Alternative financial practices and instruments

This approach tackles unsustainability and injustice in cities from a financing perspective. From this perspective the distribution of resources and the way our economic system is organized is the starting point to think of just and sustainable cities.

This page is part of an ongoing, open-ended online collaborative database, which collects relevant approaches that can be used by city-makers to tackle unsustainability and injustice in cities. It is based mainly on knowledge generated in EU-funded projects and touches on fast changing fields. As such, this page makes no claims of authoritative completeness and welcomes your suggestions.

General introduction to approach

Alternative financial practices and instruments respond to the need for and the wish to build regenerative, equitable and democratic economies. These types of initiatives took root after the financial crisis of 2007 and were in most cases a response to the disruptive consequences of the financial system such as ecological destruction and growing socioeconomic inequalities. This infographic shows the causes and consequences of the financial crisis.

Additionally, in the context of reaching the objectives of the Paris Agreement on climate change and the need to transform our cities, policy makers, corporate actors and researchers are interested in alternative financial instruments that help to bridge the ‘infrastructure investment gap’ or fund green projects that are cross-sectoral and have multiple benefits. Achieving the goal of urban transformation in terms of climate mitigation and adaptation requires not only huge financial investments, but requieres also a different type of financing .