4/8 Saturday Sessions

Indigenous Water Governance: Global geographies of water governance in Indigenous communities

is scheduled on Saturday, 4/8/2017, from 8:00 AM - 9:40 AM in Room 303, Hynes, Third Level

Sponsorship(s):

Energy and Environment Specialty Group

Organizer(s):

Karen Bakker - University of British Columbia

Jennifer Baka - Pennsylvania State University

Chair(s):

Jennifer Baka - Pennsylvania State University

Abstract(s):

8:00 AM Author(s): *Caolan Barr - University of Toronto

Abstract Title: Colonial Obstructions: Dams and the Mapping of Epistemic Settler Violence on Treaty #3 Territories

8:20 AM Author(s): *Alice Cohen - Acadia University

Abstract Title: Community-Based Monitoring and Traditional Ecological Knowledge: A snapshot from Canada

8:40 AM Author(s): *Teresa Cavazos Cohn, PhD - University of Idaho - Moscow, ID

Kate Berry , PhD - University of Nevada - Reno

Kyle Powys Whyte, PhD - Michigan State University

Emma Norman, PhD - Northwest Indian College

Abstract Title: Indigenous Water Quality Governance: Decolonizing Space and Time

9:00 AM Author(s): *Deirdre Wilcock - University of Lausanne

Abstract Title: Collaborative critical methodologies in the Anthropocene

9:20 AM Author(s): *Jennifer Baka - Pennsylvania State University

Arielle Hesse - Penn State University

Karen Bakker - University of British Columbia

Erika Weinthal - Duke University

Abstract Title: Federal Hydraulic Fracturing Rulemaking and Tribal Participation in the US: A Discourse Analysis of Tribal Land and Water Claims in Relation to the 2015 BLM Rule

Session Description: This set of sessions focuses on the diverse histories and geographies of Indigenous water governance worldwide. The sessions bring together a set of internationally diverse case studies that critically engage with historically and geographically diverse contexts.

We are particularly interested in the articulation between (post)colonial and Indigenous governance practices. These practices have deep colonial roots, and their contemporary analysis has increased urgency given ongoing processes of accumulation by dispossession, and intensifying impacts and tradeoffs due to resource development (particularly at the water-energy nexus). We invite participants to present empirical case studies which to speak to a broad range of issues, including (but not limited to):

• Indigenous resistance at the water-energy nexus (particularly hydropower, hydraulic fracturing)

• Colonial histories and identity formation

• Colonial epistemologies and waterscapes

• Indigenous approaches to water conflict negotiation

• Forms of water governance rights and ownership

• Critical theorizations of development and postcolonialism

• Water and governance of Indigenous lands

• Links between land and water grabbing

• Water and Indigenous rights

Energy Cultures, Communities and Consumption: Exploring the social, political and cultural dynamics of energy system change I

is scheduled on Saturday, 4/8/2017, from 8:00 AM - 9:40 AM in Gardner A, Sheraton, Third Floor

Sponsorship(s):

Energy and Environment Specialty Group

Organizer(s):

Frances Fahy - National University of Ireland, Galway

Jennie C. Stephens - Northeastern University

Chair(s):

Frances Fahy - National University of Ireland, Galway

Abstract(s):

8:00 AM Author(s): *John Whitton, PhD - University of Central Lancashire

Ioan M Parry, MSc - University of Central Lancashire

Abstract Title: What is an Energy Community? Conceptualizing a Definition for Theory and Practice

8:20 AM Author(s): *Matthew J. Burke, PhD Candidate - McGill University

Jennie C. Stephens, PhD - Northeastern University

Abstract Title: Energy Democracy: Political Power and Renewable Energy

8:40 AM Author(s): *Laurence L Delina, PhD - Boston University/Rachel Carson Center at LMU Munich

Abstract Title: The Pa Deng Model for rural energy transitions in Thailand: communities, configurations, contestations, and connection

9:00 AM Author(s): *Thomas Webler, Ph.D. - Keene State College

*Seth Tuler - Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Hannah Rettig - Keene State College

Abstract Title: The Nuclear Energy Transition In America: Stakeholder Involvement In Nuclear Power Plant Decommissioning

Session Description: Energy systems are in transition from predominantly centralized fossil fuel-based infrastructures to more heterogeneous configurations that rely heavily on multiple types of renewable energy. Beyond technological change, this transition involves potential for fundamental social, cultural, and institutional shifts in individual, household, and community assumptions about energy consumption as well as new opportunities for ownership, engagement and control of energy production. Enhanced understanding of the interconnected socio-cultural, socio-political and socio-economic dynamics of energy system change offers insights with relevance to current initiatives and future scenarios.

