This paper argues for an approach that goes beyond institutional readings of urban climate governance to engage with how government is accomplished through social and technical practices. It introduces the concept of 'climate change experiments' – purposive interventions in urban socio-technical systems designed to respond to the imperatives of mitigating and adapting to climate change. Drawing on three concepts – governance experiments, socio-technical experiments, and strategic experiments – the paper develops a framework for understanding the nature and dynamics of urban climate change experiments. It uses this framework to conduct a scoping study of 627 urban climate change experiments in 100 global cities, analyzing when and where these experiments occur, the relationship between social and technical aspects of experimentation, and the actors involved in their governing. The analysis shows that experiments create new forms of political space within the city, as public and private authority blur, and are primarily enacted through technical interventions in infrastructure networks. These findings suggest an emerging research agenda on urban climate change experiments that needs to engage with the diversity of experimentation in different urban contexts, how they are conducted in practice, and their impacts on urban governance and urban life. The paper also discusses the role of experiments in urban climate governance, highlighting the need to consider the socio-technical nature of experiments and the ways in which governing takes place through everyday and material practices. It argues that climate change experiments are critical to understanding urban responses to climate change and that they are not merely the result of institutional structures but are shaped by a range of socio-technical systems and processes. The paper concludes that analyses of urban climate governance need to engage with the multiple and sometimes unlikely places through which governing is conducted and the implications for how we know and govern the city. It sets out an agenda for this field of research, emphasizing the importance of developing the analysis of urban climate change experiments to understand how, why, and with what implications experiments intervene in the city and their potential role in processes of urban transition.This paper argues for an approach that goes beyond institutional readings of urban climate governance to engage with how government is accomplished through social and technical practices. It introduces the concept of 'climate change experiments' – purposive interventions in urban socio-technical systems designed to respond to the imperatives of mitigating and adapting to climate change. Drawing on three concepts – governance experiments, socio-technical experiments, and strategic experiments – the paper develops a framework for understanding the nature and dynamics of urban climate change experiments. It uses this framework to conduct a scoping study of 627 urban climate change experiments in 100 global cities, analyzing when and where these experiments occur, the relationship between social and technical aspects of experimentation, and the actors involved in their governing. The analysis shows that experiments create new forms of political space within the city, as public and private authority blur, and are primarily enacted through technical interventions in infrastructure networks. These findings suggest an emerging research agenda on urban climate change experiments that needs to engage with the diversity of experimentation in different urban contexts, how they are conducted in practice, and their impacts on urban governance and urban life. The paper also discusses the role of experiments in urban climate governance, highlighting the need to consider the socio-technical nature of experiments and the ways in which governing takes place through everyday and material practices. It argues that climate change experiments are critical to understanding urban responses to climate change and that they are not merely the result of institutional structures but are shaped by a range of socio-technical systems and processes. The paper concludes that analyses of urban climate governance need to engage with the multiple and sometimes unlikely places through which governing is conducted and the implications for how we know and govern the city. It sets out an agenda for this field of research, emphasizing the importance of developing the analysis of urban climate change experiments to understand how, why, and with what implications experiments intervene in the city and their potential role in processes of urban transition.