A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy of Central European University in Part Fulfilment of The
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A dissertation submitted to the Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy of Central European University in part fulfilment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy CONTESTED SUSTAINABILITY AND THE ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS OF GREEN CITY MAKING Amanda Kay WINTER May, 2016 Budapest CEU eTD Collection Notes on copyright and the ownership of intellectual property rights: (1) Copyright in text of this dissertation rests with the Author. Copies (by any process) either in full, or of extracts, may be made only in accordance with instructions given by the Author and lodged in the Central European University Library. Details may be obtained from the Librarian. This page must form part of any such copies made. Further copies (by any process) of copies made in accordance with such instructions may not be made without the permission (in writing) of the Author. (2) The ownership of any intellectual property rights which may be described in this dissertation is vested in the Central European University, subject to any prior agreement to the contrary, and may not be made available for use by third parties without the written permission of the University, which will prescribe the terms and conditions of any such agreement. (3) For bibliographic and reference purposes this dissertation should be referred to as: Winter, A. K. 2016. Contested Sustainability and the Environmental Politics of Green City Making. Doctoral dissertation, Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy, Central European University, Budapest. Further information on the conditions under which disclosures and exploitation may take place is available from the Head of the Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy, Central European University. CEU eTD Collection i Author’s declaration No portion of the work referred to in this dissertation has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of learning. Furthermore, this dissertation contains no materials previously written and/or published by another person, except where appropriate acknowledgment is made in the form of bibliographical reference, etc. Amanda Kay WINTER CEU eTD Collection ii THE CENTRAL EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION submitted by: Amanda Kay WINTER for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and entitled: Contested Sustainability and the Environmental Politics of Green City Making Month and Year of submission: May, 2016. Rather than understanding the city’s role in and connection to global economic and ecological systems, green city policies are often dominated by technology and energy efficiency measures in general, and carbon control in particular. Targets and best practices are devised accordingly and in this way, cities are often reified and their borders re- conceptualized, producing a new discourse with political expectations for citizens to base their lives around green city goals. My research demonstrates a growing rift between ‘green’ and ‘sustainable’ where the emphasis on narrowly defined environmental initiatives creates a detachment from the balanced approach often sought after under the sustainability paradigm. To explore alternative ideas and move away from this dominant approach, I ask: How do community groups contest green city policies; and, what are the implications of these contestations for sustainable lifestyles in particular, and sustainability in general? This dissertation investigates Copenhagen (DK) and Vancouver (CA) as internationally recognized green cities, through the right to the city, the politics of scale and urban neoliberal contestations to understand the contestations around sustainability and CEU eTD Collection sustainable lifestyles, as a counter to the dominant techno-managerial approach. In response to a lack of empirical evidence on how ‘sustainable lifestyles’ is defined in practice, I focus on how ‘sustainable lifestyles’ is conceptualized in green city discourse by the City and sustainability-oriented community groups. I show how ideas of sustainability get sedimented, iii translated, and (re)produced in accordance with measurement models to attain ‘greenest’ and ‘carbon neutral’ city titles. Along with policy documents, I analyze material collected from ethnographic field research as data. My findings are presented based on the following interrelated themes: (1) the ‘win-win’ framing of Copenhagen and Vancouver’s green action plans; (2) the associated imagining of green city subjects and the different conceptualizations of sustainable lifestyles; (3) translations of situated sustainabilities with examples from land and waste policies; and (4) the paradox of eco-gentrification shown through alternative food initiatives and their prefigurative politics. My findings contribute to conceptual debates regarding sustainable lifestyles, where I question its appropriateness as sustainability vocabulary given that in practice sustainable lifestyles was often expressed as exclusive, privileged, individualistic and resonated with the dominant technological approach. These empirical examples and findings are important given the popularity and mobility of ‘green’ and ‘carbon neutral’ policies. I claim that there is now ‘too much green’ where negative socio-economic outcomes of environmental improvements are a strong possibility. I call for a continued critique of ‘win-win’ scenarios and close attention to conflations such as green and sustainable and with this, we should move forward with careful attention to the different articulations of sustainability in an unequal world. Keywords: CEU eTD Collection sustainability, green cities, contestations, sustainable lifestyles, critical urban theory, political ecology, Copenhagen, Vancouver, Christiania, environmental politics, urban sustainability, eco-gentrification, politics of scale iv Acknowledgements This research would not have been possible without the support of a number of truly dedicated and inspiring people and institutions. Thank you to the Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy faculty and staff, and to the Central European University Budapest Foundation for their financial support. Thank you to my supervisor Alan Watt for the positive encouragement, constructive feedback and thoughtful advice. To Tamara Steger for the discussions and guidance on staying close to the data. To my writing partner, Noémi Gonda, thank you for your support and critical reflection, I look forward to our future collaborations. Thank you to Meg Holden for your guidance, especially during my Vancouver visit. My ultimate gratitude goes to all of the participants who took the time to meet with me, discuss their experiences, and share their stories with an open mind. Thank you to the Urban Studies Program at Simon Fraser University and the Christiania Researcher in Residence program for kindly hosting me during my field research. I am also grateful to the Urban Bike Geeks and Henrik for sharing their homes with me. Thank you to the neon girls for introducing me to Magyar feminism through sport. To the CEU mediation group for sharing your stillness, and to Branko for guiding us. My move to Brussels and then Budapest would not have been possible without Alan Winter, Julie Burgess and Fahim Husain. Thank you for the confidence, support and wonderful memories. To my BSIS/Brussels and Pennsylvania friends and family, your loyalty has been invaluable. Thank you to my parents Holly and Bob for their unconditional love. To my brother Paul who has shown me how to define one’s art and happiness. To my Michelle, thank you for sharing this 25-year adventure of sisterhood. Thank you to my biggest cheerleaders, my grandparents Nancy Kay, Mildred and Robert. To my rock and heart, my dearest Philip Earl Wagner may you rest in peace. To Sashi who has unwaveringly taken this rollercoaster ride with me. CEU eTD Collection v Table of Contents Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 1 A Critical Approach to Green City Policy ......................................................... 9 1.1 Neoliberalism, the Environment and Cities ....................................................................... 10 1.1.1 Neoliberalism and the Environment ........................................................................ 10 1.1.2 The Role of the City and Current Approaches to Green City Policy ...................... 14 1.1.3 Eco-Gentrification ................................................................................................... 18 1.2 Sustainable Lifestyles ........................................................................................................ 20 1.2.1 Conceptualizing Sustainable Lifestyles ................................................................... 21 1.2.2 Internal and External Drivers .................................................................................. 24 1.3 Key Concepts to Analyze Contestations to Green City Policy .......................................... 26 Chapter 2 Methodology ........................................................................................................ 34 2.1 Case Study ......................................................................................................................... 35 2.1.1 Case Selection.......................................................................................................... 35 2.1.2 Within-case Sampling.............................................................................................