The green city citizen: Exploring the ambiguities of sustainable lifestyles in Copenhagen

Abstract

Sustainable lifestyles research to date reveals a need for empirical insight to how it is defined in practice within the context of societal change. This article attends to this gap by demonstrating how sustainable lifestyles are understood in one of the world's "greenest" cities: Copenhagen (DK). On the basis of ethnographic field research with local policy-makers and sustainability-oriented community groups, I found that a dominant theme reflects Copenhagen's green city policy goals, as it envisions a techno-moral, energy-efficient citizen. Three contradictions were evident in this imaginary: privilege (class), suburbanites (scale), and disincentivizing (measurement).I give examples of how this green city citizen imaginary is inserted in policy, which demonstrates a disjuncture between how sustainable lifestyles are understood in practice and theory. This study empirically contributes to the ambiguous concept of sustainable lifestyles, while shedding light on potential social tensions of technocentric green city policy.

Achievement of Performance and Evaluation of Green City Development Indicators for Sustainable Cities (SDGs) in 2030

“…The classification of green city ratings according to the city scale is also reinforced by Winter's [28] opinion in his study, which states that the city of Copenhagen, as the greenest city in the world, still finds gaps (contradictions) in the development of green cities. There are at least three contradictions found, namely cities with privileges (class), suburbs (city scale in which there are suburbs and small towns), and disincentives (measurement).…”

“…Source: [29], [30], [31], [22], [19], [18], [32], [26], [28] From the mapping results, important issues are obtained in planning and developing green cities for sustainable city development as shown in state of the art (research position) above. Five important issues need to be observed for the study of green cities, namely: a) There are similarities in some of the attribute indicators for the assessment of green cities by EPI, AGCI, and P2KH in Indonesia, so there needs to be a new formulation by integrating all the indicators referred to; b) Green city assessment based on seven (7) IHS-GCCF conceptual frameworks (Institute for Housing a Green City Conceptual Framework); c) Technological innovation of green cities, especially in the economic aspect, including environmental control through environmentally-friendly industries (environment, and air quality); d) Focus on green city assessment in medium-scale cities; and e) For the sake of integration (point a), have a strategy model for achieving green city performance on all attributes so that city functions can truly fulfill all aspects of sustainability.…”

Translating the nation through the sustainable, liveable city: The role of social media intermediaries in immigrant integration in Copenhagen

“…In doing so, they also act as key spokespeople for this lifestyle and its appeal to current and/or potential migrants. In this way, the blogs play an important role in the co-production of the expectations of the ‘green city citizen’ (Winter, 2019) amongst newcomers to Copenhagen, speaking to the significance of social media narratives in signposting aspirational lifestyles (Jensen, 1996, in Degen et al, 2017). Yet, as the next section shows, while sharing in overall tenor, OG’s and DD’s translations also diverge.…”

A very Nordic set of concerns?

“…This final theme engages the multidimensional nature of sustainability in cities and how Nordic researchers have positioned this critically as a normative goal for ensuring viable urban futures. Significant focus goes to strategies of urban "greening" in expanding parks and other quasi-natural spaces in Nordic cities (Aguiar Borges et al, 2017;Blok, 2012;Holgersen & Malm, 2015;Uggla, 2012), as well as the promotion of cycling as a sustainable mode of transport (Jensen, 2013;Gössling, 2013;Pánek & Benediktsson, 2017), including how interventions in the name of ecological improvement can potentially lead to exclusionary dynamics along socio-economic lines (e.g., Blok, 2020;Holgersen & Hult, forthcoming;Krähmer, forthcoming;Winter, 2019). Efforts to prevent urban sprawl and institute broader trajectories for urban sustainable development have also been a major focus (Gressgård, 2015;Naess et al, 2011).…”