increased interest in the mechanisms by which urbanization and civil society actors operating at multiple local to global levels,
and climate change are coevolving to compound the unequal are seen as key to creating the kinds of innovations necessary
risk of floods, wildfires, and other hazards to urban populations to address environmental change and climate risk (Acuto, 2013;
and their supporting food, energy, and water (FEW) systems. Shi et al., 2015; Gordon and Johnson, 2017). In recent years,
However, actions to improve equality on the ground have in what has been termed the second wave of urban climate
been less evident (Revi et al., 2014; Romero-Lankao et al., governance (Bulkeley, 2010), cities have moved beyond symbolic
2017c). Incorporation of equality into urban adaptation plans commitment to climate change action, to its integration into
is important because the most vulnerable communities within their planning and development policies (Aylett, 2014). For many
cities, most often are more exposed, have lower socio-economic cities, part of this movement has included participation in local
status, make lower contribution to GHG emissions, and have and city-networks such as ICLEI, the World Association of Major
lower levels of access to FEW systems, and livelihood options to Metropolises (Metropolis) and the C40 Cities Climate Leadership
mitigate risk and adapt (Boone, 2010; Hughes, 2013; Agyeman Group (C40) (Bouteligier, 2013; Gordon and Johnson, 2017).
et al., 2016; Romero-Lankao et al., 2016a; Shi et al., 2016; Reckien C40 is a network of 94 of the world’s cities concentrating more
and Lwasa, 2017). than 650 million people and one quarter of the global economy.
It is widely accepted, in the literature of social vulnerably, This peer network of cities seeks to address climate change
that social inequality shapes differences in climate risk and through the design and implementation of policies seeking to
vulnerability and in capacity to mitigate and adapt to these mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate risks
hazards (Ribot, 2010; Romero-Lankao et al., 2016a). However, (https://www.c40.org, February 28th,2019). A body of literature
largely unexamined, are the ways in which different narrative has examined different aspects of the C40 global and city
understandings relate to suggested actions in existing adaptation governance influence. For instance, some portray the C40 as
plans. In this paper, we examine whether and how adaptation an orchestrator of global urban climate governance steering
plans from 43 C40 cities address inequality in risk, by planning member cities toward particular climate actions (Gordon and
ways to reduce inequality in hazard exposure or tackling the Johnson, 2017), or creating new inequalities and sometimes even
drivers of social vulnerability (Reckien and Lwasa, 2017). We intensifying existing ones (Bouteligier, 2013). Others analyze
apply a mixed methods approach, including a discourse analysis whether the kind of change the network promotes is incremental,
and meta-analysis of adaptation plans for 43 C40 cities (Figure 1 reformistic, or transformational (Heikkinen et al., 2019).
and Supplemental Table 1A). In this approach, the discourse In this study, we start from the assumption that member city
analysis helps unpack framings of urban equality issues as agendas may differ from that of the C40 network (Heikkinen
they relate to policy actions, and the meta-analysis seeks to et al., 2019), and examine how, in their adaptation plans, city
quantitatively investigate patterns of framing and policy across officials understand and manage inequality in climate risk to
adaptation plans. urban populations and FEW-systems.
TRACING EXISTING SCHOLARSHIP Risk and the FEW-nexus

Studies on FEW nexus have grown recently (Endo et al., 2015).
Three areas of scholarship, relevant to this paper, include As it pertains to human food, energy, and water systems, the
urban adaptation, and governance, inequality in climate risk, term nexus refers to the relationships, as defined by linkages
and the food, energy, and water (FEW) nexus (Leck et al., and interdependencies, between two or more FEW resources
2015; Araos et al., 2016; Shi et al., 2016; Romero-Lankao and systems, including trade-offs and feedbacks between them
et al., 2017c; Wiegleb and Bruns, 2018; Heikkinen et al., (Leck et al., 2015; Romero-Lankao et al., 2017c). FEW-nexus
2019). We use findings in these areas as a basis to suggest a scholarship has grown in recent years, but differences in
conceptual framework (section Conceptual Framework), which motivation, purpose, and scope pervade the field (Stringer et al.,

FIGURE 1 | Cities covered in the analysis of adaptation plans. Based on World Bank income category as of 1 July 2015, at the country-level. Low-income economies
are those with a GNI per capita, of $1,045 or less in 2014; middle-income economies are those with a GNI per capita of more than $1,045 but <$12,736;
high-income economies are those with a GNI per capita of $12,736 or more. Lower-middle-income and upper-middle-income economies are separated at a GNI per
capita of $4,125.
2018). A FEW-nexus approach can be used to analytically emphasis is on how human development and environmental
examine links and interdependencies between FEW-systems, dynamics are interplaying (or might interplay) to create the
but it also functions as a boundary object that engages potential for harmful events (Trombetta, 2008). While security
decision makers and academics across a science-policy interface thinking leads decision making to look for the current, direct
aimed at understanding and managing FEW-system links and causes of harm to urban populations and FEW-systems, risk
interdependencies (Wiegleb and Bruns, 2018). In governance, its analysis analyzes the potential causes of harm, current or
concepts are sometimes used to achieve integrated management future. We use a risk approach here, because it fits better
across FEW sectors and jurisdictions (Bizikova et al., 2013). with both climate change scholarship, ours included, and the
Here we will examine how linkages and interdependencies framing used in 87% of the adaptation plans (Field et al., 2014;
between FEW-systems are acknowledged and prioritized at Romero-Lankao et al., 2017a) (Figure 2).
the city level and whether integrated FEW-management is Within our sample, we look at how adaptation plans address
a goal of adaptation plans. Or if, as suggested by existing inequality in risk. Following the IPCC, we define risk as the
scholarship, bringing together diverse policy domains creates potential for adverse effects on lives, livelihoods, health, and
its own set of challenges. The most important is given by assets (Field et al., 2014). Risk may spring from exposure
the difficulties involved in moving decision makers beyond to floods, sea level rise, and other threats and vulnerability
their accustomed ways of understandings and action precisely of people and the FEW-systems that support them. Such
because this involves a collective engagement of disparate sectors, vulnerability, or the propensity to be negatively affected by
ways of knowing, levels of government, power, and values events or impacts, results from the multiscale interplay of
(Romero-Lankao et al., 2017c). factors in five domains: Socio-demographic, Economic, Techno-
FEW-nexus studies tend to be motivated either by the scarcity infrastructural, Environmental, and Governance (SETEG), which
of FEW resources or by threats to FEW-resource security due have been used by Arup and by us in prior work (Arup,
to development and environmental pressures (Galaitsi et al., 2014; Romero-Lankao and Gnatz, 2016). While people can
2018). We will focus on the latter, which tends to be framed be susceptible to hazards, they also have capacity and agency
using either a security or a risk approach (Corry, 2012). to modify their circumstances and behavior to mitigate
In the security approach, the focus is on an existing threat risks or adapt. Capacity is the unequally distributed pool
such as an ongoing drought or disruption of energy or food of resources, assets, and options governmental, private, and
supplies (Comfort, 2005). In the risk approach, however, the non-governmental actors can draw on to mitigate and adapt

