The deep city: cultural heritage as a resource for sustainable local transformation

ABSTRACT

The sustainable city of the future is typically envisioned as smart, creative and disruptive, assuming that urban and local sustainability is achieved through new technology and innovation. However, considering that the built environments of our cities and surroundings are highly durable, there is also a need to focus on how resources brought from the past – histories, artefacts and places – may be used for promoting urban sustainability. We label this a “deep city” perspective on urban and local transformation. By looking at Røros, a World Heritage Site in central Norway with a dense and historic wooden urban centre, we investigate how its heritage protection facilitates the maintenance of a compact urban centre. We hold that a shared sense of place – the deepness– may serve as a resource against unsustainable sprawl and mall-oriented development.     

Public participation mechanisms and sustainable policy-making: a case study analysis of Mexico City's Plan Verde

Mexico City has gained an international reputation for its ground-breaking approach to sustainability as a result of policies implemented during the Marcelo Ebrard administration (2006–2012). In this paper, we examine the development and implementation of the Plan Verde de la Ciudad de México (Green Plan), the 15-year policy aimed to transform Mexico City into the most progressive and sustainable city in Latin America. Key to the plan's success, it was claimed, would be the active participation of stakeholders from all levels of society. Drawing on documentary material and interviews, we argue that whilst the plan did have a significant impact on the environmental sustainability of the megacity, it failed to include effective citizen participation mechanisms. As predicted by several members of the Green Plan Monitoring and Assessment Board, this lack of representation, alongside other failures, appears to have facilitated the premature demise of the plan under the new administration.     

Community‐based water supplies in Cikarang,Indonesia: are they sustainable?

Community‐based water supply (CBWS) is an example of how a community manages common pool resources (CPR). This results in an alternative approach to solve water supply problems in developing countries by enhancing community participation in managing water supply. This research evaluates the sustainability of five CBWS projects in Cikarang, Indonesia by using Ostrom's design principles, with additional sustainability factors found in the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on drinking water and groundwater sustainability. Quinn et al. (2007) criteria were used in the analysis, and the results show that the management of four CBWS institutions were absent and one CBWS institution was weak. With regards to the SDG's drinking water target, the CBWS institutions were unable to comply with safe water standards, and in terms of groundwater sustainability, efforts to monitor and sustain groundwater tables were absent. Results from this research suggest that more focus must be placed on water quality and groundwater sustainability for CBWS projects.     

Taking Sustainable Cities Seriously: A comparative analysis of twenty-four US cities

After briefly reviewing some conceptual underpinnings of sustainable cities, this paper analyses and compares sustainable cities initiatives in 24 US cities. The central question addressed in the paper is why some cities seem to take sustainability more seriously than others. Numerous demographic, socioeconomic and other characteristics of the cities are correlated with an Index of Taking Sustainability Seriously, which is a composite of some 34 different variables indicating whether each city engages in specific sustainability programmes, policies or activities. Many of the standard explanations, such as the income and wealth of the community, the liberalness of the city and the growth pressures placed on the city, are found to exhibit no correlation with the seriousness of the sustainability effort. What do correlate with the Index are: reliance on manufacturing, where having more residents employed in manufacturing industries is associated with less seriousness; and, the age of the population, where cities with older populations take sustainability more seriously. This has three implications for the future development of sustainable cities. First, some of the cities that might be said to need sustainability programmes the most—cities with heavy manufacturing that are more prone to pollution production—are the least likely to take such programmes seriously. Secondly, as cities' manufacturing bases decline, they should find it increasingly feasible to engage in sustainability initiatives. And, thirdly, as the populations of cities age, policy-makers should also find it easier to support, develop and take seriously sustainability programmes.     

