Framing the Localization of the Global Agendas: Orchestrating the Political Agency of Cities Within the Local-Global Nexus

Abstract

The article delves into the legitimation strategies enacted by city networks to raise their profile within the state-centric global governance architecture, contributing to the body of literature on the rising transnational dynamism of cities from the unexplored angle of legitimacy. It offers a case study on the largest of these networks, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG). Building on interpretive policy analysis, the article identifies in the social construction of the frame of the localization of the UN global agendas a narrative that organizes the networked orchestration of the political agency of cities in the global urban age. Through a trans-scalar storyline that connects the local and global scale, UCLG frames the international consensus and common language underpinning the multilateral global agendas as a political opportunity to the benefit of its members.