FIGURE 2 | Framing the adaptation vision. After reading and summarizing each adaptation plan, four notions capturing cities’ broader frame or vision were identified.
See Supplemental Table 1B.
to risks, while pursuing their development goals and values equitable because it is self-determined on an equal playing field.
(Vincent, 2007). Such equitable distributions are seen in this conception as fair
To understand how policymakers are prioritizing these issues, or just because no one has had an advantage in gaining access
we examine how in their adaptation plans, city officials attribute to resources and options (Ikeme, 2003; Hughes, 2013). However,
climate risk to a series of locational and SETEG factors, and this conception ignores the power of assets and options, once
what policy actions they suggest to manage these (section attained by some individuals and groups, to create or compound
Study Design). differential access a to assets and options for others thus creating
social inequality (Agyeman et al., 2016). Social inequality thus
Urban Adaptation, Inequality, and Equality creates self-feeding systems that are not fair or equitable because
For centuries, the notions of inequality, equality, and justice have they deny, to marginalized people and groups, access to assets
been the subject of compelling philosophical, conceptual, and and options necessary to avoid risks at the same they deny access
ethical debates, with persistent disagreements in definition, scope to police systems and institutional features that could help them
and policy implications whose discussion is beyond the scope of gain access those assets and options.
this paper (Ikeme, 2003; Agyeman et al., 2016). Inequality determines differential location and access to
The concepts of fairness and justice can be related to places, water, food, energy resources, and decision-making
discussions of the differences in definitions of equal and options in a city where resources are distributed unevenly across
equitable. The word justice comes from the Latin jus, meaning populations (Reckien and Lwasa, 2017). Typically such uneven
right or law, and refers to either an actual or ideal situation distributions result from markets, power, other institutional
in which: (a) benefits and burdens in society are distributed mechanisms and risk mitigation and adaptation policies that
according to a set of allocation principles where the basic rights engender or perpetuate socially defined categories of wealthy
and needs of individuals and groups are considered and respected or poor, or of included and excluded populations (Stein, 2011;
(distributive element); (b) the rules and regulations that govern Romero-Lankao et al., 2016b) based on class, caste, gender,
decision making preserve basic rights, liberties, and entitlements profession, race, ethnicity, age, and ability (real or perceived).
of individuals, groups, or communities (procedural element); and Undergirding our analysis in this paper is an assumption
human and other biological beings are treated with respect and that, in the context of city climate action, an understanding of
dignity by all parties involved (interactional element) (Jost and how inequality creates differences in exposure and vulnerability
Kay, 2010). Likewise, equality, which we use here in its opposite, is fundamental to creating fair and effective risk mitigation
conveys an ideal state of perfectly balanced or even distribution of and adaptation. Policies aimed at creating risk-equality should
goods and services across populations, while equitable can allow contain mechanisms to ensure the fair distribution of risks of
an element of self-determination. In a neo-liberal conception, as negative impacts and of benefits (assets and options) to undertake
long as each member or group has an equal chance to obtain climate action across city populations (distributive justice).
access to resources and options, a distribution can be termed Creating equality also means generating equal opportunities for

