The Scaling of Sustainable Urban Form: A Case of Scale-related Issues and Sustainable Planning in Malmö, Sweden

In this article, I investigate “spatial scale” as an aspect that needs to be more carefully addressed in the discussion and planning of “sustainable urban forms”. Focusing on the Malmö–Lund region in Sweden, I discuss problems of scale as related to the new take on sustainability in Malmö planning documents, especially the update of the Malmö comprehensive plan from 2005. The article is divided into three sections. First, I discuss the concept and problem of spatial scale, contextualizing it in theory as well as in recent discussions on urban transformations. Second, I briefly discuss the discourse of sustainable urban forms, pointing out some scale-related issues that need to be more carefully addressed. In the third and main section of the article, I investigate plans and projects for urban development in Malmö, focusing and elaborating on spatial scale and discussing the findings in terms of three kinds of scale stabilization: in terms of territory, size and hierarchy. The article concludes with a call for further work for the possibilities of a more dynamic and multi-scalar approach in urban planning.     

Heritage in trust: Sustainable stewardship in transition?

Abstract

Frequently identified with ‘establishment’ values the National Trust has as often been a focus of critique as of celebration. This essay examines the Trust's changing relation to contested values of heritage as manifest in its acquisitions and management policies, in its engagement with environmental and social issues and an emerging politicisation which transcends a narrow, purely property‐based interpretation of its statutory purpose. Recent acquisitions challenge conventional perceptions of ‘natural beauty’ and ‘historic interest’. Organisational greening has precipitated a review of the implications of stewardship ‘in perpetuity’. Recognition of the needs of local communities and awareness of equal opportunities issues have prompted a reinterpretation of its founders’ concerns with access and enjoyment ‘for the nation’. These developments manifest an inchoate shift in the Trust's emphasis from the preservation of the status quo to engagement with change, both within the context of its own properties and in its relations to the wider society and environment. The Trust is unlikely ever to lead changes in public perceptions of heritage but neither is its role necessarily or irredeemably a wholly reactionary one. Inertial and cautious, the Trust reflects and articulates the shifting resolution of contested cultural values.     

Sustainable cities—who put the civil into civilisation?

Abstract

How do we define civilisation? Who created the conditions for the quality of life we now enjoy? Who have been the greatest civilisers? What are our key life support systems and who provides the skills which create them? What do we want from our urban environment and who can give it to us? Are our cities in the prime of life, or are they geriatric? Are they sustainable? These and other challenges are considered and addressed in this review of the infrastructure of modern society and of the choices we face as we embrace the twenty-first century, with the emphasis on the urban environment.     

Is Greener Whiter Yet? The Sustainable Slopes Program after Five Years

This study focuses on two basic questions: Are voluntary programs effective in promoting higher environmental performance by participant firms? If so, which distinct areas of environmental performance are more likely to be improved by firms joining a voluntary environmental program? We address these questions by assessing the environmental effectiveness of the ski industry’s Sustainable Slopes Program in the western United States between 2001 and 2005. We found no evidence in our five-year analysis to conclude that ski areas adopting the SSP displayed superior performance levels than nonparticipants for the following areas of environmental protection: overall environmental performance, expansion management, pollution management, and wildlife and habitat management. SSP participants only appear to show a statistically significant correlation with higher natural resource conservation performance rates. For policymakers, these results suggest that caution is needed before a priori assuming that strictly voluntary programs can be effective in promoting comprehensive superior environmental performance.     

Sustainable policy? A public debate about nature development in the Netherlands

This article makes, first, a general argument for ‘sustainable policies.’ This argument will build on the observation that modern societies, of all political guise, find it difficult to cope with the challenges and opportunities posed by science and technology. Classical models of democracy do not seem to be sufficiently equipped to guide the political process in our highly developed societies. Second, this paper will discuss constructivist views on the development of technology in relation to society, and explore possible implications for democratization of technological culture. And finally, the article will present a particular case of experimentation with one alternative form of democracy. This experimental addendum to the existing political repertoires in the Netherlands was a public debate about the issue of ‘nature development’ or ‘nature construction’—the making of new nature, for example by giving back some of the Dutch land to the water of the rivers Rhein and Maas.     