Governmentality,environmental subjectivity,and urban intensification

This article delineates concepts of eco-modernisation and urban sustainability (including its associated discourses), elucidating Foucault's notion of governmentality and examining select moments of contested urban governance in the neighbourhood of Old Ottawa South, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It shows how intensification – a “compact city approach” to urban sustainability – as both policy and practice, serves to both discipline and regulate by “conducting the conduct” of environmental and entrepreneurial subjects. It reveals that zoning has more explicitly become a political technology (albeit a flexible one) for achieving “highest and best use” of private property, privileging intensification projects proposed by developers, through a hierarchical exercise of state power that privileges market processes, while undermining community values and priorities.     

Facilitating (?) urban agriculture in Philadelphia: sustainability narratives in the inequitable city

In 2008, the city of Philadelphia made increasing healthy food access a priority for sustainable development. Recognising that almost 25% of the population are considered food insecure, government agencies, non-governmental organisations and community leaders sought to increase food access through increasing food production and access to land in the city. Urban agriculture has gradually been incorporated in sustainability narratives in the past decade, both providing a platform for advocates to inform on policymaking, and potentially stripping away the political and activist origins of gaining access to food, land and green spaces in the city. In this paper, we argue that the depoliticising of urban agriculture advocacy through its incorporation in sustainability planning may serve to increase existing inequities in the city. Focusing on the policy-making scale, we examine measures enacted under the Philadelphia Greenworks Sustainability Plan to facilitate urban agriculture in the city. Our preliminary findings suggest that the processes by which urban agriculture gains acceptance demonstrate a disconnect in urban agriculture advocacy and policymaking and further work is needed to understand the impacts of the formalising of urban agriculture in Philadelphia.     

Social sustainability and neighbourhood design: an investigation of residents' satisfaction in Delhi

Social and environmental goals are often mutually reinforcing. Urban forms may encourage social sustainability as well as social inclusion or may have the potential to create areas of crime and social exclusion. The issues of relationship between sustainable development and urban form have given birth to new paradigms of design approach such as new urbanism, the compact city and the eco-city. This paper examines the impact of urban form on social sustainability at the neighbourhood level. It seeks to better understand the relationship between urban form and social sustainability by comparing three neighbourhoods with dissimilar urban forms in Delhi, India. Household surveys and observation surveys in these three neighbourhoods were conducted, and it was found that the urban form of a neighbourhood plays a very important role in creating a socially sustainable residential neighbourhood. The study established that social interactions within the communities are higher when dwelling units are placed around the public realm or common open space. The study demonstrated that provision of high quality and well-located open space at the precinct level, mixed land use and good accessibility to the public realm and social infrastructure play an important role in increasing the social sustainability of the neighbourhood.     

Local sustainability at school: a political reorientation>

My main purpose in this paper is to consider ways to reorient the school community towards a culture of sustainability. Education for sustainability (EfS) is generally regarded as learning how to make decisions and take action that consider the long-term future of the environment, economy and social justice of communities (UNESCO, Education for Sustainability. From Rio to Johannesburg: lessons learnt from a decade of commitment, 2002). Education for sustainability is usually and was historically applied in schools through an environmental education approach. My research is significant because the goal of transformation towards sustainability is considered from the perspective of school governance. In this paper I present three case studies: Forest School, a small independent rural school; Riverdale School, a small independent regional city school; and Oakfield School, a large government school situated in a regional city (all school names are pseudonyms). The research has concluded in the small schools and is in progress at Oakfield. In the literature, it is generally accepted that small schools have the potential for sustainability (for example, Sterling, Sustainable Education: re-visioning learning and change, Green Books, 2001, pp. 48, 69; Carnie, 'Educating on a Human Scale', Resurgence, 204, 2001). In the literature, there is no consensus on the potential for sustainability of medium or large schools. The ongoing Oakfield School project is particularly significant because of the issue of school size. In the Oakfield project, the intention is to document progress towards a culture of sustainability in a large school. In this paper, I conclude that a focus on the development of a participative democracy is conducive to cultural change for sustainability in a small school. I suggest that this will also be the case in a larger school, but that more complex structures for decision making as the basis for transformative learning are required.     

