Using Foresight To Help Global Cities Reform Heat Governance

Extreme heat is causing deep systemic adversities globally. The problem is only getting worse in the context of climate change. This is an observation that drives James Balzer, an Australian climate and sustainability policy practitioner, to focus his project on heat governance. 

“Extreme heat exists at the intersection of social, economic and environmental axes of vulnerability, and its risk is exacerbated by gender inequality, income and wealth gaps, infrastructure deficits and in particular, poor governance practices.”

Using the Three Horizons Framework and the Futures Triangle, James seeks to understand the governance pathologies of extreme heat governance in global cities, and map ways to overcome them in the short, medium and long term. In this way, governance can be both ‘bottom-up’ – driven by civil society stakeholders, and ‘top-down’ – driven by public sector institutions. 

“My objective is to enable global cities to understand, map and influence their preferred heat governance future from the perspective of both civil society and public sector actors.”

James hopes to map short, medium and long term disruptions to extreme heat governance practices, to chart a clear course to a preferred governance future. He also wants to understand what compels and motivates, but also prevents the pursuit of this preferred future. 

James has hosted workshops in Singapore and Australia. Connect with James if you’d like to collaborate.