What is the Problem of Sustainability?
- A Review of the municipality of Malmö’s Environmental Programme of 2019-2020
Gorm Hyltén-Cavallius
Urban Studies: Master (Two-Year) Thesis 30 HP
Abstract
In 2015 every member of the United Nations accepted Agenda 2030, a
guideline for sustainable development with the aim of keeping the temperature from rising above two degrees Celsius. However, it’s still not clear what it seeks to sustain, and the logic behind the concept remains elusive. This thesis aims to examine the meaning behind environmental sustainability by investigating how Agenda 2030 is interpreted by urban planners in Malmö, through analysing the problematisations made in the environmental programme for environmental sustainability in Malmö.
The analysis relies on the idea that a policy is created in order to solve a
problem. By examining what is seen as a problem the underlying logic of the policies will be discerned. By examining the problematisations of the environmental
programme of the municipality of Malmö between 2019-2020 the research will
elucidate what environmental sustainability means in the context of Malmö, Sweden. The research showed that the municipality wishes to make optimal use of
environmental sustainability as a tool for social, economic and environmental
development through changed behaviour of businesses, staff at Malmö Stad, and its citizens. The municipality’s environmental programme implies that unsustainability stems from lack of knowledge, which causes people to make unsustainable choices. Environmental sustainability, as presented, by the municipality of Malmö’s policy document to be about optimising and increasing the environment’s beneficial effects for humans.
Key words: Environmental Sustainability, What’s the Problem Represented to be, Agenda 2030, Malmö, Policy analysis, Sustainable development
Table of Content
1. INTRODUCTION ... 4 1.1 PROBLEM FORMULATION ... 5 1.2 AIM ... 5 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS: ... 5 RESEARCH QUESTION 1: ... 5 RESEARCH QUESTION 2: ... 5 1.4.1 PREVIOUS RESEARCH ... 61.4.2 RESEARCH ON SUSTAINABILITY AND AGENDA 2030 ... 6
1.4.3 PREVIOUS WPR ANALYSIS ON SUSTAINABILITY IN SWEDEN ... 7
1.5 LAYOUT ... 8
2. METHODOLOGY ... 9
2.1 THE “WHAT’S THE PROBLEM REPRESENTED TO BE” APPROACH ... 9
2.2 RATIONALE OF CASE SELECTION ... 11
2.3 DISCUSSION OF METHOD ... 12
3. THEORY ... 12
3.1 EPISTEMOLOGICAL POINT OF DEPARTURE ... 13
3.2 DISCOURSE ANALYSIS ... 13
3.3 WHAT’S THE PROBLEM REPRESENTED TO BE? ... 14
3.4 ASSEMBLAGE ... 14
3.5 POLICY-MAKING AND SUSTAINABILITY ... 16
4. PRESENTATION OF OBJECT OF STUDY ... 17
4.1 AGENDA 2030 ... 18
4.2 THE MUNICIPALITY OF MALMÖ ... 18
4.3 THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMME BETWEEN 2009-2020 ... 20
4.4 THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMME OF 2019-2020 ... 21
5. ANALYSIS ... 23
5.1 THE PREFACE OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMME ... 23
5.2 POLICIES ... 24
5.2.1 ADMINISTRATION ... 25
5.2.2 PLANNING ... 27
5.2.3 KNOWLEDGE AND COLLABORATIONS ... 29
5.3 WHAT’S THE PROBLEM REPRESENTED TO BE ... 34
5.4 WHAT IS ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY? ... 38
5.5 WHERE DOES THE REPRESENTATION COME FROM? ... 41
6. RESULTS ... 44 6.1 FINDINGS ... 44 6.2 DISCUSSION ... 46 7. CONCLUSION ... 49 7.1 RESEARCH QUESTION 1: ... 49 7.2 RESEARCH QUESTION 2: ... 50 7.3 FUTURE RESEARCH ... 51 7.4 FINAL REMARKS ... 51 REFERENCE LIST ... 52
1. Introduction
Sustainability is one of the most influential concepts in urban development and the concept was said to be hegemonic as early as the 1990’s (Campbell, 1994). Sustainability could be assumed to be tangible, yet it is surprisingly hard to define. Researchers have called for a clear definition of sustainability (Campbell, 1994, Pope et al, 2004), but the concept remains ambiguous due to its many interpretations and usages (Chang, et al. 2017).
Agenda 2030 set out to define what sustainability is and in 2015 the UN
published their variation of sustainability, which is divided into 17 categories (United Nations, 2015). Each category was assigned strategies and targets for the maximum amount of greenhouse gas emissions that could be released without increasing the world temperature by more than two-Celsius degrees. Every member state of the UN is currently endorsing the proposition. However, it appears that the targets put forth in 2015 appears to have been miscalculated and that even bigger reductions have to be made to achieve their purpose (United Nations, 2019). It appears that sustainability still isn’t defined even with the endeavour made by the UN.
Malmö is the third largest city in Sweden and located at its southern tip, with the country itself situated in Scandinavia, at the northern edge of Europe. In order to examine what environmental sustainability means in the context of Malmö, a what’s
the problem represented to be? -style analysis (hereupon known as WPR) was used.
WPR was developed by Carol Bacchi (2014) and seeks to understand the underlying logic of policies by looking for the problem they aim to solve. By investigating how the international proposed policies of Agenda 2030 are translated into local policies applied to the city of Malmö, this thesis will explore what “environmental
sustainability” is used to signifies in this specific context.
Malmö stad means the city of Malmö in Swedish and is interchangeable with the municipality of Malmö. Furthermore, every mention of environmental programme refers to the environmental programme of Malmö city throughout this thesis.
1.1 Problem formulation
Malmö Stad has reached the end of their current environmental program that was commenced in 2009, which set goals to reach by 2020, in order to achieve a
sustainable city. In 2015 these goals were adapted to fit Agenda 2030. The program was designed to focus on, and take responsibility for, environmental sustainability.
However, the goals set up by Agenda 2030 with the explicit aim to clarify how sustainability is to be brought about have still been found by researchers to be contradictory and unclear (Diaz-Sarachaga et al, 2018). There could be as many as three hundred different definitions of what sustainability and sustainable development is (Chang, et al. 2017). The plethora of versions could lead to that variations which are not necessarily sustainable are implemented as such, which could have
detrimental effects on progress of Agenda 2030.
1.2 Aim
This thesis will examine policies that are said to be environmentally sustainable by investigating how Agenda 2030 was interpreted by planners in practice through analysing the environmental programme of an environmental program in Malmö.
1.3 Research questions:
Research question 1:
What is the problem represented to be by the municipality of Malmö’s policies in the environmental programme of 2019-2020?
Research question 2:
What is environmental sustainability, according to the environmental programme between 2019-2020 of Malmö municipality?
