Transition towards green growth: transforming the goal into strategies and actions

ABADIE MARGOT - BLANC SOPHIE - BOURHIS ARTHUR -JOSSE CAMILLE - MEYER LOUISE.

Transition towards green growth: transforming the goal in actions and strategies Master project Summer semester 2015

under the direction of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Joerg Knieling and Galya Vladova 1

cover picture from http://ec.europa.eu/environment/integration/cohesion_policy_en.htm

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ABADIE MARGOT - BLANC SOPHIE - BOURHIS ARTHUR -JOSSE CAMILLE - MEYER LOUISE.

Transition towards green growth: transforming the goals in actions and strategies under the direction of Prof. Dr.-Ing Joerg Knieling and Galya Vladova Master project sommer semester 2015

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ABSTRACT Transition towards green growth: transforming the goal in actions and strategies

The major objective of this study, conducted in Hamburg HCU University from March 2015 to July 2015 and focused on the case study of the Hanseatic city of Lübeck, is to identify the characteristics of green growth concept, developed by international institution since the early 2000’s and to investigate its potential in an urban context.

In the first part, this study underlines the shift from sustainable development to green growth in the institutional discourses and discusses the potential and added value of the latter for the urban development. Indeed, green growth is a quite new and broad concept encompassing many definitions and is moreover the subject of several critics in the literature. This first part shows that green growth appears in the political discourses and agendas as a step towards sustainable development and can be a way to achieve the European Union 2020 objectives, notably in term of resource efficiency.

The study then investigates the policies, stakeholders and on-going projects at the local scale of the city of Lübeck in the previously identified fields of actions of green growth: building and land use, transport and mobility, resource efficiency. From the analysis of these fields of action, several findings are drawn. These findings serves as a basis to propose projects and initiatives aiming at further triggering green growth in the Hanseatic city of Lübeck.

Data for this study were collected in scientific literature and on the websites of international, national and local institutions. To complete this research, four interviews were conducted with experts in urban planning as well as members from public or semipublic bodies by the five members of the project group and recorded on audiotape.

On the basis of the results of this research, it can be concluded that green growth concept is indeed a pragmatic and efficient policy concept to activate a broad network of actors towards the European Union 2020 objectives, as well as a step towards sustainable development. However, this needs the involvement of the local authorities to be achieved.

Key words: green growth, sustainable development, resource efficiency, urban planning, building and land use, transport and mobility.

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CONTENT CONTENT

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FIRST PART Introduction

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Introduction to the project

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Presentation of the team

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Methodology

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SECOND PART From sustainable development to green growth : the possible applications of an economic concept to the development of cities - a conceptual overview

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1. From the 1960’s to the early 2000’s, the predominance of sustainable development

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2. Sustainable development: what consequences for the shape and planning of cities

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2.1 The sustainable city: the emergence of a new paradigm for city planning.

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2.2 Achievement and limits of sustainable development in cities’ policies and projects.

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3. From Sustainable development to green growth

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3.1 European URBACT program and Rio 20+ as indicators of the shift operated towards green growth

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3.2 Definitions of green growth

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4. How can the concept of green growth be applied to cities?

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5. Critical perspectives on the green growth concept

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5.1 A traditional economic approach

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5.2 The risk of monetizing nature

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5.3 A call for renewed governance?

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6. Towards a study at the local scale.

THIRD PART Case study of the city of lubeck - analysis of the fields of action and implementation of green growth policies

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1. Introduction to the free and Hanseatic city of L端beck.

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1.1 Regional context and dynamics

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1.2 Identity of the free and Hanseatic City of L端beck.

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2. Fields of action developing Green Growth in L端beck.

2.1 Buildings and land-use Plans and policies Stakeholders Initiatives and projects 2.2 Transports and mobility Plans and policies Stakeholders Initiatives and projects

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55 56 57 63 66 69 72 74 77

2.3 Resources Plans and policies Stakeholders Initiatives and projects 3. Comparative Findings FOURTH PART Proposals Raising awareness and empowering the citizens.

Triggering the green localeconomy.

Developing multi-scalar strategies

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CONCLUSION

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SOURCES

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ANNEXES

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FIRST PART :

INTRODUCTION

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Presentation of the team

MARGOT ABADIE graduated from a Master’s degree in Architecture in 2014. Now enrolled in an urban planning master from universities in both

SOPHIE BLANC graduated from a Master’s degree in Architecture in 2014. Now enrolled in an urban planning master from universities in both

ARTHUR BOURHIS graduated from a Bachelor degree in french litterature and geography. Now enrolled in an urban planning master from universities in both

CAMILLE JOSSE graduated from a Master degree in Brown strategy and corporate communication and a Bachelor international relations and affairs. Now enrolled in an urban planning master from universities in both

LOUISE MEYER graduated from a Bachelor degree in Litterature and Geography. Now enrolled in an urban planning master from universities in both

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Introduction to the research question and the project

The main topic of the project is the analysis and understanding of the transition towards green growth, by the development of the European goal into strategies and actions in the city of Lübeck.

Our work team was composed of interdisciplinary students. We chose to base our study on a theoretical, analytical and strategic approach. Firstly, to analyse and to understand the many stakes and issues processing the spread of green growth theory through the European Union, in terms of reglementations and institutions. Secondly, to investigate the potential of this new concept at the local scale of Lübeck, in the county of the Schleswig Holstein.