participation and recognition for all, including underrepresented To help us determine knowledge structuring, we mapped,
groups (procedural justice) (Bulkeley et al., 2013; Hughes, 2013; through their references to issues of concern, the general
Reckien and Lwasa, 2017). interpretative frame city officials use to make sense of a climate
Among the resources and options that vary with inequality change issue in their adaptation plans. For instance, do city
to create differential urban vulnerability, access to food, energy, officials frame climate adaptation as a problem of risk, or of
and water are so basic and primary that they can be used as resilience? However, setting issues such as those related to
bellwethers of an uneven distribution of many other resources inequality in climatic risk on the adaptation agenda also relates
conditioning vulnerability Biggs et al., 2015; Romero-Lankao to the way in which city officials determine what kind of problem
et al., 2016b. When considering the fair distribution of resources, climate change is. What causal SETEG factors are involved in the
assets and services related to distributive justice, it is important creation of climate change impacts? Are these impacts only the
to recognize that differences in gender, race, socioeconomic result of location and geography, or exposure? Or are they also
status, and culture are part of procedural barriers that condition the result of prior policies and unequal patterns of development
participation in policies affecting distribution. Thus, a cultural determining differences in the vulnerability of people and FEW-
value can inhibit poor and marginalized populations from systems within cities?
effectively participating in decisions (e.g., where to locate Drawing on the discussion of existing literature (section
infrastructural investments in water and electricity) that affect Conceptual Framework), we will map how adaptation plans
their wellbeing, property, resources, climate risks, and capacities address inequality in hazard exposure and in the following
to adapt and mitigate. multiscale (SETEG) factors determining vulnerability (Arup,
2014; Romero-Lankao and Gnatz, 2016).
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK - Locational (exposure) factors conditioned by the presence of
populations and critical FEW infrastructures in places that
Using discourse analysis, we qualitatively unpack how, in their could be adversely affected by floods, heatwaves, and other
adaptation plans, city officials’ frame inequality in urban climate climate hazards (Nicholls et al., 2008).
risk. We then combine discourse analysis and adaptation analysis - Socio-demographic factors consist of age, gender, and
to examine some of the issues addressed by the adaptation actions demographic structure of a city or the behavior of individuals
suggested in the plans. Lastly, we use a meta-analysis approach and groups (Donner and Rodríguez, 2008).
to quantitatively investigate patterns of framing and adaptation - Economic factors relate to uneven economic growth,
action across cities. urbanization, income, and affordability of food, energy,
We will map narrative understandings in the adaptation water, and other resources (Uejio et al., 2011).
plans of how inequality creates differences in exposure and - Techno-infrastructural and built environmental factors include
vulnerability. We will also examine if and how adaptation actions land use change and the distribution, quality, and robustness
contain mechanisms to ensure the fair distribution of assets of water, sanitation, electricity and related, FEW critical
and options to manage climate risks (distributive justice), and infrastructures, and systems. Critical FEW infrastructures
generate equal opportunities for participation and recognition include electric power, natural gas and oil, water supply, and
for all, including underrepresented groups (procedural justice). food distribution systems, but because we acknowledge the role
of transportation, telecommunications, health, emergency and
Discourse Analysis other services, we also included these as critical urban FEW
Various strands of social science scholarship have used
infrastructural systems (Rinaldi et al., 2001).
discourse analysis to examine texts, images, papers, books, and
- Environmental factors such as the biophysical and climatic
reports to define the ideas and concepts—which we will call
characteristics affecting an urban area’s predisposition to
understandings—through which actors understand and act upon
hazards relate to exposure. For instance, coastal cities are prone
the world (Foucault, 1972; Sharp and Richardson, 2001; Hajer,
to sea level rise, storm surge and coastal flooding, saltwater
2004; Keller, 2011; Wiegleb and Bruns, 2018). Rather than
intrusion and tropical storms.
being neutral, these narrative understandings privilege some
- Governance factors consist of the fit between areas of
socio-environmental facts and may suggest some policy actions
concern and authority, cooperation, and cohesiveness among
over others (Sharp and Richardson, 2001; Hajer, 2004; O’Brien
governing bodies and levels of government, policies and
et al., 2007; Trombetta, 2008). We draw on section Conceptual
actions, and the legacies of actions and policies around-land
Framework and on the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to
use planning; and through investments, location and climate
Discourse to map the discourse of 43 adaptation plans (Keller,
proofing of FEW infrastructure and service networks, which
2011). The sociology of knowledge analysis of discourse includes
shape the geography of urban risk (Aylett, 2014).
three components: knowledge structuring, discourse production,
and power effects. Here we will only focus on the first and the Power effects relate to the intended or unintended consequences
third. We excluded the second, which entails an examination emerging from the discourse. Elements of the power effects
of the influence of sociopolitical context on framing and action include the dispositifs, a French word describing the institutional,
(Keller, 2011), because our study focuses on discourse as it organizational and infrastructural elements, which we define here
crystallized in the plans, and not on the influence of each city’s following Foucault and Keller as the suggested apparatuses of
sociopolitical context on framing and action. adaptation action, such as

a) Personnel and organizations charged with undertaking can effectively respond to climatic risks (Aylett, 2014).
adaptation policies; Environmental actions seek to manage the biophysical, climatic,
b) Institutional and organizational processes seeking to evaluate, and hydrological factors affecting an area’s predisposition to
monitor and understand the climate change problem, or hazards (Brink et al., 2016; Kabisch et al., 2016). Environmental
to foster awareness among city actors, decision makers, actions take into account and manage the role of biodiversity,
and populations. We will include these under institutional- greenspaces, and other ecosystem services in mitigating hazard
behavioral adaptation actions (note that (a) and (b) seek to risk and reducing the vulnerability of urban populations and
address the sociodemographic and governance factors within FEW systems to climate change (Levy et al., 2014).
our SETEG framework);
c) Investments in and climate proofing of critical FEW
infrastructure (artifacts), which we will include under STUDY DESIGN
techno-infrastructural actions. (These address the techno-
Meta-analysis is often applied to find commonalities within a
infrastructural factors within our SETEG framework); and
variety of research papers and methods (Littell et al., 2008). It
d) Other discursive or non-discursive adaptation actions, such
involves the pooling of data that quantitatively examine whether
as environmental and economic adaptation actions (which
causal relations described in individual papers (e.g., drivers of
address respective factors within our SETEG framework).
climate risk, determinants of vulnerability of food, energy, and
Such “dispositifs” are shown in the literature to hold the potential water insecurity) hold across a broader body of scholarship
to address climate risk to people and FEW-systems in cities. In (Misselhorn, 2005; Romero-Lankao et al., 2012).
our analysis we sort “dispositifs” among techno-infrastructural, While meta-analysis is frequently combined with systematic
institutional-behavioral, economic, and environmental action literature reviews to synthesize the results of previous research, in
categories (Romero-Lankao et al., 2017b). our approach, we combine meta-analysis with discourse analysis
to systematically investigate patterns on the framing of inequality
in risks within a selection of 43 adaptation plans.
Adaptation Analysis
We also include insights from the climate adaptation literature to
add accuracy to our discourse analysis. In the climate adaptation Selection and Analysis of the Adaptation
literature, institutional-behavioral actions include changes in Plans
the procedures, incentives, or practices of city actors, and This study resulted from a prior report commissioned by the C40.
often work through existing urban competencies and hybrid Although the C40 has 94 affiliated cities, we only got access to 60
actor arrangements in sectors, such as urban planning, health, adaptation plans for analysis. Of these, we selected 43 plans, 4
water, energy, and disaster risk management (Fisher, 2013; of which are from cities located in lower-income, 12 in middle-
Romero-Lankao et al., 2017b). Institutional behavioral actions income and 27 in upper-income countries. As can be seen in
entail the creation of organizations charged with mainstreaming Figure 1, our selected sample also has a good representation of
adaptation into other sectoral and developmental policies such C-40 cities from Latin America, Europe, North America, Africa,
as urban planning, transportation, and disaster management; and South-East Asia.
with evaluating, monitoring and understanding the climate We built on our prior work on FEW nexus, climate adaptation
change problem; and with fostering awareness among city and inequality cited in section Conceptual Framework, and on
decision makers and populations. In the environmental justice the review of the adaptation plans, to map how city officials
literature, these actions are fundamental to procedural justice prioritize policy actions to manage inequality in risk. Although
by broadening participation in, recognition, and commitment we couldn’t analyze how individual city officials actually
to adaptation across governmental, private, civil society, and understand the climate change adaptation and FEW issues we
community actors (Bulkeley et al., 2013; Shi et al., 2016; Reckien studied, we did analyze the understandings of these issues
and Lwasa, 2017). conveyed in the plan. We will refer to these understandings,
Techno-infrastructural actions are critical in the creation conveyed in the plans, as narrative understandings.
of artifacts, such as energy, water and sanitation. They are Our data extraction and synthesis followed an examination
often framed in the climate adaptation literature, as efforts to of discourses and a meta-analysis approach (Littell et al., 2008;
discourage growth in risk-prone areas and to protect critical Keller, 2011; Romero-Lankao et al., 2012; Wiegleb and Bruns,
urban infrastructural systems through investments in climate 2018). Our conceptual framework functioned as a starting point
proofing, and changes to design, operational, and maintenance to design and test a review template and to agree on our own
practices (Romero-Lankao et al., 2017b). definition of terms and fields (available upon readers’ request).
Other adaptation actions include economic and We then used this template to extract data from each of the 43
environmental policies. The former aim at creating enabling adaptation plans. First, each selected plan was carefully reviewed
conditions for autonomous action by governmental and by at least two members of our research team to ensure systematic
nongovernmental actors, and to support broader development and consistent data extraction. Factors influencing risk to people
goals. Funding programs from public and private sectors are and FEW-systems were identified and coded into the five
fundamental. By strategically allocating funding (whose amount SETEG domains (i.e., sociodemographic, economic, techno-
and sources vary widely across cities), local governments infrastructural, environmental, and governance). Adaptation

