South–South Knowledge Circulation: A Comparative Analysis of Community-Based Climate Adaptation Education in Shanghai, São Paulo and Mumbai

Abstract

This study investigates how community-based climate adaptation education (CBCAE) is shaped, mediated and circulated across three Global South megacities, namely, Shanghai, São Paulo and Mumbai, between 2019 and 2025. Drawing on a mixed-methods comparative design that combines document analysis of 148 policy and curricular texts, semi-structured interviews with 72 educators and community organizers and a purpose-built Knowledge Flow Intensity Index (KFII), the study traces the lateral pathways through which pedagogical strategies, curricular content and grassroots adaptation practices travel across these settings. The literature review was conducted through systematic searching of Web of Science, Scopus, ERIC and Google Scholar using multilingual search terms in English, Portuguese and Mandarin, supplemented by city-to-city cooperation studies and critical education research. The findings show that South–South knowledge circulation is mediated by diverse lines of pedagogical translation, policy adaptation and cultural contextualization, informed by local institutional legacies and community epistemologies. Shanghai demonstrates the strongest institutional scaffolding, São Paulo the deepest participatory pedagogy grounded in the Freirean tradition, and Mumbai foregrounds indigenous ecological knowledge. Differentiated circulation is proposed as a theoretical framework that reflects the multi-directional, domain-specific and transformative nature of lateral knowledge flows, extending prior circulation theory by specifying the mechanisms of transformation and providing a replicable quantitative instrument for their measurement. Implications for South–South educational cooperation, urban climate resilience policy and the epistemic politics of adaptation knowledge are discussed.