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The Sustainable City: Necessary System Shifts and Their Conditions

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Images of the Future City

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Abstract

This chapter, which is divided into three sections, will initially offer responses to the three introductory questions.

The first is how a city and urban life might appear should the requirements of a sustainable development in fact be fulfilled. This is the subject of the first section titled The City in the Images of the Future. As much of the book deals with this theme, this section will to a great extent serve as a summary of earlier chapters.

This chapter is written by the main authors. Sofia Ahlroth has been a co-author to the section titled Inner strains.

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Notes

  1. 1.

     Alfredsson, E. Green consumption, energy use and carbon dioxide emission, 2002.

  2. 2.

     Swedish Government Official Reports, Bilen, biffen, bostaden, 2005. The other two tracks that are mentioned are greener consumption and less consumption/more free time.

  3. 3.

     Mårtensson, M. Lundell E. Tid, pengar stad (Time, money city), 2007.

  4. 4.

     Swedish National Social Insurance Board, Statistikinformation, 2004.

  5. 5.

    Mårtensson, M. and Lundell, E. Tid, Pengar och Stad (Time, money and city). In Gullberg, A. et al. Bilder av framtidsstaden, 2007.

  6. 6.

    Ibid.

  7. 7.

    Ibid.

  8. 8.

    See Rådberg, J. Drömmen om atlantångaren (The dream of an Atlantic steamer), 1997, p. 158–166, regarding the brilliance in such an alternative.

  9. 9.

    Mårtensson and Lundell 2007.

  10. 10.

    Shove, E. Comfort, cleanliness and convenience, 2003.

  11. 11.

    Ibid.

  12. 12.

    See e.g. Jonsson, D. et al. Infrastrukturens dynamik, 2000; Kaijser, A. I fädrens spår (In the steps of our fathers), 1994; Shove 2003.

  13. 13.

    In principle there are two ways in which a system can be changed. It is either done through substitution, that is a new element replaces an old one without there being any noticeable change at the start. But if, in addition to fitting into its predecessor’s function, this element displays radically ­different characteristics, its successive distribution in the system can have revolutionary results.

    The other way and the more radical manner that a system can be changed is if the ruling system is destabilized by external or internal threats or strains. This happens when, for a while, an unstable situation arises where different, alternate systems compete and where, as a rule, one of these wins the day and gains the opportunity to become established.

  14. 14.

    See Cross, G. An all-consuming century, 2000, on this theme, especially pp. 2–3; and Strasser, P. “Making consumption conspicuous”, 1992.

  15. 15.

    See Shove 2003 and Pettersson, R. Bekvämlighetesrevolutionen (The comfort revolution), 2008.

  16. 16.

    For a discussion of the problems inherent in this development, see Chappells, H. and Shove, E. “Debating the future of comfort”, 2005.

  17. 17.

    Schipper, L. and Johnsson, F. Energianvändningen i Sverige (Energy use in Sweden), 1994, pp. 87–103.

  18. 18.

    Jansson, J. O. Transportekonomi och livsmiljö (Transport economy and living environment), 1996.

  19. 19.

    For more information on this see Gullberg, A. City. Drömmen om ett nytt hjärta (City. The dream of a new heart), 2001 and Gullberg, A. and Kaijser, A. “City-building regimes in post-war Stockholm”, 2004.

  20. 20.

    See Elzen, B. Geels, F. W. and Green, K. (ed.) System innovation and the transition to sustainability, 2004a and Weingaertner, C. Analysing synergies between urbanization and sustainable development, 2005.

  21. 21.

    This discussion is based on Geels, F. W., Elzen, B. and Green, K. “General introduction: System innovation and transitions to sustainability”, 2004, as well as Elzen, B., Geels, F. W. and Green, K. “Conclusion. Transition to sustainability”, 2004b.

  22. 22.

    The case is described in Belz, F.-M. “A transition towards sustainability in the Swiss agri-food chain”, 2004.

  23. 23.

    This pattern is hardly unique, but seems to have occurred several times before in the history of European agriculture, starting in the Middle Ages. See Thirsk, J. Alternative agriculture, 1997.

  24. 24.

    Geels, F. W., “Understanding system innovations: a critical literature review and a conceptual analysis”, 2004.

  25. 25.

    Berkhout, F., Smith, A. and Stirling, A,. “Socio-technological regimes and transition contexts”, 2004, p. 53.

  26. 26.

    Ibid., pp. 55–56; Elzen, Geels, and Green, 2004, pp. 291–292. The latter emphasizes the importance of having actors who believe in the possibilities inherent in the alternatives and are prepared to work against all odds. Networks need to be built between different kinds of actors with this focus, such as entrepreneurs, users, risk capital and politician/administrators willing to support the alternative.

  27. 27.

    See Ahrne, G. and Papakostas, A. Organisation, samhälle och globalisering (Organization, community and globalization), 2002, pp. 107–111.

  28. 28.

    Elzen et al. 2004, pp. 287–288.

  29. 29.

    Ibid., pp. 288–291.

  30. 30.

    See Berkhout et al. 2004, p. 56–59, concerning the importance of guiding visions.

  31. 31.

    Etzioni, A. “Voluntary simplicity”, 1998; Durning, A. T. How much is enough?, 1992, pp. 136–150.

  32. 32.

    Fogel, R. T. The fourth great awakening and the future of egalitarianism, 2000.

  33. 33.

    Frank, R. H. Luxury fever, 1999, pp. 207–226; Ehrlich, P. and Ehrlich, A. One with Nineveh, 2004, pp. 206–236.

  34. 34.

    Concerning the possibilities for limiting energy use in housing, see Hedberg, L. et al. Rum för framtiden (Space for the future), 2003.

  35. 35.

    The example can be seen in Åkerman, J. et al. Destination framtiden (Destination future), 2000.

  36. 36.

    Munich offers an example that combines strategies one and two. With a restrictive parking policy with high fees for the inner city and slow-speed zones on 80% of the street network the share of car travel is low in spite of a very high car ownership share (600 cars/1000 residents). Singapore and London present successful examples of fee systems for moving vehicles.

  37. 37.

    Lane, R. The loss of happiness in market democracies, 2000, pp. 77–98 and Layard, R. Happiness, 2005, pp. 62–75.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Sustainable Communications, Royal Institute of Technology, SE-10044, Stockholm, Sweden

    Associate Professor Mattias Höjer

  2. Committee for Stockholm Research, 15025, SE-10465, Stockholm, Sweden

    Adjunct Professor Anders Gullberg

  3. Department of Economic History, Stockholm University, SE-10691, Stockholm, Sweden

    Dr. Ronny Pettersson

Authors
  1. Associate Professor Mattias Höjer
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  2. Adjunct Professor Anders Gullberg
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  3. Dr. Ronny Pettersson
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Correspondence to Mattias Höjer .

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Höjer, M., Gullberg, A., Pettersson, R. (2011). The Sustainable City: Necessary System Shifts and Their Conditions. In: Images of the Future City. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0653-8_31

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