This article develops a theoretic-methodological perspective to analyse and better understand the current dynamics of environmental restructuring in metropolitan cities, arguing that with globalization transnational urban spaces are emerging - such as corporate headquarters of multinational firms and banks, international hotel, restaurant, and shop chains, airports, etc. - and establishing a connection between the 'local' and the 'global' within urban settings. Following the tradition of ecological modernization studies, this article explores how urban environmental management is no longer only defined by local actors and policies in such transnational spaces, to the extent that actors and policies emerging in the global space of flows are also influencing it. After conceptualizing the current context of urban environmental management in view of this local-global interface, we shall explore 12 empirical case studies of the interception between the corporate environmental strategies of the companies ABN AMRO, ING, Andersen and IBM, and the urban environmental policies of three global cities: Amsterdam, São Paulo, and Beijing. The article concludes refining the conceptual model proposed on the dynamics of urban environmental reforms and on the inadequacy of conceptualizing them as the result of local political processes only.
globalization; localization; urban environmental reform; urban environmental policies; corporate environmental strategies
