IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i16p9131-d614685.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cultural Heritage, Sustainable Development, and Climate Policy: Comparing the UNESCO World Heritage Cities of Potsdam and Bern

Author

Listed:
  • Kristine Kern

    (Research Department Institutional Change and Regional Public Goods, Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space (IRS), 15537 Erkner, Germany
    Faculty of Social Sciences, Business and Economics, Åbo Akademi University (ÅAU), 20500 Turku, Finland)

  • Janne Irmisch

    (Research Department Institutional Change and Regional Public Goods, Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space (IRS), 15537 Erkner, Germany)

  • Colette Odermatt

    (Institute Sustainable Business, Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH), 3005 Bern, Switzerland)

  • Wolfgang Haupt

    (Research Department Institutional Change and Regional Public Goods, Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space (IRS), 15537 Erkner, Germany)

  • Ingrid Kissling-Näf

    (Institute Sustainable Business, Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH), 3005 Bern, Switzerland)

Abstract

Developing sustainable, carbon-neutral, and climate-resilient districts seems to be particularly challenging with respect to historic city centers. However, barriers posed by legal requirements for historical buildings are counterbalanced by opportunities because historic cities have not undergone urban modernization and did not embrace the concept of functional cities, which nowadays impedes urban sustainability transformations. Thus, this paper focuses on the relationship between cultural heritage, urban sustainable development, and climate policy. We study continuity and change in the mid-sized UNESCO World Heritage cities Potsdam (Germany) and Bern (Switzerland). These matching forerunner cities share many characteristics, which enables them to transfer policies and jointly create new solutions for common problems. We find that national context matters, but we also identify functional equivalents like referenda and active citizen participation. Despite many similarities, Potsdam is ahead of Bern with respect to the institutionalization and integration of climate mitigation and adaptation. The comparative analysis (interviews and document analysis) identifies innovations that can be transferred between the two cities (e.g., Potsdam’s integrative climate policy or Bern’s efforts to become a role model for stakeholders and citizens). Moreover, the challenge to coordinate heritage management and climate governance offers chances for cooperation between matching cities like Bern and Potsdam.