Taking Sustainable Cities Seriously: a comparative analysis of twenty-four US cities

After briefly reviewing some conceptual underpinnings of sustainable cities, this paper analyses and compares sustainable cities initiatives in 24 US cities. The central question addressed in the paper is why some cities seem to take sustainability more seriously than others. Numerous demographic, socioeconomic and other characteristics of the cities are correlated with an Index of Taking Sustainability Seriously, which is a composite of some 34 different variables indicating whether each city engages in specific sustainability programmes, policies or activities. Many of the standard explanations, such as the income and wealth of the community, the liberalness of the city and the growth pressures placed on the city, are found to exhibit no correlation with the seriousness of the sustainability effort. What do correlate with the Index are: reliance on manufacturing, where having more residents employed in manufacturing industries is associated with less seriousness; and, the age of the population, where cities with older populations take sustainability more seriously. This has three implications for the future development of sustainable cities. First, some of the cities that might be said to need sustainability programmes the most--cities with heavy manufacturing that are more prone to pollution production--are the least likely to take such programmes seriously. Secondly, as cities' manufacturing bases decline, they should find it increasingly feasible to engage in sustainability initiatives. And, thirdly, as the populations of cities age, policy-makers should also find it easier to support, develop and take seriously sustainability programmes.     

Enhancing Justice and Sustainability at the Local Level: Affordable Policies for Urban Governments*

Abstract

There are creative, affordable ways to address community development and also achieve goals of environmental sustainability. Approximately thirty case studies, based on interviews and usually also site visits, were completed during 2005. The case studies examined community gardening and urban agriculture, the greening of publicly controlled urban electricity and bus agencies, reuse centers and local business associations in the United States. Policy recommendations for city governments that emerged from the case studies are summarized here. There are many opportunities for financially pressed cities to assist the development of ‘just sustainability’ projects with minimal financial commitments. They can do so by rechannelling the purchasing decisions of public agencies, building partnerships with community organizations and developing the small business sector.     

Mapping divergent concepts of sustainability: lay knowledge,local practices and environmental governance

This paper examines local sustainability concepts in Connemara, a predominantly rural region in the West of Ireland (in this paper, the term “Ireland” refers to the Republic of Ireland), to show how they are (re-)constituted through people's interactions with social and biophysical environments. We argue that these interactions produce diverse forms of lay environmental knowledge and expertise that encompass cognitive and emotional aspects, a fact that is frequently ignored in environmental policy-making which prioritises rational arguments over reactions rooted in people's sense of place and community. Local people's responses to this dominance of “official” rational-technical sustainability concepts are central to recent cases of environmental controversy and lack of compliance to environmental policies that have characterised the study area but that show many parallels to conflicts and disputes elsewhere. Drawing on rich qualitative evidence from interviews and ethnographic fieldwork, this paper demonstrates how communities' responses to environmental policies depend on how well (or poorly) sustainability concepts underpinning these policies match local people's social-ecological practices and related place-specific views of what should be sustained.     

Embracing sustainability: the incorporation of sustainability principles in municipal planning and policy in four mid-sized municipalities in Ontario,Canada

The issue of planning for sustainability is becoming more established within Canadian municipal planning. As municipalities begin to align their planning policy to reflect a more sustainable approach, there is an increased interest in how sustainability is being operationalised within municipal documents. This research aims to better understand how principles of sustainability are imbedded within Ontario municipal documents, with a specific focus on the Integrated Sustainability Community Planning approach that has emerged in Canada. Drawing on a nested comparative case study of four mid-sized municipalities, we uncover the language and strategies employed by the municipalities as they relate to the principles of sustainability developed by Gibson [2006a. Sustainability assessment: basic components of a practical approach. Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, 24 (3), 170–182]. The findings suggest that current policy-based approaches to sustainability are considering more socially oriented strategies focused on promoting community involvement, inclusive decision-making, equity, socio-ecological civility, long-term integrative planning, and responsibility through stewardship. However, there are potential limitations that will require future research to examine policy outcomes associated with sustainability uptake. The ICSP approach must still overcome the issues relating to lack of regulatory authority and the incorporation of policies based on popular trends rather than empirical evidence.     

