LAWRENCE — A new study led by two researchers with the School of Public Affairs & Administration at the University of Kansas finds that cities with proactive, learning-oriented and risk-tolerant governance styles are significantly more likely to implement ambitious climate resilience strategies.
The peer-reviewed article in the journal Climate Policy, titled "Do cities with greater transformative governance capacity pursue more ambitious policies? Examining U.S. cities through the lens of climate resiliency," analyzes survey data from 386 U.S. cities and introduces the concept of transformative governance capacity, or TGC, a behavioral framework emphasizing learning, proactivity and risk acceptance as key drivers of innovative local climate action.
The findings show that cities with higher TGC are significantly more likely to participate in the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Community Rating System, a voluntary program that incentivizes advanced flood risk mitigation beyond federal minimums. These cities not only join the program at higher rates but also achieve higher CRS scores — an indication that they implement more ambitious policies, defined in the study as efforts that exceed baseline regulatory requirements and proactively address long-term risks. This suggests that TGC is a strong predictor of local policy ambition.
S. Mohsen Fatemi, doctoral candidate, and Rachel Krause, professor of public affairs & administration, co-led the research as part of a larger effort funded by the National Science Foundation, with contributions from scholars at the University of California, Davis, and the University of Twente in the Netherlands.
The work highlights the behavioral dimensions of governance — how cities learn, plan ahead and manage risk — as critical levers for driving more effective climate policy. Understanding those qualities allows better support of local governments responding to complex environmental challenges.
"The overall project was motivated, first and foremost, by the observation that climate change, and the disasters it is fueling, are challenging the effectiveness and sufficiency of business-as-usual response. At this point, incremental improvements and policy responses may not be enough. We argue that a degree of 'transformation' is necessary to ensure well-being, especially in urban areas where people and problems are concentrated," Krause said.
"Importantly, transformation is not a static achievement or end goal, and a main objective of the overall project was to theorize and operationalize the idea of transformative governance capacity in a way that reflects that and actually measure it for a large number of cities," she said. "A second idea that motivated the project is the fact that despite how we often talk about it, 'cities' don't make decisions; people do. And they do so as part of a professional relational network."
The study provides one of the first empirical validations of TGC and its role in advancing ambitious climate adaptation at the local level. The findings suggest that cities' ability to adopt transformative policies is not determined solely by resources or size, but also by their internal culture and leadership approach.
Fatemi, whose dissertation research centers on energy justice and public utility decision-making, said that the study offers practical insights for building more resilient cities.
"In an era of mounting climate risks and policy uncertainty, cities that can learn, experiment and act boldly are better positioned to protect their communities and lead meaningful change," Fatemi said. "Unlike traditional capacity measures focused on funding or staffing, TGC highlights the behavioral traits — such as learning, proactivity and risk acceptance — that enable cities to adopt ambitious policies. For policymakers, this means that cultivating TGC can unlock innovation, strengthen local resilience and empower cities to lead transformative change even amid political or financial constraints."