A good international citizen? Australia at the World Summit on Sustainable Development

Australia has often been identified as a middle power in foreign policy terms. This article assesses the worth of the concept in understanding the role of Australia in global environmental governance. Using a case study of the role played at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, it assesses whether Australia conformed to a classic middle power role, building coalitions as a ‘good international citizen’ or whether its role was more like a veto state, preventing positive change. This is done via a reflection of Australia's Summit priorities and an assessment of its impact over the Summit outcomes. The article shows that Australia was able to offer leadership in certain specific areas, but overall domestic policy preferences, a growing mistrust of multilateralism, and a strong defence of the national interest meant that Australia played the role of a veto state, often in coalition with the United States of America.     

Sustainable Communities? A Comparative Perspective on Urban Housing in the European Union

This paper examines the sustainability of urban housing in the European Union. It outlines a number of key criteria for assessing the sustainability of urban housing including mixed-use developments, higher residential densities, high-quality dwellings and neighbourhoods, affordability and food production. Utilizing the 2007 tranche of the European Quality of Life Survey, it finds significant variations between countries in the sustainability of urban housing and communities and highlights the leaders and laggards in this regard. The relative success of urban areas in Austria, Denmark, Sweden and Finland deserves some additional research, although there is scope for considerable improvement even in these “leader” countries. The paper highlights significant problems with housing and communities in some urban locations which must significantly retract from (a) the quality of life of residents in these locations and (b) the sustainability of their cities.     

Resource Curse Contested—Environmental Constructions in the Russian Periphery and Sustainable Development

In this article the development perspectives of a peripheral and socio-economically marginalized, but ecologically valuable Russian locality are examined. An analysis is made on how two local level administrations construct nature, resource use and environmental questions. These constructions give insights into the future perspectives of sustainable development in peripheral, resource-rich and ecologically central localities of Russia. Light is also shed on potential conflicts between industrial resource development and ecological tourism in this exceptional context.     

The Role of Decision Support in the Implementation of “Sustainable Transport” Plans

Improved decision support is deemed essential for the planning and implementation of sustainable transport solutions, but limited evidence exists that decision-relevant information is effectively used for these purposes. This paper applies a framework inspired by research in “knowledge utilization” to examine to what extent various kinds of decision support are used and have become influential in three different planning situations—a local cycle plan in Copenhagen, the Stockholm congestion charging trial and the UK national transport strategy. The results reveal the extensive use of decision support but also the difficulty of unpicking its exact role in each case. Stockholm presented the most successful case, with a mix of academic and experience-based knowledge inputs facilitating understanding and acceptance. The cycle plan example revealed very limited influence of cycling design guidance. The UK national transport strategy fell somewhere in between with evidence of assessment and monitoring of the plans being well bedded in the culture of the organizations involved, but less supportive of sustainability objectives. While decision support and monitoring are clearly relevant, they provide no guarantee for the implementation of sustainable transport solutions.     

Implementation of Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems to Preserve Cultural Heritage — Pilot Motte Montferland

The shallow subsurface in historic cities often contains extensive archaeological remains, also known as cultural deposits. Preservation conditions for naturally degradable archaeological remains are strongly dependent on the presence or absence of groundwater. One of the main goals at such heritage sites is to establish a stable hydrological environment. Green infrastructural solutions such as Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) can support preservation of cultural deposits. Several cases show that implementation of SUDS can be cost effective at preservation of cultural deposits. These include Motte of Montferland, City mound of Vlaardingen, Weiwerd in Delfzijl, and the Leidse Rijn area. In all cases, the amount of underground infrastructure is minimised to prevent damaging cultural layers. SUDS have been implemented to preserve cultural heritage. The first monitoring results and evaluation of the processes give valuable lessons learned, transnational knowledge exchange is an important element to bring the experiences across boundaries.     

