Dr Linda Westman

My research examines various components of climate governance, with special focus on cities, transformation, and justice. My current work interrogates environmental justice theory, including through exploration of imaginaries and principles of justice advanced through political discourse in China. This exploration is taking place in dialogue with feminist and decolonial scholars, with the objective of critiquing, transcending, and expanding existing frameworks. 

In recent years, my work has documented the evolution of urban imaginaries in international climate policy. This research points to the homogeneity of discourse, including the limited possibilities to deliver transformative action from within dominant policy rationales. Overall, my work on international policy and transformations is transversed by a concern with the discursive arrangements that sustain status quo and the reproduction of symbolic orders even through policy narratives that seek radical change.

I have explored various threads of climate governance research in my previous work. This includes the role of the private sector in sustainability politics, such as their capacity to function as political agents and contribute to social change. It also includes examination of environmental governance in urban China, whilst questioning the application of Anglophone frameworks (e.g., partnerships, multilevel governance, transitions). Finally, a stream of work has engaged empirically and conceptually with urban transformations – including the often-confounding and frustrating absence of change.