Cary, SE; (2015) Delivering urban energy infrastructure: the capacity of planning and governance networks in the cases of Barcelona, Burlington, Lerwick, London, and Toronto. Doctoral thesis , UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

District heating and cooling (DHC) systems are a sound solution to environmental, energy security, climate change, and fuel poverty concerns in cities. As an environmental policy goal not fully controlled by government and subject to complex multi-actor negotiations, building DHC can be understood as requiring network governance patterns of behaviour. This thesis investigates the role of planning in delivering DHC, employing a conceptual framework of Actor-Centered Institutionalism to unravel the relationships between industry, government, and citizen organizations in governance networks. It contributes to a growing area of study on the intersection of urban development, energy infrastructure, and environmental policy goals. It responds to calls for further practical research on governance patterns of behaviour, applying a recognised network governance approach to the analysis of five international case studies. It also investigates the weight of institutional context and the purported connection between network interaction characteristics and policy outcomes. The research categorises a range of potential roles for planning organisations and planning interventions in governance networks for DHC. The comparative analysis suggests that planning organisations rarely negotiate for DHC but that planning interventions are regularly used to initiate governance networks for DHC and to shape negotiations by other actors. The findings outline a number of specific institutional factors, actor orientations and capabilities as well as qualities of interaction which affect the capability of governance networks to deliver DHC. The research contributes to the explanatory ambitions of network governance research and expanded understanding of the capacity of planning in building and managing urban energy infrastructure. The findings can potentially be extended to other urban utility infrastructure and environmental policy goals.

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