The nature and the making of a frontrunner city and its role in sustainability transition: The case of Kitakyushu

Abstract

With an increasingly urban global population, cities have an important role to play in global environmental sustainability. Uncertainty surrounds both the problems and solutions in developing sustainable urban pathways, and experimentation with sustainable practices on a local scale is required to address this. The aim of this thesis is to contribute to understandings of the processes by which cities may become more sustainable. To do so, this thesis examines the Japanese city of Kitakyushu as a case study of a frontrunner—a city engaged in ongoing sustainability experimentation. It investigates which elements trigger, enable, hinder and support ongoing sustainability experimentation in cities, and whether frontrunner cities enable sustainability transitions elsewhere. To understand the making of a frontrunner city and its wider role in sustainability transition, Japanese government officials, citizens, researchers, NPOs and business leaders were interviewed, as well as stakeholders from two cities in developing Asia—Surabaya and Haiphong—with which Kitakyushu is linked. Systems analysis was used to identify the process of sustainability transition and the diffusion of knowledge and technology. This research found that both environmental and economic triggers provided windows of opportunity for actors to promote visions of change. This led to ongoing experimentation enabled by co-evolutionary processes. The success of Kitakyushu’s approach to urban revitalisation and sustainability, supported by linkages with business and national government, means that it is able to play a role in generating a wider range of environmental solutions for new local contexts through city-to-city collaboration. These findings show how an enabling environment for experimentation is developed and how promotion of sustainability transition in other cities can lead to positive benefits for both sides. This can lay the groundwork for more sustainable pathways important for a rapidly developing and urbanising Asia. Show more