Within these two sessions we present papers that critically examine the social, political and cultural dynamics of energy system change.

Japan after 3/11: Global Perspectives on the Earthquake, Tsunami, and Fukushima Meltdown

is scheduled on Saturday, 4/8/2017, from 10:00 AM - 11:40 AM in Orleans, Marriott, Fourth Floor

Sponsorship(s):

Asian Geography Specialty Group

Hazards, Risks, and Disasters Specialty Group

Energy and Environment Specialty Group

Organizer(s):

Unryu Suganuma - J. F. Oberlin Univesity

Chair(s):

Pradyumna P. Karan - University Of Kentucky

Abstract(s):

10:00 AM Introduction: Pradyumna P. Karan - University Of Kentucky

10:05 AM Author(s): *Yukio Yotsumoto - Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University

Shunichi Takekawa - Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University

Abstract Title: The Social Aspects of Fukushima Residents' Sufferings after the 3.11 Nuclear Disaster

10:25 AM Author(s): *Kenji Yamazaki - Iwate University

Abstract Title: Process of forming the disaster culture - Propagation and formation of a phrase "Tsunami-ten-den-ko (Run away immediately to a hill to stay alive)"-

10:45 AM Author(s): *Tomoko Yamazaki - Iwate University

Abstract Title: School and Disaster Culture in Sanriku Coast, Japan

11:05 AM Author(s): *Unryu Suganuma - J. F. Oberlin Univesity

Abstract Title: Nuclear Energy Politics of Fukushima in Japan

11:25 AM Discussant: Pradyumna P. Karan - University Of Kentucky

Discussant(s):

Pradyumna P. Karan - University Of Kentucky

Session Description: Extreme events in nature attract special interest because of their dramatic violence and the human suffering they often inflict. The Japanese live in one of earth's vulnerable seismic zones and have developed towns and villages on the coast. They have sited factories and industries next to the coast. Then, with a clap, a boom, and a roar, the earth shakes, followed by a platoon of giant waves so loaded with energy it has its own tsunami. The water cuts a swath along the coast of Tohoku. So it went on March 11, 2011 (3/11 the Japanese use that label the way Americans talk of 9/11), another extraordinary chapter of living dangerously in Japan's seismic zone.

March 28, 2011).

Indigenous Water Governance: Global geographies of water governance in Indigenous communities

is scheduled on Saturday, 4/8/2017, from 10:00 AM - 11:40 AM in Room 303, Hynes, Third Level

Sponsorship(s):

Energy and Environment Specialty Group

Organizer(s):

Karen Bakker - University of British Columbia

Jennifer Baka - Pennsylvania State University

Chair(s):

Jennifer Baka - Pennsylvania State University

Abstract(s):

10:00 AM Author(s): *Dr. Bharat KHUSHAL Punjabi, Dr. - UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

Abstract Title: Old Wine in a New Bottle? Water Institutions and Geography in Mumbai's Renewed Push for extending its Hydrological Frontier

10:20 AM Author(s): *Sue Jackson, Associate Professor - Griffith University

Kate Berry, Professor - University of Nevada, Reno

Abstract Title: White water citizenship and the settler nation: historical identity formation and the implications for contemporary Indigenous water rights struggles in Australia and the U.S.

10:40 AM Author(s): *Tsion Mesfin Woge -

Tsion Mesfin Woge - Water Cooperation and Peace Programme

Abstract Title: Indigenous Approaches to Water Conflict Negotiation: the Anuak and their Approaches to Water Conflict Negotiation

11:00 AM Author(s): *Severine Bouard - Institut agronomique néo-Calédonien

Alexandre Budke - University of Cologne, Seminar für Geographie und ihre Didaktik, Gronewaldstr. 2, 50931 Cologne, Germany

Caroline Lejars - CIRAD, UMR G-eau, 34196 Montpellier Cedex 5,France. IAC, Institut agronomique néo-Calédonien, Nouvelles ruralités et destin commun, BP 06, 98825 Pouembout, Nouvelle-Calédonie

Joachim Bürkner - University of Potsdam, Institute of Geography, Karl –Liebknecht -Straße 24/25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany.

