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Urban Energy Policies and the Governance of Multilevel Issues in Cape Town

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  • Sylvy Jaglin

Abstract

The multiscalar challenges associated with urban energy policies are the cause of extensive interaction among multiple levels of government and social forces. However, these multilevel systems of action tend to reflect complex and unstable power and resistance patterns rather than stable co-operation processes. Thus, in this paper, a multilevel governance perspective is used as a starting point for understanding where and how multilevel interactions arise in an energy system as well as which issues are creating political conflict and the related consequences for the governance of urban energy policies. This approach is illustrated through a case study of Cape Town, which exemplifies a situation of conflicting policy and agendas at different levels of government, thus creating a great dispersion of initiatives across different scales. Integrating these initiatives within a broader coherent framework, however, is not only a technical matter. As urban energy policies deal with multilevel issues, they imply negotiating dynamic and complex compromises between different types of organisations and authorities while shaping their governance is also a matter of politics.

Suggested Citation

  • Sylvy Jaglin, 2014. "Urban Energy Policies and the Governance of Multilevel Issues in Cape Town," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(7), pages 1394-1414, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:51:y:2014:i:7:p:1394-1414
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098013500091
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    Cited by:

    1. Idalina Baptista, 2015. "‘We Live on Estimates': Everyday Practices of Prepaid Electricity and the Urban Condition in Maputo, Mozambique," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(5), pages 1004-1019, September.
    2. Jonathan Silver, 2015. "Disrupted Infrastructures: An Urban Political Ecology of Interrupted Electricity in Accra," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(5), pages 984-1003, September.

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