Constructing the sustainable city: examining the role of sustainability in the ‘smart city’ discourse

The idea of the ‘smart city’ is increasingly central to debates on urban development and sustainability, and a host of cities are now pursuing ‘smartness’ as a way to improve energy efficiency, transport, and public services. However, existing research does not provide a clear picture of how this smart city agenda actually contributes to sustainability. The social science literature has been critical toward urban smartness, with most of the empirical research focusing on the politics of data-driven and entrepreneurial urbanism. This article seeks to contribute to this debate by empirically examining the role that sustainability plays in the smart city discourse. Its distinctive approach is to investigate how urban smartness and sustainability are framed by an authoritative institution (the European Union) and then to trace these framings down to a particular city (Stavanger, Norway). The data show that the smartness approach is strongly tied to innovation, technology, and economic entrepreneurialism, and sustainability does not appear to be a very important motivating driver. Nevertheless, the ‘sustainability component’ of the smart city agenda becomes clearer the closer we come to the city level.     

Community-based organisations in city environmental policy regimes: lessons from Philadelphia

In this paper we examine the role of community-based organisations (CBOs) in the environmental policy regime of Philadelphia, through a citywide survey (N?=?40) and interviews with leaders from three types of CBOs: community development corporations (CDCs), civic associations (CAs), and business-improvement organisations. We found that CBOs of all types have changed their organisational missions and identities in response to their pursuit of sustainability goals, but that CDCs more so than either CAs or business organisations have integrated sustainability into their governance structures. Second, we found that a growing number of CBOs have expanded their work to involve environmental policy and programming. Third, we found that the work of local non-profit organisations has become directly linked to the city's broader sustainability plan, Greenworks.     

高职学生参加社区志愿活动的几点思考

高职院校大学生参加社区志愿活动具有重要的意义,有助于提高学生综合素质、增强学生社会责任感,但是其存在缺乏科学指导、缺乏持续性和学生及社区居民对其认识不足等问题。为了使高职院校学生顺利开展社区志愿服务活动,应该加强引导和管理,提高学生志愿服务意识,政府应该出台激励社区志愿活动政策,切实增强高职院校学生参加社区志愿活动的实效性。     

Sustainability: through cross-cultural community garden activities

ABSTRACT

Indigenous people, international students, immigrants, and refugee families are particularly vulnerable populations that experience a lack of sustainability for various reasons, including lack of belonging and networks, low income, mental stress, and discrimination. Following a relational participatory action research (PAR) process, this study explores the concept of sustainability among First Nations, visible minorities, and non-visible minorities through cross-cultural activities, such as dance and music, children’s art activities, anti-racist workshops, traditional story-sharing, land-based learning, and cross-cultural food sharing in a community garden setting. This paper argues that cross-cultural activities among First Nations, visible and non-visible minorities in a community garden can create positive change in an urban environment by empowering communities through cross-cultural bridging. Throughout the last six years of my participation in various cross-cultural activities, I have learned that empowerment through cross-cultural activities adheres to particular forms of agency: interspecies communication, community building, and learning about decolonisation and reconciliation. This study provides valuable insights for educators whose goals include incorporating land-based learning as well as creating a sense of belonging among cross-cultural communities, ultimately leading to community sustainability.     

“The Lucky country”? A critical exploration of community gardens and city–community relations in Australian cities

Urban agriculture (UA) has the potential to expand beyond the grassroots level to meet the social, cultural, economic and food needs of urban dwellers. At its core, UA represents an alternative use of urban space that occurs with or without government support or approval. The experiences of community gardeners and their views of, and engagement in, community gardens as a form of UA, or local “alternative food networks”, is a focal point of this paper. Relying on Australian city case studies, this paper explores community gardens, using critical urban approaches concerning “rights to the city” and diverse economies. Findings from this study reveal how community gardeners understand and participate in diverse economies and extended local food networks. They also identify respondents’ views of local councils as barriers to the emergence of community gardens, and other forms of UA, as a local response to growing concerns over impacts of the global food chain on food security. In contrast to other Western cities, effective city–community relations for community garden growth have yet to emerge in Australian cities, as key policy areas for urban sustainability and social cohesion.     

