The proclaimed aim of EcoDensity, an initiative of the former mayor of Vancouver, Canada, was the achievement of a more sustainable city development through densification of existing neighbourhoods. Since the invention of EcoDensity in summer 2006 it has become a highly debated topic. This paper aims at a critical analysis of how a planning strategy of densification tried to tie itself onto a discourse of sustainability, and also how it had to re-invent and reform itself through contestation and public debate in order to gain acceptance. Thus, the development of the strategy and its contestation are the focus of this paper. Theoretically informed by the theory on hegemony by Laclau and Mouffe, the paper shows why EcoDensity has been—although eventually approved by Council—a failing hegemonic strategy. By referring to a theory on hegemony, the paper theoretically captures practices and struggles around a particular ‘urban sustainability fix’.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AndersonP. (1976) The antinomies of Antonio Gramsci, New Left Review, 100, pp. 5–80.
2.
Anonymous (author(s) unknown) (2008) Defend your neighbourhood. Mass rezoning will change our city forever. Pamphlet calling for a rally at City Hall on 26 February 2008 (www.vcn.bc.ca/norquay/rally080226.pdf; accessed 18 December 2009).
3.
BerelowitzL. (2005) Dream City: Vancouver and the Global Imagination. Vancouver: Douglas and McIntyre.
4.
BrandP. (2007) Green subjection: the politics of neoliberal urban environmental management, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 31(3), pp. 616–632.
5.
BrandU.GörgC. (2002) Nachhaltige Globalisierung? Sustainable Development als Kitt des neoliberalen Scherbenhaufens, in: GörgC.BrandU. (Eds) Mythen globalen Umweltmanagements: ‘Rio+10’ und die Sackgassen nachhaltiger Entwicklung, pp. 12–47. Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot.
6.
BuckelS.Fischer-LescanoA. (2007) Einleitung, in: BuckelS.Fischer-LescanoA. (Eds) Hegemonie gepanzert mit Zwang, pp. 11–18. Baden-Baden: Nomos.
7.
BulaF. (2006) ‘Ecodensity’ Mayor Sam’s newest plan, The Vancouver Sun, 17June.
8.
BulaF. (2008) The anatomy of Sam Sullivan’s downfall. The Vancouver Sun, 14June.
9.
BurrowsM. (2008) Is B.C. ready for peak-oil refugees?, The Georgia Straight, 24April (www.straight.com/print/14962; accessed 30 November 2009).
10.
City of Vancouver (1995) CityPlan: directions for Vancouver. CityPlan Office, Planning Department.
11.
City of Vancouver (2006) Vancouver ecodensity initiative. Office of the Mayor.
City of Vancouver (2008e) Regular Council Meeting Minutes, 10June.
17.
City of Vancouver (2008f) Vancouver EcoDensity Charter. How Density, Design, and Land Use Will Contribute to Environmental Sustainability, Affordability, and Livability (adopted 10 June 2008).
DemirovicA. (2007) Politische Gesellschaft—zivile Gesellschaft: Zur Theorie des integralen Staates bei Antonio Gramsci, in: BuckelS.Fischer-LescanoA. (Eds) Hegemonie gepanzert mit Zwang, pp. 21–41. Baden-Baden: Nomos.
20.
EblinghausH.SticklerA. (1996) Nachhaltigkeit und Macht: Zur Kritik von Sustainable Development. Frankfurt am Main: IKO-Verlag.
21.
ElfferdingW.VolkerE. (1979) Società civile, Hegemonie und Intellektuelle bei Gramsci, in: Projekt Ideologie-Theorie (Ed.) Theorien über Ideologie, pp. 61–82. Berlin: Argument.
22.
FlintC. (2009) Hegemony, in: GregoryD.JohnstonR.PrattG.WattsM.WhatmoreS. (Eds) The Dictionary of Human Geography, p. 327. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
23.
GibbsD.KruegerR. (2007) Containing the contradictions of rapid development? New economy spaces and sustainable urban development, in: KruegerR.GibbsD. (Eds) The Sustainable Development Paradox: Urban Political Economy in the United States and Europe, pp. 95–122. New York: The Guilford Press.
24.
GibbsD.KruegerR.MacLeodG. (forthcoming) Grappling with smart city politics in an era of market triumphalism. Urban Studies.
25.
GlassmanJ. (2009) Hegemony, in: KitchinR.ThriftN. (Eds) International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, pp. 80–90. Oxford: Elsevier.
26.
HagermanC. (2007) Shaping neighborhoods and nature: urban political ecologies of urban waterfront transformations in Portland, Oregon, Cities, 24(4), pp. 285–297.
27.
HarveyD. (1996) Justice, Nature, and the Geography of Difference. Oxford: Blackwell.
28.
HowardR. (2008) Policy report—development and building: EcoDensity—draft charter and draft initial actions—next steps. Planning Department, City of Vancouver, 18February.
29.
JonesJ.. (2008) EcoDensity? Ask hard questions—don’t settle for easy answers. Pamphlet to mobilise for the Public Hearing on 26 February 2008 (www.vcn.bc.ca/norquay/ecoleaflet.pdf; accessed 22 December 2009).
