Cool Cities: Urban Sovereignty and the Fix for Global Warming
A pointed argument that cities—not nation-states—can and must take the lead in fighting climate change

Climate change is the most urgent challenge we face in an interdependent world where independent nations have grown increasingly unable to cooperate effectively on sustainability. In this book, renowned political theorist Benjamin R. Barber describes how cities, by assuming important aspects of sovereignty, can take the lead from faltering nation states in fighting climate change. Barber argues that with more than half the world's population now in urban areas, where 80 percent of both GDP and greenhouse gas emissions are generated, cities are the key to the future of democracy and sustainability.

In this compelling sequel to If Mayors Ruled the World, Barber assesses both broad principles of urban rights and specific strategies of sustainability such as fracking bans, walkable cities, above-ground mining of precious resources, energy and heating drawn from garbage incineration, downtown wind turbines, and skyscrapers built from wood. He shows how cities working together on climate change, despite their differences in wealth, development, and culture, can find common measures by which to evaluate the radically different policies they pursue. This is a book for a world in which bold cities are collaborating to combat climate change and inspire hope for democracy even as reactionary populists take over national governments in the United States and Europe. It calls for a new social contract among citizens and municipalities to secure not only their sustainability but their survival.
1125334086
Cool Cities: Urban Sovereignty and the Fix for Global Warming
A pointed argument that cities—not nation-states—can and must take the lead in fighting climate change

Climate change is the most urgent challenge we face in an interdependent world where independent nations have grown increasingly unable to cooperate effectively on sustainability. In this book, renowned political theorist Benjamin R. Barber describes how cities, by assuming important aspects of sovereignty, can take the lead from faltering nation states in fighting climate change. Barber argues that with more than half the world's population now in urban areas, where 80 percent of both GDP and greenhouse gas emissions are generated, cities are the key to the future of democracy and sustainability.

In this compelling sequel to If Mayors Ruled the World, Barber assesses both broad principles of urban rights and specific strategies of sustainability such as fracking bans, walkable cities, above-ground mining of precious resources, energy and heating drawn from garbage incineration, downtown wind turbines, and skyscrapers built from wood. He shows how cities working together on climate change, despite their differences in wealth, development, and culture, can find common measures by which to evaluate the radically different policies they pursue. This is a book for a world in which bold cities are collaborating to combat climate change and inspire hope for democracy even as reactionary populists take over national governments in the United States and Europe. It calls for a new social contract among citizens and municipalities to secure not only their sustainability but their survival.
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Cool Cities: Urban Sovereignty and the Fix for Global Warming

Cool Cities: Urban Sovereignty and the Fix for Global Warming

by Benjamin R. Barber
Cool Cities: Urban Sovereignty and the Fix for Global Warming

Cool Cities: Urban Sovereignty and the Fix for Global Warming

by Benjamin R. Barber

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Overview

A pointed argument that cities—not nation-states—can and must take the lead in fighting climate change

Climate change is the most urgent challenge we face in an interdependent world where independent nations have grown increasingly unable to cooperate effectively on sustainability. In this book, renowned political theorist Benjamin R. Barber describes how cities, by assuming important aspects of sovereignty, can take the lead from faltering nation states in fighting climate change. Barber argues that with more than half the world's population now in urban areas, where 80 percent of both GDP and greenhouse gas emissions are generated, cities are the key to the future of democracy and sustainability.

In this compelling sequel to If Mayors Ruled the World, Barber assesses both broad principles of urban rights and specific strategies of sustainability such as fracking bans, walkable cities, above-ground mining of precious resources, energy and heating drawn from garbage incineration, downtown wind turbines, and skyscrapers built from wood. He shows how cities working together on climate change, despite their differences in wealth, development, and culture, can find common measures by which to evaluate the radically different policies they pursue. This is a book for a world in which bold cities are collaborating to combat climate change and inspire hope for democracy even as reactionary populists take over national governments in the United States and Europe. It calls for a new social contract among citizens and municipalities to secure not only their sustainability but their survival.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780300228113
Publisher: Yale University Press
Publication date: 04/24/2017
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 224
File size: 533 KB

About the Author

Benjamin R. Barber is a distinguished senior fellow at the Fordham Law School Urban Consortium, the founder of the Global Parliament of Mayors, and the author of Jihad Versus McWorld,If Mayors Ruled the World, and other books.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction: Politics Not Science 1

Part 1 Making Politics Work for Science

1 The Social Contract and the Rights of Cities 15

2 The Devolution Revolution and the Politics of COP 21 31

3 Climate Change in the Anthropocene 44

4 The Facts Are Mute, Money Talks 50

5 Privatization and Market Fundamentalism 55

6 Political Institutions Old and New: Cities Not Nation-States 63

7 The Road to Global Governance 70

8 Climate Justice: Making Sustainability and Resilience Complementary 78

9 The End of Sovereignty Redux: A Global Parliament of Mayors 85

Part 2 Making Democracy Work for Politics

10 Common Principles and Urban Action 91

11 The Politics of Commensurability and the Challenge of Trust 100

12 City Sovereignty and the Need for Urban Network 109

13 A Practical Climate Action Agenda 122

14 Exemplary Cities 141

15 Trust Among Cities: An Index of Commensurability 154

16 Realizing the Urban Climate Agenda 166

Notes 177

Index 195

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