Plural climate storylines to foster just urban futures

Abstract

Managing climate change-related risks requires robust and actionable insights into future climates. Here we develop the plural climate storylines framework to complement existing physical climate storylines, which have strengthened the usability of climate projections yet struggled to generate action for just climate futures. By taking urban adaptation as a case in point, we illustrate the plural climate storylines framework through four complementary methodological schools that bring together multiple knowledges on complex social and climatic processes: power-sensitive storylines, decolonizing storylines, co-producing storylines and aspirational storylines. Our framework generates storylines with the potential to advance transformative policies and new pathways towards climate-just futures. Rusca et al. propose the plural climate storylines framework to build on the narrative element of physical climate storylines with methods that emphasize power asymmetries, decoloniality, co-production and desired futures. The goal of pluralizing climate storylines is to promote just, equitable development interventions.