Suggested Citation

  • Kristine Kern & Janne Irmisch & Colette Odermatt & Wolfgang Haupt & Ingrid Kissling-Näf, 2021. "Cultural Heritage, Sustainable Development, and Climate Policy: Comparing the UNESCO World Heritage Cities of Potsdam and Bern," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-19, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:16:p:9131-:d:614685
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/9131/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/9131/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gordon,David J., 2020. "Cities on the World Stage," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107192331.
    2. Mintrom,Michael, 2019. "Policy Entrepreneurs and Dynamic Change," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108461467.
    3. Stelios Grafakos & Kate Trigg & Mia Landauer & Lorenzo Chelleri & Shobhakar Dhakal, 2019. "Analytical framework to evaluate the level of integration of climate adaptation and mitigation in cities," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 154(1), pages 87-106, May.
    4. Antje Otto & Kristine Kern & Wolfgang Haupt & Peter Eckersley & Annegret H. Thieken, 2021. "Ranking local climate policy: assessing the mitigation and adaptation activities of 104 German cities," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 167(1), pages 1-23, July.
    5. George C. Homsy, 2018. "Unlikely pioneers: creative climate change policymaking in smaller U.S. cities," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 8(2), pages 121-131, June.
    6. Robert Young, 2010. "The greening of Chicago: environmental leaders and organisational learning in the transition toward a sustainable metropolitan region," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(8), pages 1051-1068.
    7. Kristine Kern & Harriet Bulkeley, 2009. "Cities, Europeanization and Multi‐level Governance: Governing Climate Change through Transnational Municipal Networks," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(2), pages 309-332, March.
    8. Kern, Kristine, 2019. "Cities as leaders in EU multilevel climate governance: embedded upscaling of local experiments in Europe," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 28(1), pages 125-145.
    9. Sammy Zahran & Samuel D Brody & Arnold Vedlitz & Himanshu Grover & Caitlyn Miller, 2008. "Vulnerability and Capacity: Explaining Local Commitment to Climate-Change Policy," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 26(3), pages 544-562, June.
    10. Otto, Antje & Kern, Kristine & Haupt, Wolfgang & Eckersley, Peter & Thieken, Annegret H., 2021. "Ranking local climate policy: assessing the mitigation and adaptation activities of 104 German cities," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 67(1-2).
    11. Kristine Kern & Harriet Bulkeley, 2009. "Cities, Europeanization and Multi-level Governance: Governing Climate Change through Transnational Municipal Networks," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47, pages 309-332, March.
    12. Antje Otto & Kristine Kern & Wolfgang Haupt & Peter Eckersley & Annegret H. Thieken, 2021. "Correction to: Ranking local climate policy: assessing the mitigation and adaptation activities of 104 German cities," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 167(3), pages 1-3, August.
    13. María García-Hernández & Manuel De la Calle-Vaquero & Claudia Yubero, 2017. "Cultural Heritage and Urban Tourism: Historic City Centres under Pressure," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-19, August.
    14. Lauren Withycombe Keeler & Fletcher D. Beaudoin & Amy M. Lerner & Beatrice John & Richard Beecroft & Kaidi Tamm & Arnim Wiek & Daniel J. Lang, 2018. "Transferring Sustainability Solutions across Contexts through City–University Partnerships," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-17, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kern, Kristine & Irmisch, Janne & Odermatt, Colette & Haupt, Wolfgang & Kissling-Näf, Ingrid, 2021. "Cultural Heritage, Sustainable Development, and Climate Policy: Comparing the UNESCO World Heritage Cities of Potsdam and Bern," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 13(16).
    2. Haupt, Wolfgang & Eckersley, Peter & Kern, Kristine, 2021. "Transfer und Skalierung von lokaler Klimapolitik: Konzeptionelle Ansätze, Voraussetzungen und Potenziale," IRS Dialog 1/2021, Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space (IRS).
    3. Irmisch, Janne & Haupt, Wolfgang & Eckersley, Peter & Kern, Kristine & Müller, Hannah, 2022. "Klimapolitische Entwicklungspfade deutscher Groß- und Mittelstädte," IRS Dialog 2/2022, Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space (IRS).
    4. Kern, Kristine & Haupt, Wolfgang & Niederhafner, Stefan, 2022. "Entwicklungspfade städtischer Klimapolitik: Bedeutung von Schlüsselereignissen und Schlüsselakteur:innen für die Klimapolitik in Potsdam, Remscheid und Würzburg," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 57(4), pages 32-49.
    5. Antje Otto & Kristine Kern & Wolfgang Haupt & Peter Eckersley & Annegret H. Thieken, 2021. "Ranking local climate policy: assessing the mitigation and adaptation activities of 104 German cities," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 167(1), pages 1-23, July.
    6. Taedong Lee & Chris Koski, 2012. "Building Green: Local Political Leadership Addressing Climate Change," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 29(5), pages 605-624, September.
    7. Taedong Lee & Chris Koski, 2015. "Multilevel governance and urban climate change mitigation," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 33(6), pages 1501-1517, December.
    8. Vincent Wretling & Berit Balfors, 2021. "Building Institutional Capacity to Plan for Climate Neutrality: The Role of Local Co-Operation and Inter-Municipal Networks at the Regional Level," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-19, February.
    9. David J. Gordon, 2016. "Lament for a network? Cities and networked climate governance in Canada," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 34(3), pages 529-545, May.
    10. Erlwein, Sabrina & Meister, Juliane & Wamsler, Christine & Pauleit, Stephan, 2023. "Governance of densification and climate change adaptation: How can conflicting demands for housing and greening in cities be reconciled?," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    11. Ann W Foss & Jeff Howard, 2015. "The other end of the spectrum: municipal climate change mitigation planning in the politically conservative Dallas–Fort Worth region," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 33(6), pages 1412-1431, December.
    12. Thomas Hoppe & Arjen Van der Vegt & Peter Stegmaier, 2016. "Presenting a Framework to Analyze Local Climate Policy and Action in Small and Medium-Sized Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-41, August.
    13. Albana Kona & Paolo Bertoldi & Şiir Kılkış, 2019. "Covenant of Mayors: Local Energy Generation, Methodology, Policies and Good Practice Examples," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-29, March.
    14. Reckien, Diana & Buzasi, Attila & Olazabal, Marta & Spyridaki, Niki-Artemis & Eckersley, Peter & Simoes, Sofia G. & Salvia, Monica & Pietrapertosa, Filomena & Fokaides, Paris & Goonesekera, Sascha M. , 2023. "Quality of urban climate adaptation plans over time," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 3, pages 1-14.
    15. Taedong Lee & Susan Meene, 2012. "Who teaches and who learns? Policy learning through the C40 cities climate network," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 45(3), pages 199-220, September.
    16. Oksana Udovyk & Ievgen Kylymnyk & Daniel Cuesta-Delgado & Guillermo Palau Salvador, 2023. "Making sense of multi-level and multi-actor governance of recovery in Ukraine," HiCN Working Papers 393, Households in Conflict Network.
    17. Ekaterina Domorenok & Andrea Prontera, 2021. "Governing by Enabling in Multilevel Systems: Capacity Building and Local Climate Action in the European Union," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(6), pages 1475-1494, November.
    18. Eichenauer, Eva & Irmisch, Janne & Ulrich, Peter, 2022. "Szenarien für eine Energiewende in ländlichen und städtischen Räumen. Teil 1: Regional vernetzt und gesellschaftlich getragen in eine klimaneutrale Zukunft," IRS Dialog 5/2022, Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space (IRS).
    19. Naoki FUJIWARA, 2019. "International City Network and Public-Private Cooperation Japanese Public Water Services’ Overseas Expansion," CIRIEC Working Papers 1909, CIRIEC - Université de Liège.
    20. Galaz, Victor & Crona, Beatrice & Österblom, Henrik & Olsson, Per & Folke, Carl, 2012. "Polycentric systems and interacting planetary boundaries — Emerging governance of climate change–ocean acidification–marine biodiversity," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 21-32.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:16:p:9131-:d:614685. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.