Municipalities as learning ecosystems: Integrating local climate action into climate change education in Ankara, Türkiye

Climate change education is commonly organized through schools, yet many of the infrastructures, decisions, and public encounters through which residents learn about climate change are governed locally. Municipalities may therefore function not only as service providers but also as learning ecosystems. This study examines how local climate action can be translated into climate change education through a document-based case study of Ankara Metropolitan Municipality (AMM), Türkiye. Eleven publicly available municipal and intergovernmental documents and webpages published between 2022 and 2026 were analysed using qualitative document analysis and abductive thematic coding. The analysis combined climate change education principles, learning-city scholarship and urban climate governance research. Five mutually reinforcing dimensions were identified: policy-to-pedagogy translation, place-based practice, partnership brokerage, participation and agency, and evidence and feedback. Ankara demonstrates substantial assets across these dimensions, including formal climate plans, municipal lifelong-learning spaces, teacher education partnerships, youth and children’s participation structures, and operational sites that can serve as living laboratories. However, these assets remain only partly connected: educational objectives are not consistently embedded in climate plans, participation mechanisms are not systematically linked to implementation cycles, and evaluation largely records activities rather than learning, agency, or climate-action outcomes. The proposed Municipal Climate Learning Ecosystem Framework explains how municipalities can connect governance, public services, and education without turning climate learning into a stand-alone awareness campaign. It offers a transferable planning and evaluation tool for cities seeking to align climate action with lifelong learning.