1.4.1 Previous research
This thesis explores the meaning of environmental sustainability by interrogating policies that are inspired by Agenda 2030. This chapter will present different views on what sustainability is and the sustainable development goals presented by Agenda 2030.
1.4.2 Research on Sustainability and Agenda 2030
The UN program of Agenda 2030 was preceded by the Brundtland report from 1987; in which Redclift (2005) introduced the concept of sustainability to policymakers by defining sustainability in an uncomplicated way. Redclift (Ibid) believes that the issue of how needs are determined, and more importantly, how they are supposed to be met is imperative to solve, if there is to be a future of sustainability. Since
sustainability may be defined differently by different societies, the concept becomes contradictory.
Weber (2017) critically examines the goals of Agenda 2030 and found that they aim to promote the use of market mechanisms to foster development. The realisation of any goal of the agenda presupposes economic growth. Weber (Ibid) concludes that the Sustainable Development Goal’s (hereupon known as SDG’s) of Agenda 2030 may be perceived as aspirational but will not ensure dignified lives for all but rather promote the use of free market mechanics to solve problems.
Du Pisani’s (2007) research supports the notion that environmental
sustainability does not question economic growth or consumerism and adds that since sustainability never was defined critics became suspicious of underlying motives for implementing sustainability. However, Du Pisani (Ibid) also states that there are critics who think that sustainability would stagnate the growth to the extent that it would not be able to meet the demand of rising population levels and that humanity would fix issues as they arose. By implementing restrictions, the critics think that the ability to face the issues would be diminished.
Swyngedouw (2007) was unable to find a single contemporary source that was explicitly against sustainability, and that consensus was that the environmental situation is critical and key to the survival of humanity. However, they also found that very few took sustainability seriously enough to change the socio-environmental make-up of society. Furthermore, the research showed that there is no singular understanding of what nature is. Swyngedouw (Ibid) further argued that researchers, activists and politicians use a definition of nature that suits their own agenda,
because nature is such a complex entity that we lack the tools to properly understand it.
Diaz-Sarachaga, et al ( 2018), researched if the sustainable development goals are a good indicator of the general progress of Agenda 2030. They found that the indicators are not representative of key components of sustainability and that they are also biased. As an example, regional sustainable development lack the focus on global goals, thus rendering them inaccurate when determining the success of the whole. The study also found issues with the collection of data, the number of
unmeasurable indicators, inaccurate methods to determine spillover effects between countries. Furthermore Diaz-Sarachaga et al (Ibid) found that economic and social issues trump environmental issues. The Statistical central bureau of Sweden (SCB, 2017) produced a review of Agenda 2030 and found that the key issue for Agenda 2030 was how the different goals where to be integrated. Their research stated that it is unclear how the different goals will create synergies because as of today they counteract each other.
1.4.3 Previous WPR analysis on Sustainability in Sweden
In a what’s the problem represented to be? -style analysis of using the case of
climate change adaptation in Sweden; Olsson (2018) found that the economic growth is valued higher than other sustainability concerns. The problem formulations for climate adaptation are defined in ways that make the municipal actor key in enabling market-driven development to stimulate growth. As a mean to depoliticize economic growth the problematisations focus on synergies, conflict reduction and consensus. Olsson (Ibid) argues that growth leads to environmental degradation, increased
Sustainable development is concluded to have been embraced by both planning practitioners and researchers. By contesting the hegemony of growth with alternate ways to conceptualise both growth and development could produce a solution where environmental sustainability and equality are not sacrificed for the benefit of
economic growth.
Olsson (Ibid) concludes by stating that if we reconceptualise what we mean by sustainable development, climate change adaptation could benefit economic growth only if these terms will mean something fundamentally different in relation to the other socio-environmental issues.
Another WPR-based research studied how sustainability is construed in the Swedish context of policy-making for transportation in Stockholm between 2007-2017 where Rehnlund (2019) found that sustainability is thought to stem from technological advances, urban- and economic growth. Furthermore, there was a large importance of individual choices and large-scale solutions. The policies described no limit to the increase of transport, urban growth or use of energy. Rehnlund (Ibid) found that the economic growth is prioritized, even if it is based on unsustainable practices because lack of economic growth is seen as a threat to sustainability.
The themes that emerge in the research about Agenda 2030 are that the research shows that there are concerns about that Agenda requires growth to function, the way the target indicators appears to hinder each other and that some dimensions of sustainability are prioritised over others even though they are supposed to be equally weighted.
1.5 Layout
The thesis begins with an introduction to the methodology of the research, the reasoning behind the choice of object of study, theories and methods used in addition to criticisms and reflections of the research.
Thereafter follows the theoretical framework of what’s the problem represented to be, which was used for analysing the material. The fourth chapter presents the historical context and background to the object of study; the municipality of Malmö’s policy-making regarding environmental sustainability. After which, the analysis of the environmental programme will commence, beginning by presenting the policies
categorised by their intended audience then leading unto exploring the underlying logic of in order to exhume the meaning of environmental sustainability. The analysis will end with an account of where the representation of environmental sustainability have its roots. The penultimate part of the thesis by discussing the results; and finally, conclusions from the research.
2. Methodology
This chapter will describe how the selection and processing of the empirical material used for this thesis. Firstly, it will explain the generation of analytical units from the source material, followed by a discussion of how the categories where created. Thirdly, the chapter discusses the rationale for, and relation between the method and empirical material. Fourthly comes discussion of the method used.
2.1 The “What’s the problem represented to be” approach
The empirical material that supports this thesis was gathered through careful reading of the environmental programme for 2019-2020, a document which aims to inform the municipality of Malmö’s employees as well as private actors of how the city of Malmö wishes to achieve sustainability (Malmö stad, n.d). Every sentence of the environmental programme was categorised unto four different categories; How sustainability is defined, strategies for sustainability, obstacles to sustainability and other.
After categorising the findings; analytical themes appeared, which group different truth claims about the same topic together and look for contradictions and concurring statements to expose the underlying logic. A truth claim is a suggestion for what should be considered knowledge, and thus, integral to how the discourse functions (Bacchi, 2014, p,212).
Problem representations as the main analytical units were also used by Olsson (2018, p38) who states that problem representations are the producers of what is considered “real” rather than reflections of reality. Bacchi (2014, p 265) relates that Foucault recommended studying how problems are conceived to understand the rationale of governments. Based on Bacchis (2014, pX) understanding of problem
examine problem representations in the context of environmental sustainability in order to gain insight how the discourse of sustainability operates in the context of policy-making.
To find previous research varying combinations of the keywords
“environmental” “sustainability” “what’s the problem represented to be”, and “Agenda 2030” were searched for in the databases DiVa, SwePub and on Google scholar.