actions were classified into institutional-behavioral, techno- without regard to any city’s membership, income level or status
infrastructural, economic, and environmental. in the C40.
We further subdivided these categories of SETEG factors and
adaptation actions into terms, as described in the second column
of Supplemental Tables 1A,B, 2A–E, 3A–D). After summarizing NARRATIVE UNDERSTANDINGS AND
each adaptation plan, mention counters were developed, POLICIES IN THE ADAPTATION PLANS
based on mention of the terms, to capture overall narrative
understanding (Supplemental Tables 1A,B, 2A–E, 3A–D). Once This section is organized around three topics. The first and
a term was found, the counter maxed at “1” for that particular second include a mapping of the narrative understandings—or
topic to avoid duplicate counting. Limiting mention counts to knowledge structuring—crystallized in the adaptation plans. This
one per plan is the most effective way to avoid bias in answering not only in terms of what interpretative frame is used but also
the question: what plans address what topics? Although this in terms of what locational and SETEG factors are identified
method does not seek to answer what plans emphasized what as key determinants of climate risk, and whether inequality is
topics. It does answer the question what issues were emphasized considered in this conveyed understanding. The third topic refers
in the plans overall. We use two approaches to refer to to the power effects in the form of adaptation actions suggested
the percentages: in the adaptation plans to address inequality in risk to people
and FEW-systems.
1) Number of plans with mentions of an issue/total number
of plans
Interpretative Frames
2) Number of mentions of an issue/total number of mentions of
We found that the urban adaptation plans analyzed here embed
all issues within a category
adaptation in a larger vision for the city, often with a multiplicity
The first gives a view of the relative importance, attributed by of coexisting frames. Many of these interpretive frames are
urban policymakers, to particular issues within plans compared not only full of symbolism, as in the resilience framing we
with all plans. The second gives a view of the relative importance, will describe later in this section, they also feature key—
attributed by urban policy makers, to particular issues compared and sometimes, contradictory—organizing principles of policy
to all issues within a given category (e.g., techno-infrastructural action (Figure 2). Rather than converge toward an integrated
vs. institutional-behavioral actions). Together, these measures understanding, these concepts often coexist in a tension of
give a two-scoped view of the relative priorities given by urban incongruent and unbalanced sets of principles and related
policymakers to the issues addressed in the plans. actions. In this disharmony, economic and investment concerns
Although we feel this study offers many relevant insights, it and interests (e.g., infrastructural and economic investments)
was faced with some constraints that may affect its outcomes. tend to take precedence over concerns and interests for the
While we included 43 cities from low-, middle-, and high-income environment and the marginalized (see next subsection).
countries, these were not selected using a sampling approach. Frequently cities appear in the adaptation plan narratives
Due to our determination to have at least two members review as leaders, development hubs or engines of innovation and
each plan, and our group’s language limitations, we could only investment, key to growth and stability nationally, and
review plans written in English and Spanish. This meant we internationally. Adaptation in this context forms part of a
were not able to analyze the discourse in many plans that broader sustainability vision present in many cases for the
might have offered additional insights. Readers of this paper creation of a vibrant, economically prosperous, and socially
should, therefore, keep in mind that while the combination just cities, or cities that are habitable, secure, resource-
of discourse analysis with meta-analysis to identify patterns in efficient, socially and economically inclusive, and competitive
understanding and action is innovative, our study is exploratory internationally (Seattle, Tshwani).
in nature. Furthermore, while our use of a discourse analysis In many adaptation plans, city officials frequently see climate
to examine the framings of inequality in risks exposed some of change as posing risks, but also offering opportunities. These
the narrative understandings conditioning policy actions, it did include opportunities to attract investment, generate high-value
not include an examination of why and how the socio-political jobs, strengthen research and development, or foster circular
and geographical contexts in which city officials operate shape or green economies. For instance, the Singapore plan states
their interpretations and planned actions. Lastly, since we studied that the city is poised to tap economic opportunities offered by
plans and not implementations we could not determine how (or global warming, such as investments in new growth areas, the
if) the suggested adaptation actions were implemented. creation of high-value jobs, the promotion of green growth, and
While ethical questions regarding this study might be raised of R&D capabilities.
around the fact that it was commissioned by the C40 to study Interestingly, 87% or 37 of the reports apply a risk approach
the adaptation plans of C40 cities, giving rise to concerns about to frame climate change issues (Figure 2). Risk is often framed
scientific objectivity, we feel that our analysis of these plans in the adaptation plans as the probability of occurrence of
was objective and sound for two reasons: (1) We studied the a hazard, such as sea level rise, multiplied by a consequence
adaptation plans as independent documents and not as they such as property damage. While differences in emphasis exist,
pertain to the C40 or its mission; and (2) The methods used a dominant narrative emerges, underlying the risk approaches
in the study were evenly applied across city adaptation plans in these plans. Common to this narrative is the idea that

