Paper short abstract:

The purpose of the paper is to focus on the part experts and epistemic communities play in the urban policies with respect to global ecological problems such as climate change and biodiversity. This is based on a case study of large Canadians cities.

Paper long abstract:

Cities are called for to act on global ecological problems, in particular climate change and, to a lesser degree, biodiversity. Research has shown that their role is increasingly significant (Bulkeley, Castan Broto and Edward, 2015). The purpose of the paper is to focus on the part experts and epistemic communities play in the urban policies with respect to global ecological problems. This is based on a case study of large Canadians cities. The question is then the following: how has urban planning responded to global ecological change? When fields of expertise and areas of knowledge are highly specialized, there is no overarching urban expertise available. Different kinds of expertise need to be connected. Thus, the research asks whether there exist connecting institutions such as boundary organizations for sharing knowledge, developing a common understanding of problems, and preparing policy solutions for decision makers (Star and Griesemer, 1989; Star, 2010). Boundary organizations are to be understood horizontally and vertically. Verticality leads to multi level governance, whereas horizontality leads to interaction and 'trading zones' between different kinds of expertise (Collins, Evans and Gorman, 2001; Galison, 1987; Gorman, 2010). The paper aims at contributing to research on expertise and epistemic communities in practice in an urban context. Global ecological problems are complex, often wicked, and are difficult to govern (Hartmann, 2012). The paper will examine how the experts groups collectively construct the scientific and technical knowledge necessary to environmental urban policy-making and planning.