In order to generate data for the analysis of the text, this thesis focus on four aspects; How sustainability is defined, strategies for sustainability, obstacles to sustainability and other. Firstly, to look at how sustainability is defined, in order to be able to determine what the problem is not. When a document describes sustainability affirmatively, it makes a truth claim (Bacchi, 2014, p35). By evaluating all truth claims made by the environmental programme of 2019-2020 a picture of how Malmö stad perceives environmental sustainability may be discerned.
Secondly, by looking at strategies that will lead to sustainability and what is seen as the solution to, or at least increasing sustainability the meaning of
sustainability may be delimited. If a policy is meant to fix a problem, analysing strategies for sustainable development provides insight into what the problem is considered to be. Bacchi (2014, p25) states that the we are governed by
problematisations, therefore analysing the solutions to the problem will give insight to the problematisation, thus, the way we are governed.
The third category is what is presented as obstacles to sustainability. This category aids in discerning what the document explicitly states to be wrong and enables comparison with the problems the strategies promoted in the environmental programme aim to solve.
The fourth and last category is called “other” and represent sentences that deal with sustainability in a way that does not fit into any of the other categories. They could later be compared with other outliers in order to enable formulations of alternative categories.
2.2 Rationale of case selection
This thesis sets out to gain insight into what is meant by the term environmental sustainability in a practical sense through analysing policies in a specific context. That means that the object of study had to be an entity that produces policies and aims to be environmentally sustainable.
The reason for choosing to focus on Sweden is because the Swedish government has adopted Agenda 2030 and stated that they want to be on the forefront of implementing the Sustainable development goals (Regeringskansliet, 2018, p3).
The municipality of Malmö was chosen because it is an institution that creates policies to achieve an internationally agreed upon form of sustainability, Agenda 2030 (Malmö stad, n.d, p22).
Agenda 2030 consists of 17 goals that together aims to create sustainable development, and consists of three core elements: economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection, and was adopted by all members of the United Nations in 2015 (United Nations, 2015). The reason for not analysing the policies included in Agenda 2030 is because the implementation of the sustainable development goals is to be seen as a guide for policies, but the membership countries are the ones who will chose how to implement them. Since then, the city of Malmö has stated that it wants to become the best at sustainable development (Malmö stad. 2020a).
Malmö’s environmental programme of 2019-2020 is thus a product of an internationally agreed upon definition of sustainability, from a city that claims to aim to be world leading at implementing environmental sustainability, situated in a country that has an declared that it want to be on the forefront of sustainability, and could consequently be viewed as a contemporary example of environmental
2.3 Discussion of method
Even though WPR is well suited to analyses policy documents a limitation to the method could be that it relies on the translation and interpretation of a sole person. Haraway (1988) use the term situated knowledge to describe how the researches social background, gender and anything that is important in their respective society will affect how the researcher interpret their material, denying the existence of a universal truth. Instead the truth of a statement depends on the experiences of the interpreter.
Furthermore, Haraway (Ibid, p589) argues that the partiality is the only way to make knowledge claims. To admit that there is no universal single truth a will lead to deeper insights instead of when the researcher pretends to have no body to view from.
Why carry out such research then? Malin McGlinn (2018, p45f), who performed a WPR-analysis on social exclusion and unemployment in Malmö, also drew from situated knowledge theory, and states that social science research could act as a vessel to convey knowledge outside of the academic life. To make everyday citizens more aware of research results could support the democratic discussion in Sweden. This thesis will fall into the latter category or be one voice out of many in regard to environmental sustainability rather than a singular testament of truth. By specifying what effects environmental sustainability has on the policy-making and planning of the city a more informed public debate regarding environmental issues could be instigated.
3. Theory
The following chapter will present the ontological background and the theoretical framework and concepts that supports the thesis beginning with an introduction to discourse analysis as WPR is a variation of it. Then it will introduce the theoretical framework for WPR, which is the approach to performing discourse analysis that was chosen for this thesis. Lastly, is an account on how governance has been used to implement sustainability at the municipal level.
3.1 Epistemological point of departure
The style of analysis this thesis relies on, is inspired by three different intellectual traditions; social construction theory, poststructuralism and governmentality studies theory (Bacchi, p264f). Inspired by social constructionism the thesis builds upon the idea that reality is a product of particular times and places. Thus, seeing concepts as malleable and dynamic rather than as an unequivocal entity. Originating from
poststructuralism is the attention to how politics shape how the meaning of words is
used to claim a version of truth.
By viewing the meaning of key terms as contested the researcher could open up to alternate ways of viewing any given concept. The last intellectual tradition is
governmentality studies which Bacchi (2014, p265) states helps WPR to direct it’s
focus towards the broad spectrum of ways that governing is executed.
3.2 Discourse analysis
A discourse is a concept that could be thought of as a meaning system (Bacchi, 2014, p275). A discourse includes opinions, values, and, stereotypes about any given subject. Discourse limits the way people think of and say about objects.
They could be said to be delimited areas of knowledge, which rely upon a distinct form of logic (Bacchi, 2014, p212). They influence society by making people accept their claims as truth. This thesis will regard the concept of sustainability as a discourse. Sustainability and sustainable development will be used interchangeably throughout the thesis, because the empirical material makes no distinction of the two.
Discourses generate power by making people accept their truth claims as truth (Bacchi, 2014, p212). Which is why Bacchi (2014, p35) states that it is important to inspect these claims. The WPR approach questions any given truth and views knowledge as a fiction, because it cannot exist outside of the statements, they are made up from (Bacchi (2014, p35). Truth claims arises from an assemblage, thus a numerousness of influences, and the unpredictability, of social relations (Bacchi, 2014, p225, 274).
3.3 What’s the problem represented to be?
This thesis aims to explore what is meant when evoking the term environmental sustainability. To this end a variation of discourse analysis called what’s the problem
represented to be? was applied to the environmental programme of Malmö stad.
WPR searches for underlying cultural values and the social unconscious within such documents (Bacchi, 2014, p 5), it was chosen as a framework for this thesis.
The analytical tool was developed by Bacchi (2014, pVI) and aims to distinguish the background for a policy’s formulation. The method has six dimensions. The first is what is presented to be the problem by the policy (Bacchi, 2014, p48). The second is to analyse the logic that leads to such a representation. The third is to look for why this representation of the problem was chosen over others. The fourth is to look for alternative ways to think of the problem. The fifth is to discern what impact the representation has on society. And lastly number sixth, if this problematisation has been debated at an earlier point in time, and if there is any way to challenge this problematisation?
