Why have some Swedish municipalities responded actively to the issue of climate change, when the vast majority of municipalities in Sweden have not?
We ask the question since a current theme in the literature of spatial planning, local environment and regional studies points out that in OECD countries, even though awareness of climate change has been increasing, the gap between rhetoric and concrete action at the municipal level is a concern.
Knowing more about the processes and motivations in Swedish cases of active response is both acutely interesting and a key aim of this interdisciplinary proposal. Another central question is: What explains the shift of climate change to the centre of sustainable development? Is it a turning point? If so, it is important to verify and understand how and why it is occurring and who is involved, so that its implications can feed back into professional planning, policy and decision-making circles. Sustainability work in Sweden has engaged a high proportion of women, which may be significant for answering both questions.
This project is open to discovering all interactions that are shown to be relevant, using the method of actor-network-theory, and analysis based on gender theory, to enquire if any changes in the gendered characteristics of responses to climate change are part of the answers.