Despite signing the Mayors Climate Change Agreement, few US cities have made significant progress in either climate mitigation or adaptation. For the most part, European cities have been more effective, albeit with assistance from the European Union and their national governments. Several of the most successful European cities have implemented eco-districts, which have offered many lessons for overall sustainability planning. Using Malmo, Sweden as a case study, we ask how planners and elected officials learned from implementing an eco-district, focusing on experimentation with new technologies and approaches to planning. We identify how double-loop learning, a term coined by Argyris and Shon, was at play in changing planning practice. As eco-districts are catching on in North American cities, there is much to be learned from European practice.
Fitzgerald, J; Lenhart, J
Eco-districts: can they accelerate urban climate planning?
Environment And Planning C-Government And Policy