By analysing what the problem is represented to be by a policy document for environmental sustainability this thesis will elucidate what environmental
sustainability means in the context of the municipality of Malmö stad. The first step gives examples of what is seen as unsustainable and what is sustainable. The second step discusses the logical assumptions the policy makes regarding what is deemed as sustainable or not; which will be at the foundation for step three;
extrapolating environmental sustainability according to Malmö stad. By inspecting the origins of the representation, as per step three, a more nuanced picture of the logical assumptions of step 2 emerge. In step four, the problem is considered in alternative ways, in order to find gaps in the internal logic of the findings and to gather material for the last step. The fifth and last step is used to deepen the understanding of the problem representation and to see how the findings correlate to the previous research.
3.4 Assemblage
Bacchi (2014, p25f) relates that governments are not to be seen as rigid entities, but, rather as assemblages, which consists of many varying parts that impact each other overtly and covertly. The roles of experts in such assemblages are especially
interesting to study, since they are thought to link the behaviour of individuals and organisations to political structures.
Müller (2015, p28) asserts that assemblages have at least five features. First, they are relational, this means that they are discrete parts, which together make a new whole. Second, assemblages are productive, which means that they influence behaviour, actors and reality. Third, they are heterogenous and as such there cannot be a dominant object in the assemblage. Fourth, assemblages are dynamic, in
constant change and transformation. Fifth and last, assemblages are desired, as they combine discrete units that in nature would be separate. When conducting a WPR analysis, the researcher should not look for schemes, they ought to discuss the circumstances that lead to the present discourse (Bacchi. 2014, p274). The
assemblage acknowledges that people and institutions, exerts influence how those who listen understand the world.
WPR is based on the idea that a state is governed through problematisations (Bacchi, 2014, p 25ff). By scrutinising these problematisations we can discover what the problem is presented to be. The problematisations are thought to be the product of an assemblage, rather than a certain institution or government. For example, experts, researchers or professional groups may influence in shaping what is seen as knowledge, which in turn affects what the problem is presented to be. Bacchi (2014, p31ff) argues that policies rely on the condition that a problem exists and that the problem could be corrected. Every policy has identified a problem. By investigating what the problem is presented to be, the analyst gets insight into how the governing entity in question views the world. By assessing assumptions made by a policy one could identify the underlying logic of said policy. The result is a representation of a problem, rather than a contradictory definition of problems.
Bacchi (2014, p 271) wants a broad discussion on the problem-solving
paradigm she sees in today’s evidence-based policing, and thus suggest researches to interrogate the problems. By doing so, researchers may discover The underlying concepts that lie behind the way a problem is formulated may not be evidence-based, which could nullify the intended effect of the policy. Bacchi (Ibid, 263ff) asserts that problems are brought into existence by conceptualisations. When making a policy they rely on an understanding of what the problem is. The issue is
that there may be conflicting ways of understanding what the problem is, and a narrow problem representation could limit the openness to alternative perceptions of what the problem is.
3.5 Policy-making and sustainability
In order to understand the field of sustainable devlepment better, three dominant perspectives on how to achieve sustainability within planning will be presented. All three rely upon the three-fold concept of sustainability; economic, ecologic and social dimensions that are interrelated. The first of the three approaches to sustainability will be as a discussion about conflicts of interests in policy-making; the second is an economic approach, whereas the third is a more technical approach.
The three dimensions were called the planners triangle by Scott Campbell in 1996 and popularised the idea that economy, ecology and social values could be balanced (Campbell, 2016). The approach relies on the idea that sustainability is a contradictory concept and was originally meant to use the three dimensions; which are to be seen as abstractions, to act as a steppingstone for, and framework to guide, discussions about conflict of interests. Rather than finding balance between the three; the approach offers compromises between sustainable and unsustainable processes, with the goal of curtailing the damages made by human actions (Ibid, 2016). The approach denies the notion of a universal cure that can fix every problem, instead is sees sustainability as a continuous effort. By acknowledging the
contradictions, the planner’s triangle is able to serve many contradictory interests at once, by creating a space where different movements can meet and discuss
contradictory ideals and make informed compromises between them.
Another way to approach sustainability in policy-making is through green
economics (Chang et al, 2017). The United Nations Environment Programme defines
it as an economy that leads to improved human well-being, increased social equity, and decreases resource scarcity and environmental dangers. Green Economics firmly rely on the idea that environmental development is dependent on economic growth. By modifying certain processes and products of the production system into more resource-efficient alternatives; environmentally damaging process can be avoided. By investing differently, green growth can be achieved. However, Chang et
al (2017) state that green economy is not to be considered a replacement for sustainable development but should rather be seen as a path to sustainable
development. By including the value of ecosystem services in economic decisions, resource optimisation is thought to be increased and ecological damage to be decreased. Market forces are seen as the driving force of this system with the aid of regulation; policies that support technology and voluntary public programmes. Chang et al, (2017) state that policies for a green economy generally are focused on five different aspects to achieve sustainable growth; first, policies that regulate
institutions, norms, and policies to regulate behaviour. Second, policies to inspire industrial innovation. Third, policies for education and the labour market. Fourth, policies for ecosystem services, agriculture and resources. Fifth, policies for more sustainable infrastructure, buildings, transportation and energy.
Green economy is promoted by the United Nations Environment Programme as a sustainable alternative to the current dominant economic model (United Nations Environment Programme. 2020).
The third perspective; Life Cycle Thinking or Life cycle Approach is a tool, which is thought to balance the economic, environmental and social aspects of
policy-making through changing actors perception of problems by taking any given entity’s entire lifecycle into account (Pombo et al, 2019). The practical approach that includes social, economic and environmental dimensions is called Life cycle sustainability Assessment (LCSA). LCSA is performed by choosing indicators for how a policy will affect the economic, social and environmental values; called impact categories (Souza et al, 2015). The impact categories must include every way that the
environment will be affected by a policy. This makes the assessment site-specific. However, LCSA generally includes the impact categories regarding human health, ecosystem diversity and resource depletion. These categories are measured by whether they contribute to global warming, eutrophication acidification or are toxic to humans.
4. Presentation of object of study
In order to make sense of the source material this chapter aims to introduce the situation it sprung out of. To begin with Agenda 2030 will be presented, then the
municipality of Malmö’s history of working with policies. After which, the
environmental program that the source material is part of will be presented before an introduction to the actual source material. To conclude the chapter there will be a physical description of the source material.
4.1 Agenda 2030
Agenda 2030’s official website states that its mission is to be good for people, the planet, prosperity, peace and partnership through 169 targets categorised into
seventeen sections (United Nations, 2015). It was finalised in 2015 and is the product of two years of work in collaboration with governments from all over the world. It boasts about having unprecedented scope as all members of the United Nations has accepted it.
The goals are supposed to be implemented through the assistance of society and “a scientific consensus that the problem exists and is urgent” (UNEP, 2013). Specified and measurable target values are stated to be imperative to achieve the goals of agenda 2030.
