Autore
Cucca, Roberta

Titolo
The Unexpected Consequences of Sustainability. Green Cities Between Innovation and Ecogentrification
Periodico
Sociologica
Anno: 2012 - Volume: 16 - Fascicolo: 2 - Pagina iniziale: 0

The definition of sustainable development clearly requires the integration of the economic,ecological and social impacts of the development. While scholars and practitioners havemainly focused their studies on environmental protection and green management, the socialpillar in the concept of sustainable development has been on the research agenda to a morelimited extent. Within this framework, the main aim of the present article is to highlight therelevance of an integrated approach to sustainability, in order to avoid possible trade-off mechanismsbetween the different dimensions of the concept, in the processes both of policy designand of policy implementation. In particular, through the analysis of two case studies -Vancouver (Canada) and Copenhagen (Denmark) - the investigation focuses on the urban policiespromoted in these two contexts, under the brand of "sustainable city". This promotionwas carried out through the organization of big international conferences or expositions aboutsustainability, the promotion of tools of environmental management in the field of waste managementand mobility, and the enhancement of green areas. As a general result, both Vancouverand Copenhagen have attracted strategic economic and social resources such as talent, realestate investment, and international events; however these programmes seem to have alsopromoted a strong increase in the cost of housing, fostering a general process of "ecogentrification"by the replacement of the urban population and the emergence of new inequalitiesamong different social groups. Finally, taking in to account the case of Vienna, some possibleexamples of strategies to create a more balanced principle of urban sustainability are presented.



SICI: 1971-8853(2012)16:2<0:TUCOSG>2.0.ZU;2-B
Testo completo: http://www.rivisteweb.it/download/article/10.2383/38269
Testo completo alternativo: http://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.2383/38269

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