# 5. SSU – Climate policy in the urban Age (EN)

Nation states have long reigned supreme as agents in charge of addressing climate change as a global challenge. Yet, in recent years, a pivot in the conversation has presented climate action in urban areas as integral to achieving global climate action targets. How did this shift occur? This lecture traces the process through which an urban interest took hold in international climate policy. First, the lecture focuses on three mechanisms that explain the adoption of an urban focus in climate conversations: the formation of new actor alliances, the strategic development of actionable policy frames, and the embedding of urban climate objectives into institutional frameworks of international organizations. Next, the lecture reflects on how the articulation of an urban agenda extends beyond such strategic interventions. The establishment of the urban as a discursive object in climate policy renders specific forms of knowledge and action conceivable – even self-evident – which has implications for the prospects of delivering just and transformative climate action.