strategies for the protection of urban areas from the risks and construction, age, and lack of maintenance (Figure 3;
and FEW constraints associated with climate change require Supplemental Table 2C). Inequality also tends to be given a
a scientifically grounded technical assessment of how changes lower priority and appears mainly in relation to other factors and
in temperature, precipitation, and sea level are likely to affect very rarely in relation to FEW systems.
critical infrastructures, resources and economic activities in Inequality considerations were included in 24 plans and
the cities. represented 26 percent of the total mentions of techno-
Adaptation plans reviewed in this study illustrate that infrastructural risk factors. However, scant consideration was
resilience is, increasingly, becoming embedded in the discourses given to how techno-infrastructural and built environment
of urban decision-makers. Resilience is not only seen in the factors condition unequal risk through such distributive
plans as an ecological principle, but also, frequently, as an mechanisms as differential access to water or sanitation, or
opportunity. Such opportunities, when coupled with appropriate differences in the provision and placement of infrastructures and
actions, can increase a city’s economic, energy, environmental, services such as electricity, waste disposal, tree shading, parks,
and food security, in addition to protecting the quality of life and hurricane shelters, and evacuation routes.
safeguarding property (e.g., Durban). It is, therefore, common Locational (exposure) factors were mentioned in 32 plans
for the adaptation plans to frame the hazards and disruptions (green bars, Figure 3) as related to differential exposure of
brought about by climate change as somewhat of a blessing populations and FEW-systems to climate hazards. Adaptation
in disguise. In this discursive thread, cities may even view plans in Peru, Mexico City, and Cape Town point to how the
themselves as symbolically endowed with a power of resilience poor are priced out of desirable neighborhoods and are often
like “the mythic phoenix,” able to take advantage of disruptive forced to live in hazardous areas. In Seattle, San Francisco, and
events and carry on through challenges over the years. In New Orleans, adaptation plans show concerns for how inequality
such cases cities become a phoenix aware of how the threats makes poorer populations more likely to occupy low-lying areas,
cities face—and their responses to these threats— expose several prone to flooding or more likely to experience heat island effects
interdependencies that city officials must better comprehend because these areas are more affordable.
(San Francisco). An almost mythic idea of its own resilience Related to location, environmental risk factors were
can also be found, for instance, in the New Orleans plan, which mentioned in 12 plans (green bars, Figure 3). Some of these
describes a city certain that the creativity and resilience of its mention that many informal settlements locate on areas,
people and places have been key in its capacity to bounce forward, where the high-water table and inadequate infrastructure make
after being faced with a decade of hurricanes, oil spills, and the them particularly vulnerable to flooding (e.g., Cape Town,
Great Recession. Buenos Aires, Tshwane, Mexico City, and Lima). Cities from
the Global North also offer examples of how low-income
Inequality in Climate Risk communities living in brownfields or in flood risk areas face
We compared levels of attention paid to climate risk associated higher levels of exposures not only to sea level rise, floods and
with five selected SETEG factors, and examined whether the plans heatwaves but also to contaminated land (e.g., New York, and
mentioned inequality in reference to these factors (inequality New Orleans).
within each domain, Figure 3). This comparison revealed that Regarding economic factors, twenty-seven adaptation plans
because city officials are, by necessity, generalists, adaptation (67%) refer to economic development as a key determinant of
plans deal with many climate change issues at a time, from risk, and twenty-three (53%) of all plans mention urbanization
those related to economic development and land tenure to those as a broader driver of risk (yellow bars, Figure 3). Interestingly,
associated with health, disaster management, housing and critical 27 or 62% of the adaptation plans referred to unequal economic
FEW infrastructures (Supplemental Tables 2A–D). growth conditioning access to determinants of a population’s
Evidence from the narrative understandings conveyed by the capacity to mitigate risks and to adapt. Such determinants include
plans suggests that FEW-nexus thinking is not yet embedded location, and access to secure land, affordable, accessible, and
in city officials’ priorities, or that such considerations create good quality housing, energy, water, food, and transportation
a conundrum that officials are reluctant to tackle. Of the (yellow bar, Figure 3).
total of risk factors, those related to food, energy and water In the adaptation plans of Lima, Mexico City and Cape
systems were mentioned in 6, 14, and 20 reports, respectively Town, the narratives acknowledge deep inequalities and high
(Figure 3). Where they did appear, food, energy, or water systems poverty rates that relate to the existence of informal, unplanned
are treated separately, in most cases, without consideration of settlements whose populations have precarious housing without
how their interdependencies can amplify or mitigate risk. The adequate FEW resources necessary to protect themselves against
influence and vulnerability of FEW-systems was often framed in hazards. Recognition of such conditions is rare in the adaptation
terms of techno-infrastructural issues associated with age, design plans of the global north. New York is one of the handful of
or capacity characteristics (Blue bars, Figure 3). For example, such cities indicating that nearly half of its people live in or
the plans mention that FEW-systems and infrastructures are near poverty, and lack access to good quality housing and other
vulnerable because they are old, designed without consideration resources needed to adapt.
of the new (and unstable) normal that climate change will While 17 adaptation plans refer to socio-demographic factors
bring, and in need of retrofitting and climate-proofing actions. such as population size and growth, age, gender, and pre-existing
Buildings are also vulnerable because of poor quality design medical conditions as determinants of vulnerability, 20 plans

