Nottingham’s urban sustainability fix as creative environmental commercialization

Abstract

Given that Nottingham (UK) has some of the most deprived areas and the deepest budget cuts in England yet holds the title of the UK’s most energy self-sufficient city, this paper explores the question: how has the Nottingham City Council localized the urban sustainability fix to reach environmental goals? Applying the “urban sustainability fix” concept, we find that during austerity and devolution, Nottingham’s response has been to develop creative funding schemes and commercialize environmental assets. This experimentation has resulted in two first-of-their-kind initiatives in the UK: a Workplace Parking Levy and a council-owned non-profit energy company. We demonstrate two risks of the urban sustainability fix in this case: that environmental initiatives are narrow and based on economic growth priorities, and that social sustainability is deprioritized. Further, we show how the “win-win” logic of ecological modernization is reflected in Nottingham’s pro-environmental individual behavior change approach.

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