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Contemporary Meanings of the ‘Sustainable City’: A Comparative Review of the French‐ and English‐Language Literature

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  • Philippe Hamman
  • Virginie Anquetin
  • Céline Monicolle

Abstract

This paper analyses the repertoire of the ‘sustainable city’ by conducting a comparative review of the French‐ and English‐language literature. Some use this language for its practical impact regarding urban policies; others criticize it as a tool for legitimizing growth‐oriented policies. The article aims at overcoming this duality. Statistical and lexical analyses evidence four main variants of ‘sustainable city’ discourses, subject to debate: ‘green city’, ‘city of short distances’, ‘just city’ and ‘participatory city’. They yield four main findings: first, there is no single model of the ‘sustainable city’; second, the different approaches are not mutually exclusive, be it conceptually, institutionally, practically or geographically; third, the ‘sustainable city’ appears as a genuinely political repertoire – a wide range of actors and institutions act as filters, promoters or detractors; fourth, these situated uses are not fixed but constantly changing, in terms of both contents and procedures. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Suggested Citation

  • Philippe Hamman & Virginie Anquetin & Céline Monicolle, 2017. "Contemporary Meanings of the ‘Sustainable City’: A Comparative Review of the French‐ and English‐Language Literature," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(4), pages 336-355, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:25:y:2017:i:4:p:336-355
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    Cited by:

    1. Jiangang Shi & Kaifeng Duan & Guangdong Wu & Hongyun Si & Rui Zhang, 2022. "Sustainability at the community level: A bibliometric journey around a set of sustainability‐related terms," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(1), pages 256-274, February.
    2. Oana Țugulea, 2017. "City Brand Personality—Relations with Dimensions and Dimensions Inter-Relations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-22, December.

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