FIGURE 3 | Risk factors receiving attention in the adaptation plans. After reading and summarizing each adaptation plan, we subdivided the risk factors into five
SETEG domains (marked by different colors above) and related factors (within each color). For more details, see Supplemental Tables 2A–E.
convey an understanding of governance as a determinant of institutional-behavioral, economic, and environmental

risk and vulnerability (purple bars, Figure 3). Such governance action categories.
conditioned risks operate through investments and the location Our findings suggest that, while proposed adaptation actions
of FEW infrastructures and service networks, and through the tend to target many issues at a time, they also tend to
legacies of actions and policies around-land use planning or prioritize infrastructural and economic issues, and that inequality
its lack though this is not generally acknowledged in the plans is a secondary concern. Furthermore, city officials tend not
(orange bars, Figure 3). to address the links and feedbacks between critical FEW
As for inequality, socio-demographic and governance factors, infrastructural systems but rather to suggest actions to manage
creating social exclusion by class, gender, race, migration, and each infrastructural system at a time.
minority status were mentioned in 13 and 5 plans, respectively, Technological-infrastructural actions, which can be a means
(orange and purple bars, Figure 3). Adaptation plans from of fostering distributive justice, received the highest number of
cities in middle- and low-income countries tended to mention mentions (with 124, or 41%, blue bars, Figure 4). However, by
the influence of social exclusion on inequality in access to and large distributive justice was not considered. Instead, actions
affordable energy, water, food, and sanitation, and reliable were presented in the plans as a means to protect buildings and
transportation systems more often than plans from high-income infrastructure through changes to design. Similar to what we
countries. Race, however, appears in the adaptation plans of found in our examination of narrative understanding, suggested
the US cities of New York, New Orleans and San Francisco policy action did not address the links and interdependencies
as a predictor of risk. These plans indicate that people of among critical FEW-systems but rather focused on one sector
color are more likely to live in areas more at risk of flooding at a time. Examples of planned infrastructural adaptation
and subsidence, to live in poverty, to be unemployed and actions included:
to have pre-existing health conditions associated with higher
• Improving energy redundancy and reliability of (e.g.,
hazard risks. These plans also recognize that their marginalized
distributed power), flood fitting the design of surfaces,
populations have lower capacities to mitigate and adapt
and increasing the extent of cooler, green surroundings
(Supplemental Tables 3A–D).
(Changwon, Chicago, Karachi, New Orleans, Paris, Seattle).
• Introducing low-carbon or renewable energy sources,
Policy Actions to Address Inequality in reducing coal usage for electricity generation, promoting
Risk and FEW-nexus energy-efficient and resilient technologies, appliances, and
In our mapping of the power effects emerging from adaptation designs in buildings and developments—e.g., cooling systems,
discourse among policymakers, we examined whether planned LED and fluorescent lighting (Amsterdam, Quito).
adaptation actions aimed at either reducing hazard exposure • Adapting water infrastructures to withstand heavy rain events,
or tackling the drivers of social vulnerability considered drought, and heat. Climate-proofing water systems and
inequality. The adaptation actions identified were organized into implementing a water sensitive approach to urban design
“dispositifs” as defined in section Tracing Existing Scholarship. and flood mitigation through blue and green infrastructures
We sorted “dispositifs” among techno-infrastructural, (Copenhagen, New York, Rotterdam, San Francisco).

FIGURE 4 | Policy action suggested in the adaptation plans. After reading and summarizing each adaptation plan, we subdivided the adaptation actions into four
domains (marked on different colors above) and related factors (within each color). For more details, see Supplemental Tables 3A–D.
Techno-infrastructural actions were most frequently organized Institutional-behavioral actions were second in the number of
around resilience, low-carbon utilities and buildings, promoting mentions (118 or 39% of the total). The focus in order of
a circular economy, and risk as a source of investment importance was on knowledge and awareness, monitoring, urban
opportunity (Supplemental Table 3A). For instance, Amsterdam planning, disaster risk management, and institution building
and Boston suggested fostering a circular economy to reduce (orange bars, Figure 4).
waste and increase recycling throughout economic activities and Awareness and knowledge, and monitoring were addressed in
districts. Other cities, such as Copenhagen, suggested basing 31 and 29 of the plans, respectively. These plans suggest a suite
adaptation on a risk and resilience approach aimed at improving of strategies to systematically evaluate, assess, understand, and
infrastructure adaptability to new or unexpected conditions by monitor the kinds of climate risks and vulnerabilities they face
achieving a city-wide, multiple-purposed, and longer-term risk (Supplemental Table 3B). They also suggest using scientific and
mitigation vision. technical expertise as a vital source of knowledge. For instance,
There were a few exceptions were plans used techno- Amsterdam suggests improving the city’s knowledge and
infrastructural actions aimed at addressing inequalities in risk. understanding of data to become active partners, steering events
For instance, the following actions were suggested: toward sustainability based on a knowledge of interconnections
between systems such as energy and water.
• Reducing intra-urban differences in water scarcity, access Two crucial adaptation instruments received attention in 22
and use; increasing water coverage to poor and informal adaptation plans each: disaster risk reduction (DRR) and urban
populations without regular, safe, and continuous water planning. Elements of DRR included early warning systems,
service (Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Kolkata, and cooling centers for poorer populations, and climate-sensitive
Mexico City); and providing access to weatherization of homes management protocols (e.g., Bogota, Kolkata, Mexico City, San
to low income families (Seattle). Francisco, Quito, Rio De Janeiro, and Sydney). Urban planning
• Scaling up development tied to renewable energy services was mentioned as a fundamental tool for anticipating climate
to accomplish a lower energy impact while achieving change impacts, fostering early action and even preventing risks
reduced poverty and promoting economic development (orange bars, Figure 4). Some plans (e.g., Lima and Tshwane)
(Durban, Tshwane). acknowledged institutional barriers to effective implementation,
• Fostering structural investments that consider the such as weak law enforcement. Others pointed to gaps in the
consequences from interrupted energy supply during levels of authority and autonomy to control the investments
and after extreme events, and target those that are more and decisions that are fundamental not only for effective urban
affected (Durban, Tshwane). planning but also for managing the drivers of climate risk in
• Renovating slums, informal, or poor settlements (Addis the city.
Ababa, Buenos Aires, Cape Town, Durban, Kolkata, Mexico FEW thinking with relation to equality received scant
City, and Tshwane). attention within planned institutional-behavioral actions. We

