Towards a research and policy agenda for climate action in smaller municipalities and rural regions
Abstract Municipalities are crucial for climate action, but most research has focused on large cities, neglecting smaller ones. Drawing on Professor Kristine Kern’s work, including smaller municipalities, this perspective assesses current knowledge on the municipal landscape, local innovation, financial aspects, multi-level dynamics, and networks. Going forward, a future research agenda for smaller municipalities should center on smaller and informal networks, the durability of action, and the dynamics and limits of scaling.
Authors
- Elisa Kochskämper (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7327-0704)
- Jonas J. Schoenefeld (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9451-9174)
- Marielle Papin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0674-6503)
- Cathrin Zengerling (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9616-5042)
- Ulrike Zeigermann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3247-5767)
- Antje Otto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4623-3438)
- Peter Eckersley
- Harriet Bulkeley
- Wolfgang Haupt
Institutions
- University of East Anglia (GB)
- University of Freiburg (DE)
- University of Potsdam (DE)
- Durham University (GB)
- Utrecht University (NL)
- University of Würzburg (DE)
- LMU Klinikum (DE)
- Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space (DE)
- Centre Marc Bloch (DE)
- Tyndall Centre (GB)
- Institut Wohnen und Umwelt (DE)
- Nottingham Trent University (GB)
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (DE)
- MacEwan University (CA)
Publication Details
- Journal
- npj Climate Action
- Published
- 2026-05-11
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s44168-026-00367-1
- Primary Topic
- Rural development and sustainability
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00