City to city learning and knowledge exchange for climate resilience in southern Africa

and practice [37], and has the potential to close the gap between knowledge and action- mak- ing science relevant for addressing climate change adaptation and building resilience [38]; [39]. In the transdisciplinary research approach, where stakeholder engagement and inclusiv- ity is encouraged, reflexivity around concept framing, inclusion of perspectives, knowledge, and experiences, a better understanding of how communication affects interpretation and trust, and mechanisms of knowledge exchange and communication of climate information can be used more effectively toward producing climate solutions and responses [40]; [41]. The inclusive and participatory approach in transdisciplinarity works well as it seeks to address challenges associated with complex urban ecosystems [42]. Social and experiential learning The concept of learning is based on the premise that change occurs across spatial and temporal scales and we argue that the interconnectedness of socio-ecological systems presents the need to increase our global cognitive, behavioural and moral intelligence through learning [43]. This brings to the fore, the concept of social learning (learning from each other) which tran- scends the local scale by crossing boundaries such as cities and countries [44]; [45]; [46]. Wen- ger [47]) puts emphasis on how learning can be used to make better decisions in the future. In that regard, Tschakert and Dietrich [48] emphasize anticipatory learning for climate change adaptation which is learning that is forward-looking. All these concepts point to building and

developing resilience as well as partnerships [49]; [50]; [51]. Approaches to learning are embedded in the social learning theory which explains why people behave the way they do based on intrinsic and extrinsic, and especially social influence [52]. This places social learning within a cognitive decision-making framework [53] as well as the knowledge sharing mantra to promote application of knowledge. Our approach to social learning follows Bandura’s first proponent, which is learning from others through observation in the hope that this may lead to the rest of the social learning components of application, i.e. imitation and modeling. Weiss- berg and Cascarino [54] define social (and emotional) learning as comprising five sequential elements which are self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relational skills and responsible decision-making. Social learning provides knowledge that is essential for institu- tional capacity building and sustainable development [55]. Decision-making is a major com- ponent in the steering of sustainable development and resilience and provides a platform where both lessons can be drawn from, and where implementation of lessons for tailor-made development based on the understanding of the context and decision-making processes, can be derived. Transformative decision-making processes which promote integrated planning are necessarily for resilience building and these processes are fostered by processes of learning and imbued under concepts such as leadership and strategies (see ARUP’s city resilience framework).

The importance of knowledge sharing, and cross city learning is evidenced by the emer- gence of city networks such as the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, ICLEI- Local Gov- ernments for Sustainability and the international United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) network [44]; [45]; [46]; [23]; [24]. New approaches to research in the last couple of decades have fostered the concept of learning in a bid to encourage the addressing of complex global challenges such as climate change and variability in urban and other ecosystems. The importance of learning in dealing with complex challenges can be drawn from Wenger ([47] pp 3) who posits that, what if we assumed that learning is as much a part of our human nature as eating and sleeping, that is both life-sustaining and inevitable? The co-development of new knowledge generated through collaborative, transdisciplinary research efforts, fosters diverse ways of learning, including the concept of experiential ‘learning as you go’ which City learning in southern Africa PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227915 January 24, 2020 4 / 25