Patrizia Gragnani

Patrizia Gragnani is a Research Fellow in the Department of Technology and Innovation at the University of Southern Denmark, specializing in urban climate governance and sustainable development policy. Her work bridges international climate frameworks like the Paris Agreement with municipal implementation strategies, focusing on multilevel governance dynamics and administrative capacity building for local climate action.

Her research centers on Urban Climate Action, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and Sustainable Development Goals integration, employing methodologies such as configurational analysis and qualitative comparative analysis. She examines how cities operationalize global climate commitments through policy instruments, stakeholder engagement, and institutional innovation, with significant contributions to UN-Habitat and Global Green Growth Institute reports on urban NDC content and climate action frameworks.

Recent publications reveal a clear trend toward evidence-based frameworks for strengthening urban climate governance, particularly through her 2025 configurational analysis of local government capacity and the 3-step NDC 3.0 framework. Her work consistently emphasizes actionable pathways for policymakers, highlighting Denmark’s role as a case study while expanding to African and global contexts through in-depth country analyses.