Responding to climate change is a strategic focus for Leeds City Council since the city declared a climate emergency in 2019. Several policies address the need for climate action, such as the ‘Zero Carbon’ pillar of the Leeds Best City Ambition plan and the Local Plan.
Third sector organisations have been identified as key Leeds City Council partners to deliver these strategic goals, and we propose to investigate these enablers of climate response in local communities.
We believe one-stop-shop climate hubs are an emerging and yet unresearched example of public assets. Our goal is to evaluate their impact as spaces that contribute to inter-sector trust building and where a just transition has the potential to be co-produced.
Using the engagement model of ‘One Stop Shops’ as an innovative route for climate-driven public asset development, we examine the impact that Climate Action Leeds’ climate hubs have as spaces that enable a re-imagining of Leeds.
We will use Imagine Leeds’ central hub and the development of a community hub in Otley as case studies to investigate the influence that physical spaces have on sustainable decision making and community power.
This project is funded by the 2024–2025 Policy Support Fund and responds to Leeds City Council’s 2024 Areas of Research Interest: ‘Zero Carbon – Personal Choice and Zero Carbon’, and ‘Team Leeds – Community Power and Social Assets’.