Unsatisfying Transfer of Climate Research to Urban Planning: The Regulatory Trap in the Triple Helix

Making urban areas more sustainable by transferring scientific results into the building,
shaping, and governance of cities is a complicated process which involves –
amongst other dimensions – science, local governance, and regulatory processes.
There are non-linear interactions within each of these three dimensions which are
influenced and enhanced by interactions between the three dimensions. After a short
analysis of different sustainability concepts, this conceptual paper considers each of
the three dimensions and finally tries to find some suggestions as to how these dimensions
could interact more smoothly also considering Triple Helix theory. One basic
suggestion is that without updating laws, norms, and standards, urban administrations
will often not be able to integrate new scientific findings into procedures for more
sustainable cities. That is, all three dimensions need to be aligned in the process of
building sustainable cities.