The UNEP (United Nations, 2015) proposes that nations use six criteria to reach the goals; 1. Including the environment in socio-economic development goals, 2. Separating the use of resources and deterioration of the environment from socio-economic development, 3. To high-light the changes that will come from climate change, 4. Implement global environment goals, 5. Use scientific and verifiable data and 6. That progress has to be identifiable.
Since its inception the targets have been revaluated. In 2016 the UN stated that the emissions needs to be cut by a further 25% to meet its goal (United Nations, 2016). The energy report of 2019 stated that the emission cuts to meet their goal need to be tripled (United Nations, 2019, p19).
4.2 The municipality of Malmö
Holgersen (2014, p50f) states that Malmö underwent an extensive socio-economic transformation during the last decades of the twentieth century. The main mode of work went from manufacturing to banking, real estate and business service. Employment in research and education also rose after the foundation of Malmö
university. The municipality of Malmö themselves generally view their
socio-economic transformations as going from an industrial city into becoming a regional centre of emerging technology and service.
Malmö faced the dwindling number of jobs in manufacturing, which began in the 1980’s, with policies focusing on promoting industry (Holgersen. 2014 p82f). But, at one point it changed its trajectory and began to focus on ecological policies once the industry began to falter. By bringing sustainability from the
periphery to become central to the urban policies the city of Malmö aimed to promote economic growth. Holgersen and Malm (2015, p282f) argue that many cities have undergone a similar transformation as Malmö from industrial to post-industrial city. However, Malmö stands out because of three points, first the scope of transformation Malmö saw is immense, second it also sticks out because of how integrated
sustainability is the general plan of the city, third that Malmö has also received much international attention for its work with sustainability for a city with only three hundred thousand inhabitants.
The municipality of Malmö identifies that the greatest challenges of our age are climate change, poverty and inequality (Malmö stad. 2020b) The municipality considers the effects of climate change, such as rising sea levels and temperature, and noise to be the biggest environmental concerns to the city of Malmö (Malmö stad. 2020c).
To gain a deeper understanding of how the policy document is to be used we need to understand how the Swedish political system is construed. Sweden is a member of the European Union (EU), an international organisation that is built on the idea of shared sovereignty (Barrling & Holmberg, 2018, p299, 307). This means that the state of Sweden has delegated it’s power to the EU, however, they kept a clause that states that the government is only allowed to delegate the power in matters that regard the political system of Sweden (Ibid, p303ff). Sweden is a member of an organisation that make supranational decisions, this means that key political decisions for Swedish internal affairs are made by only, or partially, by the EU.
In recent years the Swedish political system adopted a form of governing called new public management (Barrling & Holmberg, 2018, p71f). institutions of the public sector are to behave as a private institution and has its roots in the neoliberal
worldview, whose goal is to create freedom of choice for its subjects through
deregulation of the public sector and promoting free trade (Barrling, Holmberg 2018, p71f). According to the new public management ideology there should be no
difference between private and public actors but they are to act similarly and freely share modes of operation. This means that public sector have begun to view citizens as clients that are the public institutions are in competition with each other and
private actors. The boundaries for what actors (i.e. both public and private) are able to do is set through political decisions such as national laws and transnational agreements on a national level.
Sweden is a representative democracy, which means that the people elect representatives that they think suits their needs and wants. The representatives use clerks to advise them on how the best achieve their goals in order to create unbiased policies, based on science. However, in recent years the politicians phrase their inquiry in such a way to confirm their opinion rather than creating an evidence-based policy (Barrling & Holmberg. 2018, p75).
4.3 The Environmental programme between 2009-2020
Before we venture on to the focus of this thesis, we have to introduce the
environmental program of 2009-2020. The environmental programme states that the goal of the program is to make Malmö the world’s best at sustainable development (Malmö Stad, 2009, p2ff). The programme state that it is focused on environmental sustainability. They chose the year 2020 because of it coincides with international goals set by the European Union to decrease the emission of carbon monoxide. The paper explains that Malmö underwent a transition from a city of industry, to a city of knowledge, and that it is natural for the city to make another transition, to become sustainable. The program was ratified by the town council of Malmö in 2009, so the policy document is the culmination of ten years of work with sustainability. There are no credited authors but carries the municipality of Malmö’s logo, asserting that the environmental programme is the work of the municipality as an organisation and not the product of individual clerks.
The environmental programme of 2019-2020 is the last leg of the environmental program. A new plan has been made every four years (which amounts to a mandate
period for political parties in Sweden), but since there was only two years between 2018 (the last election before the end of the program); and 2020 they chose to revise environmental programme of 2015 and 2018 instead of making a new one (Malmö Stad, n.d, p4f).
4.4 The Environmental programme of 2019-2020
The introduction of the environmental programme for 2019-2020 focuses on describing why it was produced, clarifying its goal and explaining the format. Its mission is to highlight what areas that should be prioritised to achieve the goal of the environmental program 2009-2020. The environmental programme was produced because of a clause in the national environmental protection act stating that an environmental programme needs to be made every mandate period. However, it states that because of there only being two more years until the program is over, they have revised the environmental programme of 2015-2018. The biggest difference is that they have decreased the number of areas of action, from seventeen to eight and that each area will be presented with suggested activities to achieve the respective goals.
In addition to highlighting areas of action, the programme will also deconstruct the environmental program and concretise how to reach, or get closer to, the goals. The activities are to be seen as an example of how the different offices could
contribute to reaching the environmental goals of the city. They also serve as a basis for how different offices could collaborate in their environmental work. Each area of action will be introduced with a text that describes the needs of the different areas and the underlying logic of the proposed activities.
The environmental programme asserts that even though this plan focuses on the environment the social and economic sustainability also will see positive effects, too. Because of this, the environmental programme will also aid the general
municipal goals, such as the goals of the general plan and Malmö Commission It will also work towards the global goals for sustainable development. Each board will decide for themselves what activities they should carry out, with regard to their budget. The environmental programme states that waste, chemicals, microplastics, the climate adaption of traffic, and mobility for heavy rain will have their own
environmental programme and will therefore only be partially discussed in this environmental programme. The environmental programme asserts that these areas are as important and prioritised as any area mentioned here. The environmental programme is to be followed up by a yearly evaluation that is published online. The possibility to coordinate the report with the general goals of Malmö Stad is to be revised.
The entire organisation of Malmö municipality is then said to be responsible for realising the environmental program, but it is to be led and coordinated by the
environmental board. Every committee and board are supposed to adhere to the environmental goals. The achieving of the goals is stated to rely upon systematic work and direction. Every board and committee could phrase their aims in such a way that the environmental goals are incorporated. The activities that are used as examples mentioned, alongside other activities, to be used as inspiration for. The activities may also be reformulated to better suit the context. The environmental office should aid the process, in the event that it is needed. The introduction ends by stating that additional work may be required in the future, because the connection between environmental programmes and goal management is being revised.