found only the following few examples of strategies to enhance of degraded ecosystems (Tshwane, Quito, and Mexico City)
equality within each sector: and protecting or restoring natural protections in coastal areas
(New Orleans).
• Community based adaptation actions such as upgrading
informal settlements, building flood-water drainage, and sewer
systems in poor areas (Mexico City and Tshwane), and training
ADAPTATION PLANS AND RISK
poor communities for the management and attention of
disasters (Bogota). INEQUALITY
• Increasing the share of renewable energy per capita through
In this study, we examined evidence from 43 adaptation plans to
demand management actions, such as agreements with a
determine whether and how they considered the factors driving
number of utilities, incentives that support energy efficient
inequality in exposure and vulnerability of people and the FEW
practices, and reduced electricity consumption during peak
systems that support them. To do this, we combined a discourse
hours (Amsterdam, Durban).
analysis with a meta-analysis of adaptation plans for 43 C40 cities.
• Inducing water conservation through water restriction, tariffs,
We are not the first scholars to conduct metanalysis. Examples
and reduction of leaks (Cape Town).
of existing literature include (Misselhorn, 2005; Romero-Lankao
• Enforcing polices and by-laws that make healthy food
et al., 2012; Endo et al., 2015). Nor are we the first to examine
accessible to all (Boston) and reserve space for local
environmental discourse, even with regard to FEW systems. For
decentralized food hubs that can supply small traders while
instance, existing discourse scholarship has shown that a risk
reducing ecological impact, through the support of small scale,
approach is prevalent among FEW nexus scholars (Wiegleb and
sustainable farming practices (Durban).
Bruns, 2018). Because risks lack immediacy—says the analysis—
Within the economic instruments suggested in 38 adaptation discourse around FEW risks entails connecting a future scenario
plans, equality considerations were, likewise, virtually absent. to a policy, “presented as a way of preventing that risk from
While many of the plans seek to create enabling environments materializing into real harm” (Corry, 2012. p. 244).
for independent action by both governmental and non- Our methodological innovation lies, rather, in our
governmental actors, for example through infrastructural combination of discourse analysis with meta-analysis. We
investments, they largely aim at enhancing their economies used this combination to examine narrative understanding and
without regard for structural inequality or uneven distribution. planned adaptation actions in 43 city adaptation plans. We
Through these actions, the plans also aim to support broader integrated several theoretical strands of scholarship, such as
goals such as the Sustainable Development Goals. Indeed, FEW-nexus thinking, adaptation, and inequality, climate change
the governments that produced many of the adaptation risk, and adaptation and discourse analysis. Nevertheless, we did
plans we analyzed are driving investments in major flood not examine why and how the socio-political and geographical
defenses, and in the transportation, water, and sanitary services contexts, in which city officials operate shape their interpretations
sectors, but generally steer away from equality considerations and planned actions. Nor were we able to determine how or
in these investments and are more concerned with how if the suggested adaptation actions were implemented. These
they will fund them. Some cities, particularly from high- represent the short-comings and limitations of our study that
income countries, are explicitly and actively partnering with make it largely exploratory in nature. Notwithstanding these
the private sector (Amsterdam, Copenhagen). One of these limitations, however, some clear patterns emerged that can help
plans acknowledges that society at large will pay a large guide future research and policy.
dividend to have infrastructures privately constructed and We found that FEW-nexus thinking is not yet embedded
operated (Copenhagen). in city officials’ narrative understandings of risk and planned
Environmental actions were considered in 40% of the adaptation actions, even when unpacking interdependencies
plans, and many of these contain actions primarily focused among food, energy, and water systems may help cities tackle
on increasing or protecting biodiversity (e.g., Karachi, some of the root causes of vulnerability and risk (Romero-
Montreal, Seoul, and Los Angeles), and on strategies for Lankao and Norton, 2018). Other scholars have already pointed
managing ecosystem services (green bar, Figure 4 and to the fact that, while promising, FEW-nexus thinking faces
Supplemental Table 3D). For instance, the plans suggest many practical challenges. For instance, knowledge integration
actions to green the cities’ streets, parks, and open spaces in is constrained by the existence of a plurality of sectors, levels
order to serve multiple risk mitigation purposes. Other planned of government, power, values and ways of understanding and
actions include efforts to increase biodiversity and reduce the managing climate risk (Leck et al., 2015; Romero-Lankao
urban heat island effects (e.g., Sydney, Vancouver, Melbourne), et al., 2017c). Scholars also suggest that local governments
to increase urban agriculture (Seoul), and to better manage such lack the institutional and organizational capacities needed to
hazards as runoff or fires (e.g., Rotterdam, Melbourne, Rio de appropriately manage the complexity and uncertainty associated
Janeiro, and Portland). Nature- or ecosystem-based adaptation with climate risks, let alone inequalities in the vulnerability of
actions are also suggested to increase the resilience of vegetation people, or how that vulnerability interplays with FEW systems.
to climatic and ecological impacts (such as erosion, Montreal), Officials within sectors involved in managing climate risk, such
or to establish temporary rainwater catchment systems (Mexico as food, energy, water, disaster risk management, and urban
City). Some cities also suggest conservation or rehabilitation planning hold diverse organizational and cultural values. They

