Assessing Policy Innovation: Climate Action Planning in the U.S. Southwest

Cities are on the front lines of climate change, and local climate action planning has the potential to both reduce greenhouse gas emissions through mitigation and reduce vulnerability to climate risk through climate adaptation. A growing body of planning research has explored climate action planning but has primarily focused on dedicated climate action plans and generally relied upon a narrow sample of coastal and larger cities that do not represent the diversity of cities that planners serve within the United States. This dissertation focuses on climate action planning in arid lands with an overarching research question: How are cities in the U.S. Southwest planning for climate change? The original research I present in this dissertation addresses this question through three interrelated papers that assess the state of planning literature on climate action planning research (Appendix A), document the concerns, approaches, and catalyst and barriers planners report facing when addressing climate risk (Appendix B), and evaluate how climate action planning is being mainstreamed into comprehensive plans (Appendix C). This dissertation advances planning scholarship and practice by expanding the understanding of climate action planning in cities in the arid lands of the U.S. Southwest.