In short, the policy document aims to concretise how the sustainable goals could be used in practice by the municipality’s personnel. The policies are referred to as suggested activities which implies that they are a guideline rather than rules. Its intended recipient is politicians and clerks working with sustainability on the account of Malmö Stad.
The environmental programme is intriguing when connected to the concept of assemblage since the environmental programme tries to attach a political decision to individuals representatives of organisations and change their behaviour. The WPR approach focuses on how knowledges are used to exert influence (Bacchi, 2014, p26).
Discourses that are institutionally sanctioned have greater status than others (Bacchi, 2014, p 37). Discourses that supports the continuation of power for the institutions in our society are more often than not discourses of status. the
environmental programme is very much reinforcing the influence the municipality, since its main objective is to clarify how the institution ought to act, thus, affirming the
continuation of the power of the municipality. The fact that they decided upon creating an entire program to sustainability supports the idea that discourse of sustainability is very much a discourse of status, as it does not only sanction it, but even brings it unto the spotlight. Especially since there is no comparable documents for economic or social sustainability.
5. Analysis
The following chapter will begin by presenting how the source material introduces itself. The findings will be presented in categories found in the themes that arose from the policies in the empirical material. They are; how the city is to be
administrated, how to conduct physical planning, and, to spread knowledge and promote cooperation. The chapter will end with a discussion on the findings from the three categories in relation to the research questions.
5.1 The Preface of the Environmental programme
The introduction of the environmental programme asserts that even though this plan focuses on the environmental sustainability, social and economic sustainability also will see positive effects. Because of this, the environmental programme will also aid the general goals of the municipality, such as the goals of the general plan. It will also work towards the global goals for sustainable development. Each board will decide for themselves what activities they should carry out, with regard to their budget. The environmental programme states that waste, chemicals, microplastics, the climate adaption of traffic, and adaptability for heavy rain will have their own policy
programme and will therefore only be partially discussed. The document asserts that these areas are as important and prioritised as any area mentioned here. The
environmental programme is to be followed up by a yearly evaluation that is published online.
The entire organisation of Malmö municipality is then said to be responsible for realising the environmental program, but it is to be led and coordinated by the
environmental goals. The achieving of the goals is stated to rely upon systematic work and direction. Every board and committee could phrase their aims in such a way that the environmental goals are incorporated. The activities that are used as examples mentioned, alongside other activities, to be used as inspiration. The activities may also be reformulated to better suit the context. The environmental office should aid the process, in the event that it is needed. The introduction ends by stating that additional work may be required in the future, because the connection between environmental programmes and goal management is being revised.
In short, the environmental programme aims to concretise how the sustainable goals could be used in practice by the municipality’s staff. The policies are referred to as suggested activities which implies that they are a guideline rather than mandated policies. Its intended recipient are politicians and clerks working with sustainability on the behalf of Malmö Stad.
5.2 Policies
There are a few different ways to achieve environmental sustainability according to the proposed activities. The policies were divided into categories according to the intended audience for the policies.
The majority of the policies are directed at those who are in charge of how the municipality is administrated as an organisation, or regard to organisational-wide changes, such as alternation of routines and adjustments on how leases are to be formulated.
The second biggest category are policies that concern those who are in charge of, and partake in the planning process. There are pleas to alter the protocol used for planning, objectives for the physical structure of the city and calls for creating
strategies.
The third category appeared because the rest of the policies regard the production, or exchange of knowledge. Some policies are to educate citizens, professionals or politicians, and to probe investigations and produce reports and some are to create exchanges between politicians, private actors, citizens, clerks or everyone.
5.2.1 Administration
The main goal of the policies about the administration of the municipality is to decrease the usage of resources. When that is not feasible, they are to use
eco-friendly and green alternatives. For example, they are supposed to optimise the use
of energy (Malmö Stad, n.d, p 11).
An example of labelling something differently, is the policy regarding the creation of protocols for how contracts are formulated, to make sure they promote energy-efficiency, with what is known as green leases (Ibid, p11). The policies aim to decrease the amount of used resources to lower the impact on the environment, which is evidence of that municipality views itself as a consumer. This environmental programme presupposes sustainable alternatives. There are no policies that bans the use of any specific product, or producer, only encouraging the use of more sustainable alternatives. This indicates that the concept of environmental sustainability is relative to the current context..
No policies are about inventorying what current sustainable practices there are and then work on improving the areas that are lacking. Products that do not have an alternative or resources that are not seen as scarce appears to have been omitted from the policies. As a case in point chapter 8 Clean water and marine resources (Malmö Stad, n.d, p26-27) will be used. These policies mainly concern the amount of chemicals released to the groundwater and to combat it. In Sweden today, a quarter of all drinking water is used for flushing the toilet (Svenskt Vatten, 2020). The official version of what the problem is, generally tends to persist for many years in the debate (Bacchi, 2014, p33).
The policies for how adjusting the municipality’s buildings for heavy rains and droughts would not exclude the possibility of collecting and using the rainwater indoors (Malmö Stad, n.d, p20). However, since drinking water is not mentioned being scarce in any way, it may be neglected. Furthermore, the omission of the waste of water can be seen as evidence of sustainability not being about decreasing the use every resource.
The benefits of decreasing the use of energy is never explicitly stated in the text, but it is the aim for the energy policies is to reduce the reliance of fossil fuels and increase the production of renewable energy. However, sustainable
development is said to decrease the financial cost of energy, which will lead to financial gain for businesses and citizens (Malmö Stad, n.d, p 14).
The environmental programme aims to only rely on renewable energy for the geographical area of Malmö 2030 (Malmö Stad, n.d, p11). To achieve this Malmö Stad aims to develop a new strategy for energy by 2020. However, the goal for 2030 relies on a definition of what renewable energy is, which have not yet been
developed by the time the environmental programme was published. Policy 3 in the chapter of sustainable energy (Malmö Stad, n.d, p11) states that they should
implement the use of smart energy networks that allow the municipality choose networks where there is more renewable energy. It seems to imply that the municipality wants to decrease their use of fossil fuels.
The smart networks are not defined or mentioned anywhere else in the text so they might have other uses than allowing for the selection of energy, but, the
municipalities facilities are to be connected to them. If all energy is going to be renewable, it would mean that smart networks would be obsolete by 2030, thus rendering the implement quite short-term.
Many strategies for sustainability have not yet been started but their content appear to have been fleshed out. For example, is construction and climate adaptation going to have a strategy developed to be more sustainable and the marine life is to be evaluated to look for possible conservation areas. This implies that Malmö Stad views sustainability as a long-lasting enterprise.