Pierre-Yves Le Meur - IRD, Institut de recherche pour le développement, UMR Gouvernance, Risque, Environnement, Développement (GRED), Montpellier cedex 5, BP 64501, France.

Catherine Sabinot - IRD, Institut de recherche pour le développement, UMR Espace pour le Développement, Centre IRD Anse Vata, BPA5 98848 Nouméa Cedex, Nouvelle-Calédonie

Katherine Daniell - Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University (ANU), Linnaeus Way, Acton, ACT 2601, Australia

Abstract Title: Investigating Freshwater governance in a decolonization context: knowledge, values & policies. The case of New-Caledonia

11:20 AM Discussant: Jennifer Baka - Pennsylvania State University

Discussant(s):

Jennifer Baka - Pennsylvania State University

Session Description: This set of sessions focuses on the diverse histories and geographies of Indigenous water governance worldwide. The sessions bring together a set of internationally diverse case studies that critically engage with historically and geographically diverse contexts.

We are particularly interested in the articulation between (post)colonial and Indigenous governance practices. These practices have deep colonial roots, and their contemporary analysis has increased urgency given ongoing processes of accumulation by dispossession, and intensifying impacts and tradeoffs due to resource development (particularly at the water-energy nexus). We invite participants to present empirical case studies which to speak to a broad range of issues, including (but not limited to):

• Indigenous resistance at the water-energy nexus (particularly hydropower, hydraulic fracturing)

• Colonial histories and identity formation

• Colonial epistemologies and waterscapes

• Indigenous approaches to water conflict negotiation

• Forms of water governance rights and ownership

• Critical theorizations of development and postcolonialism

• Water and governance of Indigenous lands

• Links between land and water grabbing

• Water and Indigenous rights

Framing urban sustainability: Smart, efficient, green, or just

is scheduled on Saturday, 4/8/2017, from 10:00 AM - 11:40 AM in Clarendon, Marriott, Third Floor

Sponsorship(s):

Human Dimensions of Global Change Specialty Group

Urban Geography Specialty Group

Energy and Environment Specialty Group

Organizer(s):

Heather Sander - University of Iowa

Peleg Kremer - Villanova University

Chair(s):

Heather Sander - University of Iowa

Abstract(s):

10:00 AM Author(s): *Peleg Kremer, PhD - Villanova University

Dagmar Haase, PhD - Humboldt University, Berlin

Annegret Haase, PhD - Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung GmbH - UFZ

Abstract Title: Lessons learned from an Urban Sustainability Futures discussion at the EcoSmmit 2016

10:20 AM Author(s): Angel Hsu, Ph.D. - Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies; Yale-National University of Singapore

*Ryan Thomas, MCP - Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies

Abstract Title: Piloting an index linking urban environmental performance and social inclusion

10:40 AM Author(s): *Olubunmi Alugbin - Lagos,Nigeria

Abstract Title: APPROACHES AND CHALLENGES TO GENDER INEQUALITIES AND URBAN SUSTAINABILITY IN NIGERIA

11:00 AM Discussant: Heather Sander - University of Iowa

Discussant(s):

Heather Sander - University of Iowa

Session Description: Urban areas pose numerous environmental and social challenges and the notion of urban sustainability developed, in part, as a means for addressing these challenges. Since its inception, urban sustainability has been conceptualized in a variety of both disparate and similar ways that are reflected in the numerous interdisciplinary approaches to it. These approaches include smart growth frameworks that focus on compact, multi-use urban structure and design; zero-impact approaches centered on achieving resource efficiency via technological means; green infrastructure and nature-based approaches that focus on ecosystem services, mimicry of nature, and human wellbeing; as well as approaches centered around the production of environmentally-just cities, the distribution of environmental benefits and costs and meaningfully integrating underrepresented groups in decision making. These sessions will bring experts variety of disciplines and approaches to urban sustainability and from around the globe together to present research and discuss different perspectives and approaches to urban sustainability.

