Southeast Asian cities as co-producers of ecological knowledge in transnational city networks

In a polycentric world, cities increasingly bear responsibility for implementing climate policies. To do so, they establish transnational city networks (TCNs), which produce ambitious imaginaries of the future of cities, such as ‘smart cities’ or ‘resilient cities’, based on ecological knowledge. This paper analyses Southeast Asian (SEA) cities’ participation in TCNs. First, this paper presents city networks operating in SEA. Then, drawing on a case study of Quezon City, this paper shows how SEA cities often position themselves in the network as knowledge consumers rather than (co)producers and prefer to learn from cities in the Global North. This research also shows how TCNs—with limited success—seek to counter this neo-colonial knowledge flow model. The paper contributes to the literature on TCNs, arguing that the ongoing North–South imbalance needs to be addressed if networks are to promote viable models of future SEA cities. Identifying the patterns of knowledge flows inside TCNs, this study argues that networks should assist cities in imagining possible city futures beyond the experiences of the select world and global cities. TCNs should pay more attention to supporting their SEA members in looking ‘outwards’ to comparable cities worldwide rather than merely ‘upwards’ to global and mega-cities.