Dealing with Disruption: Investigating the Micro-level Underpinnings of City Response to the Climate Crisis

Municipalities are grappling with myriad complex challenges linked to the changing climate. Their responses to anticipated but uncertain disruptions exist on a continuum, from inaction to transformative change that fundamentally alters an urban system. We do not know enough about the factors leading cities to more or less transformative responses. We propose the networked micro-decision context (NMDC), an arena where individuals involved in determining a policy response confer, negotiate, and act. This research assesses how two key dimensions of the NMDC—the composition of its actors and the flexibility of its structure—affect the transformative potential of governance.