lack the incentives, rights, financial resources, and responsibilities Socio-institutional actions relate to the distributive and
needed to work across sectors and jurisdictions (Scott et al., procedural aspects of equality in different ways (Reckien
2015). Additionally, decision makers involved in DRR and and Lwasa, 2017). For instance, by involving vulnerable
adaptation policies lack interaction and coordination because of populations in decisions on land use and location of
differences in language and political culture (Schipper, 2009). An infrastructural investments, in the generation of knowledge,
examination of these factors is an essential first step to develop or in the monitoring of climate risks (Moser, 1998; Moser and
the skill sets, tools, funding, and incentives needed to foster nexus Satterthwaite, 2010; Bouzarovski, 2014). Nonetheless, rather
thinking in risk mitigation and adaptation practice. than using participatory instruments such as community based
In the city adaptation plans we analyzed, we found adaptation (Ebi and Semenza, 2008; Dodman and Mitlin,
multiple frames coexisting behind the broader adaptation visions 2013), the plans mostly suggest using scientific and technical
conveyed in their narratives. Rather than converging, issues expertise as a vital source of knowledge. There are reasons
and principles such as those of equality, coexist with economic for this. Climate change adaptation is highly data-dependent,
issues in an imbalance of incongruent political movements demanding that city officials engage in new ways of gathering
and priorities (Anguelovski and Carmin, 2011; Campbell, data, collaborating with scientists, using scientific information,
2013). In this disharmony, techno-infrastructural and economic and dealing with uncertainty (Hughes and Romero-Lankao,
investments and concerns tend to take precedence over concerns 2014). Yet, the focus on technical knowledge is a key element
and interests for inequality or the environment in climate risks. of prevalent cultural values that inhibit poor and marginalized
Clearly, challenges exist with under-investments, backlogs and populations from effectively participating in decisions on where
deferred maintenance of infrastructure. Urban infrastructures in to locate FEW critical infrastructural investments that affect their
many developed countries are deteriorating, and in developing well-being, property, resources, climate risks, and capacities to
countries infrastructure construction and maintenance have adapt and mitigate. Although our current study, based purely
often failed to keep pace with the dynamics of urbanization on textual analysis, did not attempt to examine socio-political
(Kraas et al., 2016). Adaptation plans recognize that by working context (knowledge production), our conclusions do suggest
as a risk amplifier, climate change is projected to intensify these that sociopolitical context was at play in the creation of the
challenges, through at least two mechanisms: long-term, slow plans. Even beyond that, they suggest that common elements
impacts such as constant deterioration of storm water system in socio-political context may be drawing cities away from
due to floods mentioned in the adaptation plans of 27 cities, or actions based on effectively addressing such complex concerns as
extreme events such as hurricanes (mentioned by 10 cities) and vulnerability and inequality toward those least conflicting with
damaging critical FEW infrastructural systems. economic priorities.
Still, with a few exceptions, equality concerns were not The relatively low importance of equality considerations in
the priority. In the adaptation plans, narrative understanding the adaptation plans will likely limit the capacity of cities to
and policies to address techno-infrastructural challenges were support broader goals such as the Sustainable Development
frequently organized around resilience, low-carbon utilities Goals, Sendai Protocol for Disaster Risk Reduction and New
and buildings, promoting a circular economy, and risk as a Urban Agenda (Simon et al., 2016). The purposefully inclusive
source of investment opportunity. All these strategic decisions scope of the New Urban Agenda and of the targets and indicators
advance cities as centers of economic and infrastructural growth. in the urban SDG (Goal 11) provide a unique opportunity to
However, they run the danger of fostering inequality in access, include equality considerations in adaptation (Romero-Lankao
related to distributional justice, by creating climate proof et al., 2018). Prospects for progressing and mainstreaming
places that become more exclusive and expensive, pricing out climate change agendas, therefore, depend on demonstrating that
marginalized populations who end up living in less desirable climate agendas do not always and irreconcilably conflict with
areas and lacking access to critical FEW infrastructures (Coutard, development priorities, such as those related to equality. From
2008; Zérah, 2008). a longer-term perspective, they are essential and complementary
In their adaptation plans, cities of high-income countries to them.
are seeking to explicitly and actively partner with the private
sector (Amsterdam, Copenhagen). Policy-makers in these cities
reason that moving infrastructural development and operation AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
to the private sector can be a way of diverting development costs
PR-L led the design, gathering, analysis and interpretation of data
away from government and reducing the need for politically
for the work. She also drafted and revised the work critically
unpopular taxes. However, this hasn’t often shown itself to
for important intellectual content. DG contributed to the design,
be a good strategy, as private interests must inevitably draw
analysis and interpretation of data for the work. He also drafted
profits from their projects, leaving less for the public good.
and revised the work critically for important intellectual content.
Ultimately, this will have implications for inequality in risk, as
the poor communities, those most in need of investments in
climate proofing, are more likely to be excluded not only from ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
decisions (procedural justice) but also from reaping the benefits
of techno-infrastructural interventions (distributional justice) Research for this article was funded by the C40 through
(Coutard, 2008; Zérah, 2008; Revi et al., 2014). Bloomberg Philanthropies and the National Center for

Atmospheric Research, sponsored by the National Science Sarfatti, Snigdha Garg, and Amanda Ikert for their keen insights
Foundation. Open access publication of this article was funded in the reviews of the report that inspired this paper.
by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, operated by
Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, for the U.S. Department of SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL
Energy (DOE) under contract DE-AC36-08GO28308. We want
to thank Dakota Smith, Adelmut X. Duffing Romero, and Olivia The Supplementary Material for this article can be found
Pearman for their support reading and analyzing the plans. We online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2019.
also want to thank our C40 partners Neuni Farhad, Caterina 00031/full#supplementary-material
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH

published: 18 April 2019

Risk Inequality and the

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INTRODUCTION will be used to map attention given, in urban adaptation

TRACING EXISTING SCHOLARSHIP Risk and the FEW-nexus

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convey an understanding of governance as a determinant of institutional-behavioral, economic, and environmental

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REFERENCES Coutard, O. (2008). Placing splintering urbanism: introduction. Geoforum 39,

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