The environmental programme state that ecological farmers should have to have a lease that state that the land is to be used for ecological farming. It’s measure is that the ecologically farmed land has leases that state that the land is going to be used for ecological farming is at 100%. The phrasing makes this activity appear redundant. An ecological farmer would farm ecologically. Adding a clause in a lease would not change anything in terms of amount of ecological farming because the percentage is relative to the amount of ecologically farmed land, not the entire farmed land.
The problem that the policies for administrating aim to solve appears to be that the municipality is using too much energy, and generally consumes in an
be fine, it’s their source that is the problem. It is possible that the decrease of energy is promoted as a way to reduce the use of non-renewable fuels and not because Malmö Stad wants to decrease the total amount of energy used. Since the municipality states that a large-scale expansion of renewable energy is possible, sustainable consumption appears to be achieved through choosing the right
products. It is useful to label things, ecological farming leases and green leases for rentiers are portrayed as superior than normal ones. Environmental sustainability is about mainly about conserving electricity and fuel which means that environmental sustainability will have positive economic outcomes.
5.2.2 Planning
Malmö stad (n.d, p6) is to employ the principle of balance in every instance of planning in order to increase the amount of green and blue milieus in the city. The principle of balance is defined in the wordlist at the end (Malmö Stad, n.d, p 28) as having four steps. The first step is to avoid developments that have negative effect on nature and recreation, minimise the damage if you have to develop in a way that removes the environment. If all else fails, the principle commands the planner to compensate lost nature, either on or off site. However, if the goal for the municipality is as they stated, to increase the amount of green and blue milieus (Ibid, p6), a principle compensating for loss of environments will not increase the total amount of greenery. This indicates that the environmental programme perceives the
environment as replaceable. The policy about the principle of balance is based upon how it is meant to be used and what routines the municipality should use it in
practice. The problem appears to be that the municipality of Malmö thinks it destroy nature in order to develop the city. It also prerequisites a fundamental control of the environment, if one is to be able to recreate a patch of land somewhere else.
One of the benefits of having nature is named to be biodiversity. Biodiversity is defined as an umbrella term for three kinds of variation: intraspecies, interspecies and types of terrain (Malmö Stad, n.d, p28). That is; variation when it comes to genetical composition of a species, having varying types of species, and different kinds of terrain. Biodiversity is stated to be the foundation of ecosystem services (Ibid, n.d, p6-7). Ecosystem services are said to be the utilities produced by
ecosystems, they could be pollination, the cleaning of water, production of food and recreation. Ecosystem services to be taken into account when planning public spaces. It supports the idea of mankind having the power to control nature. Furthermore, it suggests that the environment is an asset that by people and that there is an underutilised resource that could be used for the city’s benefit.
This view implies that environment is supposed to have a use for the people, thus, lacking intrinsic value. Moreover, it confirms the idea of the interconnectedness between social, environmental and ecological sustainability. The environment is thought by the environmental programme (n.d) to provide economic benefits such as jobs through the production of food, and social sustainability through providing
sustenance to people and contribute to recreation.
The explicit goal for planning is stated to be a dense, function-variated, green, and biodiverse city. There are a few policies to increase green values by; as
previously mentioned, biodiversity is also covered by some policies. However, there are no policies regarding function-variation and only one about densifying. The policy about densification relates that there should be one project a year that transfers experiences of working with densification between different areas that are developed. This shows a focus on exchange of knowledge rather than environmental
sustainability.
The policies are not at odds with the stated goals, it is just that they do not overlap all the way through. It could mean that the municipality of Malmö thinks that they have already achieved their environmental goal and, thus, focuses on other aspects. However, building denser implies a relative unit of measure. Density could be interpreted as having a greater range of usable milieu in any given area. Maybe replacing one service with another that is seen as having more use is seen as densifying. Perhaps concentration would be a better translation. The creation of greenery in currently asphalted spaces supports that this could be the case. Most policies that deals with planning are aimed at increasing the amount of green space so that could be it. However, the formulation of policy 4 in the first chapter points at a different direction It states that ecosystem services are supposed to be taken in consideration when planning public space (Malmö Stad, n.d, p7). It indicates that the municipality policies are directed at public space, not every space. It would explain
the absence of policies that regard residential housing. The fact that the policies have been divided into two categories, external, and internal throughout the environmental programme supports the conceptual division of public and private spaces.
5.2.3 Knowledge and collaborations
There are many policies that regard collaborations, from shorter projects to
permanent associations. One example is Greppa näringen [Untranslatable play on words, näring means both business and nourishment. Greppa means grab or understand] who offer free long-term consultation for environmental, climate and performance issues to farmers (Malmö Stad, n.d, p 8, 29). The goal is that every farmer in Malmö will be part of the association.
Power is productive, not possessed by anyone (Bachhi, 2014, p38f). Power works by laying the foundation for our conception; hence, its products include how we experience ourselves and how we understand ourselves and the world around us. Power influences the world by producing truth. In this case those working with
farming are to be influenced to make different choices. Bacchi (2014, p38) asserts that the operation of power and its products are more interesting than who operates and produces. It appears that the municipality wants to influence the farmers view on their business. According to the project’s website Greppa Näringen; offers solutions that optimise the use of resources and beneficial for the environment and, most often, the economy (Greppa Näringen, 2020).
Developers in construction are also to engage in dialogue with the municipality to achieve more sustainable construction through exchange of knowledge (Malmö Stad, n.d, p 18). The details of the exchange are not mentioned. They will organise projects where property owners and their clients from the retail and industry will come together to streamline the actors use of energy (Malmö Stad, n.d, p12).
It appears that the municipality aims to inform professionals on how to make better choices. The municipality are also to train their own staff in how to have climate friendly food (Ibid, n.d p23). In addition to trainings they will produce and revise the guides Checklist for sustainable meetings and conferences and the Green
buyers guide Malmö Stad, n.d, p17). These documents aim to change the outlook on
Moreover, clerks and politicians are to be educated about biodiversity and ecosystem services (Malmö Stad, n.d, p7). The program states that the value and qualities that ecosystem services supply ought to be commonly known and taken in consideration when economic and political decisions are made (Ibid, n.d, p 6). This means that environmental sustainability is sometimes not taken into consideration because of lack of knowledge about the benefits the environment provides. It also goes in line with the three dimensions of sustainability being interconnected.
As previously mentioned, a discourse of status supports the existence of a society’s institutions (Bacchi, 2014, p. 35). The policies reinforce the position the municipality knows what sustainability is and where to find it. It is clear that the municipality of Malmö not is an omniscient being that knows everything today, but it is clear that they think they have deeper insight than other actors. For example, Malmö states they want to be a forerunner when it comes to optimising the use of energy (Malmö Stad, 2014, p 10).