Rock Art Between Preservation,Research and Sustainable Development—a Perspective from Southern Ethiopia

This paper focuses on southern Ethiopia, along the outer rim of the Rift Valley and not far from the Kenyan border, in an area forming part of a larger region known as a cradle of humankind. However, it also hosts a diverse Holocene rock art heritage, which is still underestimated and underdocumented. Paintings and engravings are widespread in the region, both in rock shelters and open-air sites, often located in remote areas currently inhabited by communities belonging to different ethnic groups. The aim of this paper is to present the first results of a new project in the area around Yabelo, within the broader framework of rock art research in East Africa, integrating archaeological research, preservation and heritage management with a relevant involvement of local communities. The outstanding cultural importance of these contexts offers new prospects for both scholarly research and sustainable development. The recording and study of the artworks is underway, using digital technologies that guarantee a high standard of accuracy of the documentation and non-invasive recording methods. This provides important insights for reconstructing cultural dynamics in the area between the final Pleistocene and onset of the Holocene. Moreover, the focus on rock art makes it possible to enhance local knowledge, increasing the awareness of local communities, with a significant impact on the preservation of this fragile heritage and the development of local, sustainable tourism projects. Differently from other archaeological features, rock art can have a more immediate attractiveness for contemporary observers, in terms of the apparent immediacy of the images and their emotional impact, raising awareness of cultural heritage and fostering major involvement in its preservation.     

An Evaluation of Endogenous Sustainable Development Planning for the Rural–Urban Environment in Gran Canaria

Urban developments can transform adjacent rural areas by degrading their natural resource base and environmental values. In this paper we provide evidence on the implementation of an endogenous sustainable development plan for the rural–urban environment in the city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The objective was the generation of endogenous development in the rural areas by implicating the local population in developing activities in line with natural values and the recuperation of traditional cultures. At the same time, urban societies were expected to benefit from the preservation and availability of these rural environments. The plan was implemented in a large rural valley located between adjacent urban areas. The valley represents an opportunity for urban dwellers to benefit from a large rural park in the urban environment for leisure and cultural activities. The overall accomplishment of the plan was evaluated and contrasted with the benefits to the urban population, which were also measured with a discrete choice experiment. The results highlight that the principal objectives failed because of the lack of political determination to promote the participatory channels that would lead to the preservation of natural resources in a dynamic process of social change.     

Is the Future of Mobility Electric? Learning from Contested Storylines of Sustainable Mobility in Iceland

Planning for sustainable mobility is a complex and demanding task and the knowledge of how to trade off multiple, often conflicting, goals is not entirely clear. One of the most contentious and confounding issues in the context of urban planning has been, and continues to be, the place of the automobile within the evolving sustainable mobility paradigm. The recent emergence of strong policy and planning support for the introduction of electric vehicles raises thorny questions as to whether or not this development will be complementary to, or conflicting with, other sustainable mobility planning goals, such as the pursuit of compact cities, restrictions on automobiles, promotion of walking and bicycling, and support for public transport. The results of a recent pilot study conducted in the Reykjavik city region suggest that a strategy of provision for electric vehicles on a large scale may represent a continuation of the dominant transport engineering approach, drawing scarce financial and institutional resources away from path-breaking measures such as the efforts to create denser development patterns and promote non-motorized and public forms of transport.     

A Market Road to Sustainable Agriculture? Ecological Agriculture,Green Food and Organic Agriculture in China

To the extent that free markets show little concern for the existence of externalities, they are unlikely to produce optimum outcomes with regard to the protection and enhancement of the natural environment. Accordingly, the increasing emphasis on markets to deliver development in China under Deng Xiaoping and his successors has the capacity to threaten the long‐term environmental sustainability of that development. While there are good reasons to remain sceptical about the ability of market mechanisms to promote sustainable rural development in many respects, market reforms in China and the opening of the country to the outside world have nevertheless provided opportunities for farmers to engage in ecologically sensitive agriculture in the form of ‘green’ food and organic farming. Given that these forms of agriculture reduce farmers’ use of chemicals compared to conventional farming — chemicals which are costly to produce and environmentally degrading to use — they contribute to ensuring a more environmentally sustainable future for Chinese farming, post‐WTO entry, whilst providing opportunities for farmers to enrich themselves at the same time: a ‘win–win’ state of affairs. This will remain the case, however, only so long as the state is prepared to create and reinforce appropriate institutional arrangements.     

