Abstract
This thesis revolves around ideas of social change and attempts to ameliorate the consequences of climate change at the local level. Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork participating in the making of a Local Agenda 21 plan the thesis explores rationales and practices of planning, governing and managing the social as it unfolds in local climate change mitigation in the municipality of Copenhagen.
The overall research objectives of the thesis seek to investigate the overall rationales and practices that shape the way climate change mitigation is conceived of; the ways in which these rationales and practices are related to the actual experiences of citizens; who and what are the targets of local mitigation activities; and the larger societal context that supports these kinds of rationales and practices. Drawing on a combination of social practice theories and governmentality studies, the argument of the thesis is that local climate change mitigation activities are mainly conceived through economic knowledge forms.
The thesis argues that local climate change mitigation is characterised by a number of ambiguities: On the one hand, there is a genuine wish to rethink and create change, which is taken seriously in practice, and on the other hand, a line of institutional limitations that shape the work according to what is internally meaningful, thus reproducing status quo. Conclusively, the thesis argues that all these dynamics are rooted in the need for manageability. While the process of involving citizens in the making of the Local Agenda 21 plan have potential for renewing institutional understandings and practices, the thesis thus argues that if local mitigation activities are to create significant social change, civil servants need to be given a wider mandate, allocation of funding, as well as serious political support for the climate change mitigation agenda.
The overall research objectives of the thesis seek to investigate the overall rationales and practices that shape the way climate change mitigation is conceived of; the ways in which these rationales and practices are related to the actual experiences of citizens; who and what are the targets of local mitigation activities; and the larger societal context that supports these kinds of rationales and practices. Drawing on a combination of social practice theories and governmentality studies, the argument of the thesis is that local climate change mitigation activities are mainly conceived through economic knowledge forms.
The thesis argues that local climate change mitigation is characterised by a number of ambiguities: On the one hand, there is a genuine wish to rethink and create change, which is taken seriously in practice, and on the other hand, a line of institutional limitations that shape the work according to what is internally meaningful, thus reproducing status quo. Conclusively, the thesis argues that all these dynamics are rooted in the need for manageability. While the process of involving citizens in the making of the Local Agenda 21 plan have potential for renewing institutional understandings and practices, the thesis thus argues that if local mitigation activities are to create significant social change, civil servants need to be given a wider mandate, allocation of funding, as well as serious political support for the climate change mitigation agenda.
| Originalsprog | Engelsk |
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| Forlag | Department of Food Science, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen |
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| Status | Udgivet - 2014 |
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