The municipality also implies that they have the capacity to make sustainable plans for the countryside (Ibid, 2014, p7). Both of these examples assert the
influence of the institution of Malmö Stad. They also highlight that Malmö municipality makes truth claims. Bacchi (2014, p35) relates that since we are governed through problematisations, and problematisations are constructed through relying on truth claims the knowledge that is seen as factual becomes critical to the inner workings of power. The reason the municipality finds it necessary to educate its staff and others could be seen as an indicator that environmental sustainability is a concept that is in developing. An explicit example of this is the policy where the municipality of Malmö aims to define what 100% renewable energy is and if the definition could include recycled energy (Malmö Stad, n.d, p11). Recycled energy is not mentioned anywhere else in the text, but they imply that there is a thing known as recycled energy that may or may not be sustainable. It appears to be a truth claim that asserts that recycled energy is indeed sustainable, but the municipality has to assess the claim. That means that to be able to create a policy, they must first decide upon the scale of the issue with a definition. That definition will act as a basis for how problem is to be solved. But, there is no safeguard that the definition the municipality settles is good
for sustainability. This could be an instance that indicates that power is productive rather than possessive (Bacchi, 2014, p38).
The municipality of Malmö explicitly state that they will research if recycled energy could be considered renewable energy (Malmö stad, n.d, p11). In order to be able to create a problematisation that will guide a policy, the municipality of Malmö will produce a truth claim that could affect the how people of the future view recycled energy.
Another example where the multiplicity create knowledges appear is a policy that aims to explore alternative ways to finance and establish renewable energy production (Malmö Stad, n.d, p 12). This could more evidence that power is productive rather than possessive. The municipality of Malmö implies that their
current ways of financing is not sufficient. On page 10 (Malmö Stad, n.d) the program states that the city needs to use incitements and other means of control to make key
actors more inclined to invest in renewable sustainability. It appears that there is a
reluctance towards increasing the production of renewable energy from private actors because of economic parameters, attesting to interconnectedness of sustainability’s different dimensions.
The municipality also wants to increase the sharing of items in the city. This will be made through increasing the access to networks that enable sharing by
developing partnerships between actors for a sustainable lifestyle (Malmö Stad, n.d, p23-24). One example is to assist in the creation of collaborate the use of resources between actors that are not the municipality (Malmö Stad, n.d, p15). Another
example is to increase the basis for sustainable consumption, which is defined as allowing citizens can buy the things that we need without interfering in future generations of citizens ability catering to their needs (Malmö Stad, n.d, p23 & 30). The policy aims to increase the use of Malvin, which is an exchange program of inventory, furniture and other resources within the municipality (Ibid, n.d, p 30).
Inhabitants are to use the Fridtidsbanken, which is an agency for loaning recreational and sport items that been donated (Ibid, n.d, p29). This is to achieve sharing
economy, which is defined as sharing items that is not used very often with members
that are outside the circle of friends. The policy seems to aim at increasing the amount of time each product is used in addition to decreasing the total amount of
products through sharing. As with the energy, the current way of consuming is not seen as sustainable, however, there are sustainable alternatives.
An additional example that supports is circular economy, which is defined as reusing, repairing products, in addition viewing waste as resource (Malmö Stad, n.d, p28f). The reoccurring theme of all of these appear that consumption is
unsustainable. However, as with energy, there are sustainable alternatives to be found. Circular economy strives to produce products that are designed to be reusable and manufactured with renewable energy.
A further example is the policy to promote the use of products that use the Fairtrade City certification. It is described to be a certification that aim to improve the working conditions, and quality of life for workers in what is referred to developing countries. It implies that some workers today, have a less than satisfactory quality of life and that consumption of the wrong products contributes to their situation. The definition of sustainable textile also mentions that workers need to have a decent wage and working conditions (Malmö Stad, n.d, p30). The textile also needs to have little to no effect on the environment, which means there are sustainable alternatives to textile, too. The environmental programme (Malmö stad, n.d. p30) explains that by using this certification the quality of life for the workers can be improved and that is viewed as environmentally sustainable. This indicates a perception of consumption as unsustainable, however, there are sustainable alternatives available for
consumption. Fairtrade City does not mention any environmental benefits, which could be seen as an indication of Malmö viewing the workers conditions in other countries to be important to environmental sustainability. These policies come from the chapter that is dedicated to spreading knowledge and dedication, which targets the citizens of Malmö (Malmö Stad, n.d, p22).
This publication has an untroubled approach sustainability, it never refer to anything as an obstacle. However, in the chapter about the citizen knowledge they state that Malmö faces great challenges (Malmö Stad, n.d, p22). This is one of two mentions of there being something problematic found in the text, the second being that microplastics may potentially be an environmental problem (Ibid, n.d, p26).
The citizens who are deemed competent to act are asserted to be crucial to handling these challenges and create a sustainable development (Ibid, n.d, p22).
What the challenges consist of is never elaborated upon. Competency to act, on the other hand, is defined as having “emotionally competency, will to commit to and
awareness of problems on both the societal and scientifical level” (Malmö Stad, n.d,
p 29). The policies aim to make it easier for the citizen to make sustainable choices and educate them on what consequences their actions (Ibid, n.d, p22).
The means to do this are sharing- and circular economy, developing methods for educating children, co-creation with children and decreasing environmental
impact of food and textile production. The focus on children implies that they are fully capable joining in the cause against unsustainability, thus, sharing responsibility. Co-creation is never mentioned anywhere else in the text. As earlier mentioned, Bacchi (2014, p33) asserts that the official variant of a problem lingers in the minds of people. By stating that the impact ought to be decreased from food and textile could prove to limit people’s ambitions in other areas. Textile and food are used by
everyone, but the text never states that they are especially bad for the environment, or even the contrary, the alternatives are especially beneficial for the environment.
The environmental programme never elaborates on why sustainable
consumption is limited to these two lines of products. For example, batteries found in consumer electronics and electric cars have been linked to child labour in Congo (Faber, Krause, Sanchez de la Sierra, 2017, p 10). There is no mention of electronics in the environmental programme, however, there are a policy that aims to increase the amount of charging stations for the municipality of Malmö’s electric cars (Malmö Stad, n.d, p15). There appears to be a conflict of interests between having
electronical cars and improving the working conditions in other countries. But, since the issue of electronics not being acknowledged in the text there is no indication of Malmö seeing a conflict of interests. Clerks and citizens may wrongfully assume that electronics are sustainable because of the omission. Since batteries can be found in every cell phone and laptop used by the organisation of Malmö Stad in their day to day work their impact on the environment could at the very least be comparable to that of textile or food.
Another production of knowledge is to map existent vegetation that could be used for shade or lowering the temperature where vulnerable groups of people stay at (Malmö Stad, n.d, p21). To decrease the temperature is said to be one way to