Energy Cultures, Communities and Consumption: Exploring the social, political and cultural dynamics of energy system change II

is scheduled on Saturday, 4/8/2017, from 10:00 AM - 11:40 AM in Gardner A, Sheraton, Third Floor

Sponsorship(s):

Energy and Environment Specialty Group

Organizer(s):

Frances Fahy - National University of Ireland, Galway

Jennie C. Stephens - Northeastern University

Chair(s):

Jennie C. Stephens - Northeastern University

Abstract(s):

10:00 AM Author(s): *Frances Fahy - National University of Ireland, Galway

Henrike Rau - LMU, Munich

Abstract Title: ENERGISE: Developing an innovative theoretical framework fusing social practice and energy cultures approaches

10:20 AM Author(s): *Bronwyn Lazowski - University of Waterloo

Paul Parker, Ph.D. - University of Waterloo

Abstract Title: Assessing the influence of smart grid interventions on residential energy culture

10:40 AM Author(s): *Aaron Russell - University of New Mexico

Abstract Title: Social Perceptions of Solar Power: Using Q-Methodology to Explore the Evolution of Solar Energy Conversations in the San Luis Valley of Southern Colorado

11:00 AM Author(s): *Autumn Thoyre - San Francisco State University

Abstract Title: "Don't wait for your regular bulbs to burn out": Toward a theory of green obsolescence

11:20 AM Discussant: Jennie C. Stephens - Northeastern University

Discussant(s):

Jennie C. Stephens - Northeastern University

Session Description: Energy systems are in transition from predominantly centralized fossil fuel-based infrastructures to more heterogeneous configurations that rely heavily on multiple types of renewable energy. Beyond technological change, this transition involves potential for fundamental social, cultural, and institutional shifts in individual, household, and community assumptions about energy consumption as well as new opportunities for ownership, engagement and control of energy production. Enhanced understanding of the interconnected socio-cultural, socio-political and socio-economic dynamics of energy system change offers insights with relevance to current initiatives and future scenarios.

Within these two sessions we present papers that critically examine the social, political and cultural dynamics of energy system change.

Energy Transitions Research: Current Status and Future Directions

is scheduled on Saturday, 4/8/2017, from 1:20 PM - 3:00 PM in St. Botolph, Marriott, Second Floor

Sponsorship(s):

Energy and Environment Specialty Group

Organizer(s):

Jennie C. Stephens - Northeastern University

Kathleen Araujo - SUNY - Stony Brook

Chair(s):

Jennie C. Stephens - Northeastern University

Panelist(s):

Laurence Delina - Boston University/Rachel Carson Center at LMU Munich

Jennie C. Stephens - Northeastern University

Kathleen Araujo - SUNY - Stony Brook

Thomas Webler - Keene State College

Session Description: Energy transitions research currently receives significant attention and funding in the EU, but not as much in North America. This panel will explore the potential and limitations of transition research, and discuss the robustness and connectivity of current and future energy transitions research. The panel aims to understand the applicability of energy transitions research and scholarly directions through exploration of areas for expanding the theory and practice-based study with a finer transitions lens. In addition to the panelists officially listed for this session, David Cash (UMass Boston), James Meadowcroft (Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada), Jochen Markard (ETH Zurich, Switzerland), and Nicholas Ashford (MIT, Cambridge) have also accepted invitations to participate on the panel, however their availability will be dependent on the specific date and time that the panel is scheduled.

EESG Plenary Talk: Crude residues

is scheduled on Saturday, 4/8/2017, from 1:20 PM - 3:00 PM in Simmons, Marriott, Third Floor

Sponsorship(s):

Energy and Environment Specialty Group

Organizer(s):

Jennifer Baka - Pennsylvania State University

Chair(s):

Jennifer Baka - Pennsylvania State University

Panelist(s):

Monica M. Salas

Session Description: Crude residues: The workings of failing oil infrastructure in Poza Rica, Veracruz, Mexico, Mónica Salas Landa

Drawing on 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork in and around Poza Rica—an emblematic oil town that flourished in the aftermath of the nationalization of the Mexican oil industry in 1938—this article looks at how the material and social visibility and invisibility of failing infrastructure is constantly being renegotiated and achieved by those living amid it. Rather than a given physical quality, I demonstrate how (in)visibility is the outcome of everyday corporate practices, toxic mundane encounters, air technologies, as well as affective attachments that illuminate or obscure the harmful presence of oil and its infrastructure in this industrial town. I suggest that the ways in which different contours of perceptions and imperceptions are negotiated are central to understanding how people living in and on oil endure risk, precariousness, and suffering.