Is there a correct way of establishing sustainability indicators? The case of sustainability indicator development on the Island of Guernsey

Abstract

The popularity of sustainability indicators is almost inescapable. From the early pioneers such as the ‘Sustainable Seattle’ project (Atkisson, ‘Developing Indicators of a Sustainable Community: lessons from Sustainable Seattle’, in: D. Satterthwaite (Ed), The Earthscan Reader in Sustainable Cities, London, Earthscan, 1996) to the comprehensive European Union benchmarking launched in 2003 (European Commission, European Common Indicators: towards a local sustainability profile, Milan, Ambiente Italia, 2003), it seems that consensus has been reached about the positive impacts that establishing sustainability indicators can bring. This paper uses the case of developing sustainability indicators on the Island of Guernsey over the last three years to show that Agenda 21's call to activate grassroots action is being realised, but in ways that are neither top-down and modernist in approach nor bottom-up and postmodernist as Agenda 21 advocates. Although best practice literature often suggests that community involvement must be engaged prior to designing sustainability indicators, this paper explores the reasons why this is not always possible. Guernsey's case is used to show how it only became possible to generate interest in the indicator process once they were actually up and running. However, it also shows that once interest was secured by a few relevant stakeholders it became possible to further evolve the indicators in a process that has slowly been attracting more and more of the Island's community.     

Still some way to go: institutionalisation of sustainability in German local governments

There is a widespread consensus among sustainability experts about the need for ambitious transformative practices in order for a sustainable development to progress. Agenda 21 emphasised the need for multilevel and multi-actor governance and explicitly focused on the local level. The conceptual and analytical preference of governance beyond government has directed attention towards the interaction between state and non-state actors. The present article focuses on the role of (local) state institutions in sustainability governance. We argue that an effective implementation of sustainability in government institutions is a precondition for a successful multi-stakeholder governance of a sustainable development. The guiding question of this article is: How has sustainability been institutionalised in local governments in Germany in the last 20 years after Agenda 21 was adopted? Based on a conceptual framework, we are presenting the empirical results of a survey of 371 German cities and municipalities in this article, which primarily aims at providing empirical evidence on to what extent sustainability has been institutionalised in German local governments. The article ends with discussing the potential reasons for the institutionalisation deficit observed and gives an outlook on the potential for developing a sustainability state, that is, a state dedicated to institutionalising sustainability.     

Establishing the green neighbourhood: approaches to neighbourhood-scale sustainability certification in Portland,Oregon

ABSTRACT

While local governance is widely acknowledged as an important element in the pursuit of sustainability, local action alone is insufficient to produce lasting change. One recent solution to this quandary has been the production of certification frameworks that encourage sustainable development at the neighbourhood scale by providing local actors with standardised definitions of sustainable practices. While these frameworks facilitate the spread of sustainable development strategies between local communities, there are significant contrasts between their approaches to encouraging local sustainable development that simultaneously fulfils global objectives. This article explores these contrasts through two neighbourhood-scale sustainability certification frameworks: LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) and the EcoDistricts Protocol. Analysis of these frameworks in the context of two centrally-located neighbourhoods in Portland, Oregon, reveals substantial contrasts between the two frameworks in terms of the relative flexibility of their sustainability metrics, the time frame over which decisions regarding sustainable development are made, and community involvement in the process of pursuing specific objectives. Furthermore, it suggests that greater flexibility in the application of standards, continuous governance, and greater community involvement lead to more dynamic and holistic forms of sustainability that evolve as both local community needs and broader understandings of sustainability change over time.