Governance Innovation and Implementation in the Cities Mission - Reflexive Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) in City Climate Governance

This report explores Reflexive Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) as a vital component of urban climate governance within the EU Cities Mission. It underscores the value of adaptive, inclusive governance practices that facilitate ongoing stakeholder collaboration, iterative learning, and comprehensive evaluations. The comparative analysis of four cities: Barcelona, Cluj-Napoca, Košice, and Porto. It highlights diverse, innovative approaches tailored to local contexts. Barcelona features centralized structures emphasizing health and equity co-benefits, while Cluj-Napoca prioritizes extensive citizen participation. Košice employs a structured, multi-level approach with formalized reviews, and Porto integrates structured periodic reviews with robust public communication strategies. Despite distinct approaches, the cities encounter shared challenges, notably methodological difficulties in quantifying qualitative co-benefits, maintaining consistent public engagement, resource limitations, and integrating MEL findings into policy processes. To overcome these, cities adopt innovative solutions such as citizen science, data integration platforms, and structured public storytelling events. The report concludes that reflexive MEL significantly enhances cities' climate neutrality efforts by enabling informed decision-making and robust stakeholder collaboration. It recommends increasing dedicated resources, standardizing methodologies, enhancing technical infrastructure, and encouraging structured peer-to-peer exchanges to improve cities' resilience and responsiveness to evolving climate challenges.