Infrastructures of climate governance I: Physical infrastructure

is scheduled on Saturday, 4/8/2017, from 3:20 PM - 5:00 PM in Salon K, Marriott, Fourth Floor

Sponsorship(s):

Cultural and Political Ecology Specialty Group

Economic Geography Specialty Group

Energy and Environment Specialty Group

Organizer(s):

Sophie Webber - UCLA

Tyler Harlan - University of California, Los Angeles

Chair(s):

Tyler Harlan - University of California, Los Angeles

Abstract(s):

3:20 PM Author(s): *Tyler Harlan - University of California, Los Angeles

Abstract Title: Small hydropower and the low-carbon frontier in China

3:40 PM Author(s): *Rebecca Elliott - London School of Economics

Abstract Title: Non-Structural Infrastructures: Flood Insurance as a Technique of Climate Governance

4:00 PM Author(s): *Kwame Ntiri Owusu-Daaku - University of South Carolina

Abstract Title: Mapping the International Actors Involved in the Funding and Implementation of Sea Defense Systems in the Volta River Delta of Ghana

4:20 PM Author(s): *Lauren Gifford - University of Colorado, Boulder

Abstract Title: Ties that bind: Forest carbon, conservation funding, and climate change mitigation

4:40 PM Author(s): *Kimberley A Thomas, PhD - University of Pennsylvania

Abstract Title: The Biopolitics of Climate Finance in the Asian Water Sector

Session Description: Market-based mechanisms for climate governance have predominantly failed to deliver on expectations of large-scale emission reductions, social benefits, or financial returns. From the Clean Development Mechanism, the EU Trading Scheme, to REDD+, carbon markets and offset programs have been stymied by the over-allocation of emissions permits, falling prices for carbon credits, problems of additionality and leakage, and swings in political moods. Carbon offsets, in particular, have been unable to bring about promised environmental and social outcomes, and have been unrewarding for credit suppliers and investors. Thus, what has been called the 'new carbon economy' (Boyd, Boykoff, and Newell 2011) has lost some of its mainstream appeal, and is better seen as lurching and faltering rather than rapidly expanding as proponents might wish. For geographers, this validates a large body of critical work on climate governance, which has highlighted the incompatibility of market-based policies with managing climate and environmental changes. These studies have found that market mechanisms have limited ability to constrain emissions, arguing that they can exacerbate social and economic inequality and reduce resource access for local communities (e.g. Heynen et al. 2007; Bond 2012; Beymer-Farris and Bassett 2012). Such critiques of the failures of the new carbon economy have now reached the mainstream, with financial flows migrating to other kinds of climate investments. Given this, a continued focus on the market mechanisms of climate governance risks overlooking other, equally important, policy choices and investment flows.

Following recent studies that demand we 'follow the money' (Christophers 2011; Dempsey and Suarez 2016) in environmental and climate politics, this session seeks to open up and connect scholarship on the 'real assets', or infrastructures, of climate governance. We take climate infrastructure to mean infrastructure up and down the carbon commodity chain (Bridge 2011) - from the mitigation investments of energy installations and green buildings, to adaptation through upgraded utilities, seawalls and levees. In focusing on the infrastructures of climate governance, we examine how and why such investments are designed, financed, and constructed, paying attention to the connected logics of state, regulation, and markets. In doing so, we aim to build conceptual insights into how these logics reproduce a dominant mode of climate change governance, as well as produce landscapes of climate infrastructure with political, social and environmental effects. Moreover, by focusing on both mitigation and adaptation, our goal is to highlight the connections and disconnections between energy, emission reductions, and adaptation, and their associated policies, investments and infrastructure.

