Urban greening for climate-resilient neighbourhoods: linking scholars and cities across the UK and Taiwan

The project develops a network of UK and Taiwan-based researchers capable of understanding the lived experience of climate change at the neighbourhood level, and of how citizens may experience the climate risk reduction benefits provided by green spaces in their neighbourhood. Globally, there is increasing interest within environmental politics and human geography scholarship in the role that institutions working at the sub-national level - such as city governments - can play in responding to the climate challenge. This is supported by an upswell of interest in 'nature-based solutions' (responses to social and environmental challenges through the management of natural spaces) across the social and natural sciences. Yet urban planners and third sector organisations are becoming more interested in the neighbourhood as the scale at which people experience climate change - and our responses to it - in their daily lives. Nevertheless, there remains a need for more concrete evidence on how climate impacts and responses play out at the sub-national level; and in the urban studies literature in particular it is increasingly recognised that subtropical Asian cities are under-represented in the climate risk reduction and governance literature.

The proposed research responds to these challenges by evaluating how neighbourhoods in two cities taking climate and resilience leadership outside of formal UN channels - Glasgow, Scotland; and Taipei, Taiwan - experience risks from climate change and feel the benefits of city-led nature-based resilience strategies. Given its policy relevance in each city, excess urban heat is taken as a focal point to assess in more depth one climate risk which may be mitigated via urban greening. At the core of the project is pilot-scale research centered on a small number of neighbourhoods in each city, which understands residents' and decision-makers' narrative experiences of climate change and urban greenspace, evaluates planning and urban development histories, and uses publicly-available data to quantitatively assess inequality in access to heat risk reduction benefits from green spaces across the city. The aim of this pilot research is to develop and exemplify a methodology for understanding the interface between lived experience, climate risk and greenspace across different urban contexts, to build credibility among the UK-Taiwan team ahead of further larger-scale research collaboration.

Indeed, a key aim of the project is to lay the foundations for subsequent transdisciplinary research encompassing not only social scientists and natural scientists, but also stakeholders from local government, planning consultancies, NGOs and community organisations in both Glasgow and Taipei. To this end, academic workshops and international transdisciplinary dialogues will be held in both Glasgow and Taipei (or virtually depending on the COVID situation) to (a) create a broader network of social- and natural science academics to engage in follow-on research; and (b) pro-actively engage stakeholders in both Glasgow and Taipei in city-to-city learning and in the co-creation of research questions and knowledge needs for subsequent larger-scale projects.

The research is jointly led by Dr Leslie Mabon (environmental sociology) and Dr Wan-Yu Shih (urban planning), who will facilitate wider buy-in and impact through their links in each city. In Glasgow, Mabon can draw on academic contacts through his position in the Young Academy of Scotland, and stakeholder links via his continued collaboration with Glasgow City Council and Climate Ready Clyde. In Taipei, Shih can draw in academics via her role in Future Earth Taipei, and stakeholders via her close association with the Classic Landscape and Planning Company, who will support the stakeholder engagement elements of the project.