Cities are considered key sites where innovation can be nurtured to drive sustainability transitions. While existing studies recognise that transitions occur unevenly across space and time, predominant theories of change offer limited understanding of the geographical conditions shaping whether and how low-carbon innovations are scaled. As sustainability practitioners and advocates increase calls for localising climate investment, this paper argues that common processes and practices constituting financial systems reveal the structuring role of contemporary capitalist finance on the forms and qualities of sustainability transitions in urban built environments. Through an extensive review, the paper highlights (1) temporal boundaries associated with speculative measures of risk and return, (2) multiscalar relations of asset ownership and services provision, and (3) uneven spatial distribution of investment. Acknowledging the socially regressive implications of orthodox financial thresholds, the paper considers the prospects for transformative financial innovation driven by social and place-based value propositions to meet environmental goals.

城市被认为是可以培育创新以推动可持续发展转型的关键场所。虽然现有的研究认识到，跨时空的转变是不均衡的，但主要的变化理论对塑造低碳创新是否以及如何规模化的地理条件的理解有限。随着可持续发展实践者和倡导者越来越多地呼吁将气候投资本地化，本文认为，构成金融系统的共同过程和实践揭示了当代资本主义金融对城市建筑环境中可持续发展转型的形式和质量的结构性作用。通过广泛的审查，该论文强调了（1）与风险和回报的投机措施相关的时间界限，(2) 资产所有权和服务提供的多尺度关系，(3) 投资空间分布不均。承认正统金融门槛的社会回归影响，本文考虑了由社会和基于地方的价值主张驱动的变革性金融创新的前景，以实现环境目标。