Framing urban sustainability: Smart, efficient, green, or just 3

is scheduled on Saturday, 4/8/2017, from 3:20 PM - 5:00 PM in Clarendon, Marriott, Third Floor

Sponsorship(s):

Human Dimensions of Global Change Specialty Group

Urban Geography Specialty Group

Energy and Environment Specialty Group

Organizer(s):

Heather Sander - University of Iowa

Peleg Kremer - Villanova University

Chair(s):

Peleg Kremer - Villanova University

Abstract(s):

3:20 PM Author(s): Mirjam Schindler - Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning, University of Luxembourg

Marion Le Texier - Université de Rouen

Geoffrey Caruso - Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning, University of Luxembourg

Abstract Title: Location and socio-economic sorting in the use of green space: evidence from Brussels

3:40 PM Author(s): *Heather A Sander, PhD - University of Iowa

Cody B Hodson - University of Iowa

Chang Zhao - University of Iowa

Abstract Title: A framework for assessing urban social and environmental sustainability

4:00 PM Author(s): *Dustin L. Herrmann - Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education affiliate with US Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

Kirsten Schwarz - Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Kentucky University

Timothy M. Bowles - Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of New Hampshire

Wen-Ching Chuang - Natural Research Council affiliate with US Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, OH

Ahjond S. Garmestani - National Risk Management Research Lab, US Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, OH

Tarsha Eason - National Risk Management Research Lab, US Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, OH

William D. Shuster - National Risk Management Research Lab, US Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, OH

Abstract Title: An Agroecological Approach to Managing for Resilience in Shrinking Cities

4:20 PM Author(s): *Chang Zhao - University of Iowa

Heather A Sander - University of Iowa

Abstract Title: Wild pollinators and urban agriculture: Assessing pollination supply and demand across urban landscapes

4:40 PM Discussant: Peleg Kremer - Villanova University

Discussant(s):

Peleg Kremer - Villanova University

Session Description: Urban areas pose numerous environmental and social challenges and the notion of urban sustainability developed, in part, as a means for addressing these challenges. Since its inception, urban sustainability has been conceptualized in a variety of both disparate and similar ways that are reflected in the numerous interdisciplinary approaches to it. These approaches include smart growth frameworks that focus on compact, multi-use urban structure and design; zero-impact approaches centered on achieving resource efficiency via technological means; green infrastructure and nature-based approaches that focus on ecosystem services, mimicry of nature, and human wellbeing; as well as approaches centered around the production of environmentally-just cities, the distribution of environmental benefits and costs and meaningfully integrating underrepresented groups in decision making. These sessions will bring experts variety of disciplines and approaches to urban sustainability and from around the globe together to present research and discuss different perspectives and approaches to urban sustainability.

Resource-based Communities and Resiliency: the case for planning

is scheduled on Saturday, 4/8/2017, from 5:20 PM - 7:00 PM in Vineyard, Marriott, Fourth Floor

Sponsorship(s):

Energy and Environment Specialty Group

Regional Development and Planning Specialty Group

Organizer(s):

Leith Deacon - University of Alberta

Chair(s):

Leith Deacon - University of Alberta

Abstract(s):

5:20 PM Author(s): *Leith Deacon, PhD, RPP, MCIP - University of Alberta

Kristof Van Assche, PhD - University of Alberta

Monica Gruezmacher, PhD - University of Alberta

Abstract Title: Tempering the Cycles of Boom/Bust: Lessons from Western Canada

5:40 PM Author(s): *Kristin K. Smith - Montana State University

Julia H. Haggerty, PhD - Montana State University

Abstract Title: Planning for Pipelines: A Case Study in Community Resilience from the North Dakota Oil Fields

6:00 PM Author(s): *Stephan H. Nieweler, M.Sc.Pl. - Simon Fraser University

Abstract Title: Megaprojects and the Planning-Development Nexus in the Transitioning Industrial Towns of Northwest British Columbia

6:20 PM Author(s): *Julia Haggerty - Montana State Univ

Kristin Smith, MSc. - Montana State University

Abstract Title: Impact Assessment & Monitoring in Energy Boomtowns: Benefits and Drawbacks of Adapting Existing Planning Models

Session Description: Resource-based communities (RBCs), specifically those reliant on the extraction of oil and gas, are an important feature of the economic geography in many parts of the world. While the economic significance of the sector is impressive and is often an important driver of regional growth, relatively little scholarly attention has been given to examining the link between resource-based communities, resiliency, and planning. Given the current downturn in resource-based economies (oil extraction in particular), this session will provide an opportunity to bring together researchers working with a wide variety of data and methods to share findings and conclusions about the current state of research linking resource-based communities, resiliency, and the role of planning.

