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The longevity of our urban buildings and streetscapes means that they will need to perform to a satisfactory standard in a context of climate change, with an increasing propensity for higher temperatures and extreme weather events accentuated by the urban heat island. Research funded to explore future climate in cities is frequently required to work directly with stakeholders to co-produce useful knowledge and tools. This study considers the relationship between a suite of projects linking future climate to the city, neighbourhood and building scales and the policy contexts of London and Manchester. It is contended that successful knowledge translation is aided by multi-scalar, strategic approaches to urban climate, and on the clear designation of the desired policy outcomes and supporting evidence and resources required. This, in turn, highlights the role of sustained government support for city-region spatial planning and building standards to facilitate successful translation into policies.

"In cities around the world, digital technologies are utilized to manage city services and infrastructures, govern urban life, solve urban issues, and to drive local and regional economies. While "smart city" advocates are keen to promote the benefits of smart urbanism - increased efficiency, sustainability, resilience, competitiveness, safety and security - critics point to the negative effects, such as the production of technocratic governance, the corporatisation of urban services, technological lock-ins, privacy harms, and vulnerability to cyberattack. This book, through a range of international case studies, suggests social, political and practical interventions that would enable more equitable and just smart cities, reaping the benefits of smart city initiatives while minimizing some of their perils. Included are case studies from Ireland, the United States of America, Colombia, The Netherlands, Singapore, India and the United Kingdom. These essays discuss a range of issues including political economy, citizenship, standards, testbedding, urban regeneration, ethics, surveillance, privacy and cybersecurity. This book will be of interest to urban policymakers, as well as researchers in Regional Studies and Urban Planning"--

This book uses an international perspective and draws on a wide range of new conceptual and empirical material to examine the sources of conflict and cooperation within the different landscapes of knowledge that are driving contemporary urban change. Based on the premise that historically established systems of regulation and control are being subject to unprecedented pressures, scholars critically reflect on the changing role of planning and governance in sustainable urban development, looking at how a shift in power relations between expert and local cultures in western planning processes has blurred the traditional boundaries between public, private and voluntary sectors