Visualising sustainability at the Olympics

Lauermann, John

doi:10.1177/0042098018808489

Cited by 12 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…Contributions to this special issue primarily explore these processes, regimes and contours from the perspective of global policy and governance. Lauermann (2019) examines the imaginaries of sustainable urbanism which are produced through new techniques of visualisation. Montero (2020) discusses other, non-aesthetic dimensions of urban sustainability representation also structure how environmental policymaking common senses are formed.…”

Section: A Contemporary Research Agenda On Cities Saving the Planetmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why does everyone think cities can save the planet?

2020

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This article identifies and explains an underlying transition in global urban policy and discourse from the city as a sustainability problem to the city as a sustainability solution. We argue that contemporary policy discourses of cities saving the planet should be understood in the context of three major historical developments which have their roots in the 1970s and which intensified throughout the 1990s. The first is sprawl: the urban sustainability policy agenda in the Global North has been in large part a reaction to several decades of urban expansion and car-based planning. The second is informal settlements: since the introduction of UN-HABITAT in 1978, an international policy agenda has formed around addressing the environmental deficits associated with processes of informal urbanisation above all in the Global South. And the third is climate change, as the overarching concern that connects urban-environmental problems and policies in the North and South. We then contextualise the articles in this special issue by outlining a new research agenda for decoding the notion that cities can save the planet, which emphasises the need for an historical, multi-spatial, political and representational analysis of urban sustainability thinking and policy.

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Section: A Contemporary Research Agenda On Cities Saving the Planetmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why does everyone think cities can save the planet?

2020

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“…Goh (2020, this issue) situates cities as part of more extensive international networks. Lauermann (2019, this issue) brings this argument to life in his study of cities’ proposals to host the Olympic Games. Lauermann argues that glossy strategic plans and documents for an international audience render urban policy-making visible.…”

Section: Excavating the Contingentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond tabulated utopias: Action and contradiction in urban environments

Broto

2020

Urban Studies

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In this commentary I reflect upon the possibilities for action to deliver sustainable and just urban environments. I depart from the questions that inspire this special issue: what is it about cities that enables them to make a substantial contribution to environmental dilemmas? And how did cities become the darling trope of the international environmental policy regime? I use the metaphor of ‘the Crystal Palace’ to situate proposals for sustainable urbanism in a spectrum of options between naïve idealism and full-fledged cynicism. I argue that between those two extremes there are multiple alternatives to advance sustainable futures. Urban political ecology (UPE) is in a privileged position to reveal the contradictions inherent in the current incarnation of sustainable urbanism. That is why UPE scholars cannot miss the opportunity to produce context-relevant research to change urban sustainability policies and beliefs. In the second part of this commentary, I explore a case study already presented elsewhere in the special issue. The case of the successive unsuccessful projects for Olympic candidacy in Jaca (Spain) shows the impact of a series of speculative design exercises to build a technocratic eco-city. However, Jaca’s Olympic dreams have historical and cultural roots in the town. Its inhabitants have both propelled and contested the Olympic project at different moments over the evolution of the project. Progressive forms of environmentalism also emerge from the encounter between urban history and utopian thinking.

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“…They are naturally abstract and vague, and typically present "glossy" futures of the cities in question. They have been criticized for merely presenting speculative and unrealistic dreams that seldom resemble the development that eventually occurs (Lauermann, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Power of the Vague: How Vision Statements Have Mobilized Change in Two Swedish Cities

Brorström

Grafström²,

Hallström

2022

Administration & Society

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This paper investigates the role of strategic artifacts in realizing change in two Swedish cities. Drawing from qualitative studies of city development projects we illustrate how ambiguous formulations in vision statements constitute a powerful basis for legitimizing actions. As part of establishing linkages between future-oriented vision statements and concrete actions here and now, we highlight the role of materialization. We provide three examples of how the vision statements studied materialized—into organizational structures, management control systems, and communication efforts—and discuss how such materialization implies that only some parts of broad vision statements are translated into practice.

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Visualising sustainability at the Olympics

Cited by 12 publications

References 66 publications

Why does everyone think cities can save the planet?

Why does everyone think cities can save the planet?

Beyond tabulated utopias: Action and contradiction in urban environments

Power of the Vague: How Vision Statements Have Mobilized Change in Two Swedish Cities

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