31st EGOS Colloquium, Athens, Greece July 2–4 2015 Sub-theme 58: Space and Materiality in Organizations Rethinking Bristol: Articulating and contesting ‘green’ imageries of an entrepreneurial city Pam Seanor Senior Lecturer in Strategy and Enterprise Bristol Leadership Centre Bristol Business School, University of the West of England
[email protected] Pascal Dey Senior Research Fellow University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
[email protected] 1 Introduction Recently, ‘greenness’ has become an integral part of the enterprising repertoire that is used strategically by, for instance, municipal officials to put their city ahead of rivals. Whereas ‘greenness’ is heralded as a pertinent means to ‘save the city’ (Beyes, 2015, p.208), this view relates to Harvey’s (1989) tenets of urban entrepreneurialism of cities competing at national and global marketplaces, creating jobs, attracting investors, and forming new industries. This paper makes Bristol, which has recently been awarded the ‘European Green Capital 2015’, its focal attention. The ‘European Green Capital’, an initiative by the European Commission’s ‘green cities fit for life’ project, forms a paradigmatic case of the quest toward urban sustainability and green cities. Many in Bristol, and the southwest region of England more generally, would agree with the officials of the ‘European Green Capital’ that ‘greenness’ forms a unique opportunity for improving the environment, but also for transforming the future course of policy and practice, not simply within the city-region but nationally and even internationally. The ‘European Green Capital 2015’, which puts forward an authoritative account of Bristol as a ‘green city’, themes of food, nature, transport, resources and energy are constructs for sharing learning and changing everyday practices and the basis of programmes, walks and events across the city throughout 2015.