Prioritizing Crises in Small Cities: Climate Change Adaptation Barriers in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Metro Area

Keywords: urban environmental policy, climate adaptation, nature governance
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

As limits to national and international action on climate change have become clear, cities are increasingly seen as centers of environmental action. In the US city governments play a critical role in shaping climate and environmental policy through a wide variety of policy tools. We aim to understand how citizens are engaging in nature and climate change advocacy in three small to midsize cities in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area, through review of policy documents and interviews with key stakeholders. In contrast to narratives of cities as innovators pressured by climate activists, we found that local governments and the policy activists they interacted with were largely focused on local issues of immediate import to city residents. In one city local environmental activism focused on tradeoffs between urban growth and protecting local nature, in a second city the primary concern was a toxic waste site, while a third city was focused on discussions of environmental justice. While a wide variety of environmental advocacy groups are active in the metro area, our study found that these groups mostly focus on higher levels of government and are not active in the study cities. While these findings question the narrative that cities have an important role to play in climate adaptation, they reinforce federalism theories that emphasize cities’ advantages in addressing local challenges.