30.
KearM. (2007) Spaces of transition spaces of tomorrow: making a sustainable future in southeast False Creek, Vancouver, Cities, 24(4), pp. 324–334.
31.
KeilR. (2007) Sustaining modernity, modernizing nature: the environmental crisis and the survival of capitalism, in: KruegerR.GibbsD. (Eds) The Sustainable Development Paradox: Urban Political Economy in the United States and Europe, pp. 41–65. London: Guilford Press.
32.
LaclauE. (1994/1996) Why do empty signifiers matter to politics?, in: LaclauE. (Ed.) Emancipation(s), pp. 36–46. London: Verso.
33.
LaclauE. (2000) Structure, history and the political, in: ButlerJ.LaclauE.ŽižekS. (Eds) Contingency, Hegemony, Universality: Contemporary Dialogues on the Left, pp. 182–212. London: Verso.
34.
LaclauE.MouffeC. (1981) Socialist strategy: where next?, Marxism Today, January, pp. 17–22.
35.
LaclauE.MouffeC. (1985/2001) Hegemony and Socialist Strategy. London: Verso.
36.
LeeM.VillagomezE.GursteinP.EbyD.WylyE. (2008) Affordable EcoDensity: making affordability housing a core principle of Vancouver’s EcoDensity charter. Submission to City Council by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, British Columbia office (www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/reports/affordable-ecodensity; accessed 23 December 2009).
37.
LeyD. (1980) Liberal ideology and the postindustrial city, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 70(2), pp. 238–258.
38.
LeyD. (1996) The New Middle Class and the Remaking of the Central City. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
39.
MarchartO. (1998) Einleitung: Undarstellbarkeit und ‘ontologische Differenz’, in: MarchartO. (Ed.) Die Undarstellbarkeit der Politik: Zur Hegemonietheorie Ernesto Laclaus, pp. 7–20. Wien: Turia & Kant.
40.
MarchartO. (2007) Eine demokratische Gegenhegemonie—Zur neo-gramscianischen Demokratietheorie bei Laclau und Mouffe, in: BuckelS.Fischer-LescanoA. (Eds) Hegemonie gepanzert mit Zwang, pp. 105–120. Baden-Baden: Nomos.
41.
McAfeeA. (1997) When theory meets practice: citizen participation in planning, Plan Canada, 37(3), pp. 18–22.
42.
MitchellK. (2004) Crossing the Neoliberal Line: Pacific Rim Migrations and the Metropolis. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
PabloC. (2007a) Big-box retail faces a battle, The Georgia Straight, 25October (www.straight.com/print/115510; accessed 30 November 2009).
47.
PabloC. (2007b) Neighbours rally to dispute city densification, The Georgia Straight, 20September (www.straight.com/print/110533; accessed 30 November 2009).
48.
PabloC. (2008a) Anxiety over EcoDensity, The Georgia Straight, 21February (www.straight.com/print/132980; accessed 30 November 2009).
49.
PabloC. (2008b) To LEED or not to LEED, The Georgia Straight, 17April (www.straight.com/print/142641; accessed 30 November 2009).
50.
PunterJ. (2004) The Vancouver Achievement: Urban Planning and Design. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.
51.
QuastelN. (2009) Political ecology of gentrification, Urban Geography, 30(7), pp. 694–725.
52.
RosolM. (2010) CityPlan Vancouver: Strategische Planung durch neue Governanceformen? [CityPlan Vancouver: strategic planning through new forms of governance?], in: HutterG.WiechmannT. (Eds) Strategische Planung: Zur Rolle der Planung in der Strategleentwicklung für Städte und Regionen, pp. 121–141. Kassel: Vertag Uwe Altrock.
SmithC. (2008) Anxiety grows over EcoDensity in Vancouver, Georgia Straight, 10April (www.straight.com/print/140102#; accessed 25 November 2009).
58.
SomervilleT.SwannK. (2008) Are Canadian housing markets over-priced?Centre for Urban Economics and Real Estate, University of British Columbia (http://cuer.sauder.ubc.ca/; accessed 9 December 2009).
59.
ToderianB.HowardR.KuhlmannT. (2008) Policy report—urban structure: EcoDensity revised charter and initial actions. City of Vancouver Planning Department, 13May (www.vancouver-ecodensity.ca/content.php?id=48; accessed 22 December 2009).
60.
TorfingJ. (1999) New Theories of Discourse: Laclau, Mouffe and Zizek. Oxford: Blackwell.
61.
WhileA.JonasA.GibbsD. (2004) The environment and the entrepreneurial city: searching for the urban ‘sustainability fix’ in Manchester and Leeds, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 28(3), pp. 549–569.
62.
WoolleyP. (2007) EcoDensity won’t cut house prices, The Georgia Straight, 29November (www.straight.com/print/120349; accessed 30 November 2009).
63.
ZukinS. (1991) Landscapes of Power: From Detroit to Disney World. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
