Can you standardise transformation? Reflections on the transformative potential of benchmarking as a mode of governance

Emma Lecavalier*, Tabaré Arroyo-Currás, Harriet Bulkeley, Carina Borgström Hansson, Saurav Chowdhury, Jennifer Lenhart, Suchismita Mukhopadhyay

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

This paper is a collaborative effort between academic researchers and practitioners to consider the conditions under which global benchmarking may be used as a tool for supporting urban transformation. Reflecting on WWF’s One Planet City Challenge and UN-Habitat’s Guiding Principles for City Climate Action Planning, the paper suggests that the practice of global benchmarking can be transformative through encouraging organisational learning and reflection, building relationships between cities and global and trans-local organisations, and governing for structurally transformative qualities. However, the practice of benchmarking is not without potential tensions: they may reify existing practices rather than reforming them, be less usable for or accessible to cities in lower income countries, and may neglect issues of climate justice, which are not easily reduced to comparative measures of success or failure. This suggests that a wholesale reliance on benchmarking as a mode of governing climate change might risk marginalising certain issues and amplifying others. We conclude by recommending improved material and technical support for urban data collection and suggest that benchmarking should be combined with a broader suite of performance indicators and reflective practices in order to support urban transformation.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)918-933
Number of pages16
JournalLocal Environment
Volume28
Issue number7
Early online dateFeb 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This project has been funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 730243.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Keywords

  • Benchmarking
  • standards
  • governance
  • data
  • sustainability

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