Infrastructures of climate governance II: Market infrastructure

is scheduled on Saturday, 4/8/2017, from 5:20 PM - 7:00 PM in Salon K, Marriott, Fourth Floor

Sponsorship(s):

Cultural and Political Ecology Specialty Group

Economic Geography Specialty Group

Energy and Environment Specialty Group

Organizer(s):

Sophie Webber - UCLA

Tyler Harlan - University of California, Los Angeles

Chair(s):

Leigh Johnson - University of Oregon

Abstract(s):

5:20 PM Author(s): *Patrick Bigger - Lancaster University

Leigh Johnson - Oregon University

Brett Christophers - Uppsala University

Abstract Title: Climate bonds and the infrastructure of risk distribution

5:40 PM Author(s): *Ariana Randal - Texas A&M University

*Olivia Wolford - TexasA&M University

Jayme Walenta - Texas A&M University

Abstract Title: Linking corporate climate investments and calculative practices across space

6:00 PM Author(s): *Matthew Archer - Yale University

Abstract Title: Incommensurabilities, Indicators, Infrastructures: The production and consumption of global sustainability

6:20 PM Author(s): *Sarah E. Knuth - University of Michigan

Abstract Title: Filling a "Financing Gap": US Clean Energy Infrastructure and the Securitization Frontier

6:40 PM Discussant: Gregory Simon - University of Colorado Denver

Discussant(s):

Gregory Simon - University of Colorado Denver

Session Description: Market-based mechanisms for climate governance have predominantly failed to deliver on expectations of large-scale emission reductions, social benefits, or financial returns. From the Clean Development Mechanism, the EU Trading Scheme, to REDD+, carbon markets and offset programs have been stymied by the over-allocation of emissions permits, falling prices for carbon credits, problems of additionality and leakage, and swings in political moods. Carbon offsets, in particular, have been unable to bring about promised environmental and social outcomes, and have been unrewarding for credit suppliers and investors. Thus, what has been called the 'new carbon economy' (Boyd, Boykoff, and Newell 2011) has lost some of its mainstream appeal, and is better seen as lurching and faltering rather than rapidly expanding as proponents might wish. For geographers, this validates a large body of critical work on climate governance, which has highlighted the incompatibility of market-based policies with managing climate and environmental changes. These studies have found that market mechanisms have limited ability to constrain emissions, arguing that they can exacerbate social and economic inequality and reduce resource access for local communities (e.g. Heynen et al. 2007; Bond 2012; Beymer-Farris and Bassett 2012). Such critiques of the failures of the new carbon economy have now reached the mainstream, with financial flows migrating to other kinds of climate investments. Given this, a continued focus on the market mechanisms of climate governance risks overlooking other, equally important, policy choices and investment flows.

Following recent studies that demand we 'follow the money' (Christophers 2011; Dempsey and Suarez 2016) in environmental and climate politics, this session seeks to open up and connect scholarship on the 'real assets', or infrastructures, of climate governance. We take climate infrastructure to mean infrastructure up and down the carbon commodity chain (Bridge 2011) - from the mitigation investments of energy installations and green buildings, to adaptation through upgraded utilities, seawalls and levees. In focusing on the infrastructures of climate governance, we examine how and why such investments are designed, financed, and constructed, paying attention to the connected logics of state, regulation, and markets. In doing so, we aim to build conceptual insights into how these logics reproduce a dominant mode of climate change governance, as well as produce landscapes of climate infrastructure with political, social and environmental effects. Moreover, by focusing on both mitigation and adaptation, our goal is to highlight the connections and disconnections between energy, emission reductions, and adaptation, and their associated policies, investments and infrastructure.