The International Building Exhibition (IBA) Emscher Park,Germany: A Model for Sustainable Restructuring?

The International Building Exhibition (IBA), Emscher Park was a 10 year programme of the Land Northrhine-Westfalia, Germany, between 1989 and 1999. It was designed to initiate restructuring in the part of the Ruhr region, the Emscher, which has been suffering the most from economic, environmental and social decline for many decades. One of the Exhibition's principle features was that restructuring should take an holistic view rather than simply trying to attract inward investment and jobs. As a result the programme was based around a huge 80 km long landscape park. This report aims to introduce and critically assess the IBA, in relation to the principles of sustainability with some thoughts for the future. It begins by outlining what sustainability means for the Ruhr and Emscher regions, moving on to describe the unique nature of the Exhibition. It then considers whether or not the initiative adheres to sustainability principles and discusses the successes and failures. The report ends with a brief look at what can be learned from the exhibition, both within the region and outside.     

Sustainable management of metallurgical forest on Mont Lozère (France) during the Early Middle Ages

Mont Lozère, located in the French Massif Central region, provides an exceptional context in which to research the impact that charcoal production and metallurgy had on woodlands, along with the role that these activities played in changing the mountain landscape. This study provides an insight into the land use, forest management methods and metallurgical practices in the area during the Middle Ages (11th to 15th centuries). Medieval charcoal burning platforms, archaeological remains that have often been neglected in the past as a source of historical information, along with nearby smelting sites, were identified, sampled and analysed. In this paper, spatial analyses, radiocarbon dating and anthracological and dendro-anthracological studies have been combined in a unique manner. The results reveal that charcoal burners practiced beech coppicing, where the species and diameter of wood used remained the same over a period of four centuries. It is proposed that this form of metallurgical forest management be considered an early example of a sustainable utilisation of natural resources.     

Going green: Sustainable development as a model of socio‐economic development in European post‐communist countries

The aim of the article is to present a conception of eco‐development as a model for the shaping of a broadly understood lifeworld. It seems to be especially promising in the new social reality of the post‐Communist states, where the lifeworlds have deteriorated badly, both at each spatial level as well as in its biophysical, psycho‐social and technical‐production aspects. First, an interaction model of a lifeworld is presented, followed by a conception of eco‐development with its basic, i.e. social, economic and technological, determinants. The article closes with a list of arguments for eco‐development as both an effective and humanist conception of socio‐economic development in its spatial dimension.     

Towards Household Sustainability in Sydney? Impacts of Two Sustainable Lifestyle Workshop Programs on Water Consumption in Existing Homes

Residential water consumption accounts for approximately 70 per cent of Sydney's water consumption. The capacity of households to reduce water consumption is limited by expectations and conventions of water supply shaped by existing water infrastructure ( Allon and Sofoulis, 2006 ) and ‘saver‐unfriendly’ household water fittings ( Sofoulis, 2005 ). Sustainable lifestyle workshop programs – many of which address water use – are relatively new, and rigorous research into their impacts is scarce. Existing research generally relies on reported behaviour change from participants, which is then used to estimate resource savings. This paper examines water consumption data, and the questionnaire responses of participants in two sustainable lifestyle workshop programs, to examine whether reported behavioural and technical changes are translating into significant water savings. The Sustainability Street (Penrith) and GreenHome (Parramatta) programs are changing participant behaviours, but reductions achieved by Sustainability Street are not significant at the 0.05 level. GreenHome reductions, while significant, cannot be fully attributed to the program due to the downward trend commencing prior to the program. The improved behaviour of participants – in comparison to their previous behaviour and the behaviour of non‐participants – is thus not translating into significant water savings. This indicates that the relationship between improved environmental behaviour and actual water savings is not as straightforward as program operators might assume. The implications of this are that research should use real consumption data and not estimations derived from behaviour change, and strategies to reduce household water consumption need to involve bigger technical changes to household water infrastructures.