The challenges that arose from climate change and the on-going resource scarcity progressively promoted the idea that growth and economic development could not be the only answer to the current context of economic crisis and decreasing quality of life and well-being throughout Europe. The EU 2020 strategy promoted resource efficiency so as to boost competitiveness in that emerging sector. As for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, it targets the harmonization between economic growth and environmental sustainability, considering that economic development and growth are compatible with environmental protection, by developing more alliances with public and private companies, local, regional and federal authorities, as well as with citizens.

The core drivers of green growth are innovation, globalization, and ecological urgency. Its ambition is to motivate Europe to become a strong and competitive region, in the fields of sustainability and economic development, but also to impulse crossborder partnerships and the sharing of knowledge. One regional initiative developed in relation with the green growth strategy is the STRING organisation. The South-western baltic Trans-national Region Implementing New Geography is a political organisation and gathers the region Skane in the south of Sweden, Copenhagen, the Capital Region of Denmark, the region Zealand, the county of Schleswig-Holstein and the city of Hamburg.

Its area covers around ten millions of people. « Our aim is to develop the region in the consequence of the new 18 kilometers tunnel of Fehmarnbelt that is going to be built between Copenhagen and Hamburg. » says Mr Jacob Vestergaard, the STRING network CEO. It implies the establishment of concrete initiatives and projects, partnerships and crossbordering so as to high-rise the skills of this part of Europe in the field of technological and sustainable industries. The STRING wants to promote educational resources and

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clusters, topics which are similar to the one advocated by the OECD for the application of green growth recommendations. The STRING partners are expected to achieve, through national and local initiatives, results and measures of green growth, and could even be considered in the future as new profiles projects for development through Europe. They also consider the understanding of green growth as the main success criteria, with the hope that it would entertain a new circle of production and consumption for each citizen within the STRING corridor. The use of natural resources, a new type of economy, and further, well-being will emerge from that.

The adaptation of these newly developed strategies into policies at the local scale must be integrated into a specific historical and social context, which make it more difficult to implement. Indeed, among the STRING partners, the free and Hanseatic city of Lübeck is well known for its historical center as being part of the UNESCO World’s Heritage. But it also benefits from a great location at the border of the Baltic Sea, and thus is considered as a gate for the Baltic region towards West Europe, and as a crossing between different cities and geographical areas at the scale of the STRING corridor. It is currently involved in a logistic and renewable cluster, with the development of its harbour, and the extension of a university cluster specialized in technologies and new sciences.

This contextual background introduced many initial questions in our study : Where does this abstract and economically-oriented concept of green growth really come from?

Is growth compatible with green? Does it take social interest and equity into account ?

Can it be an operative and useful tool for urban planners? From these interrogations, we established our main research question, as followed :

In a context of economic recession and resource scarcity, how can we develop or establish actions and initiatives so as to manage a green transition in urban developments?

More specifically, how does the city of Lübeck tackle this challenge of green growth?

In an attempt to provide some answers to this broad interrogation we will firstly expose in this report a conceptual overview on the possible applications of an economic concept such as green growth to the development of cities. Secondly, we will focus on the case study of Lübeck and the potential for an implementation of green growth through specific fields of actions which will be defined later. Finally, we will develop recommendations and proposals that could be applied in Lübeck to facilitate the achievement of green growth.

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Institutional documents Literature Interviews with experts

Analysis of Green Growth

Theoretical framework

FIELDS OF ACTION

Field trip Interviews with actors Institutional documents

WHAT is happening now?

Analytical framework CASE STUDY OF LÜBECK

WHO are the stakeholders?

WHAT are the policies?

WHICH potential for green growth?

Identification of the FINDINGS and CHALLENGES

RECOMMENDATIONS AND PROPOSALS to be applied in Lübeck

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Methodology

The first objective that came with the discovery of this topic was to have a better understanding and comprehension of the Green Growth concept. Readings from institutional documents and the literature lead us to analyse the stakes and issues of such a concept. We also had the opportunity to make interviews with experts (such as M. Vestergaard) who gave us their opinion as professionals on the topic.

This initial analysis of the green growth concept helped us to constitute our theoretical background and our research question : what does green growth mean at the urban scale, and how to implement it? From our previous readings coming from institutional documents, it seemed that three fields of actions would be the basis to that work. We will develop the choice of theses fields later.

In order to apply this theoretical framework, we focused then on our case study, the city of L端beck. Through the analysis of its historical, sociological and demographic framework, then with the help of field trips, interviews with actors from the city, analysis of institutional documents, we tried to answer to five questions, that were meant to be answered through the frame of the previsouly determined fields of actions : What is the potential for Green Growth in L端beck?

What are the existing policies?

Who are the stakeholders?

What is happening now? (meaning the existing situation and on-going initiatives)

As a result from these questions, we highlighted findings that lead to the identification of the main challenges of triggering green growth In L端beck. Finally, we were able to draw recommendations and proposals to be applied so as to improve the transition to green growth in L端beck.

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SECOND PART :

FROM SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT TO GREEN GROWTH : THE POSSIBLE APPLICATIONS OF AN ECONOMIC CONCEPT TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF CITIES A CONCEPTUAL OVERVIEW

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1. From the 1960’s to the early 2000’s, the predominance of sustainable development Sustainable development emerged as a policy concept and strategy in the political discourse in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s (Whitehead, 2008, p.31)1. It was first an attempt to tackle several issues and crisis that were developing since the post-war economic expansion that occurred in several Western European countries.

From the 1950’s to the consecutive 1973 and 1979 oil crisis most of Western European economies indeed experienced a period of post-war recovery and exponentially growing economic progress, referred as Trente Glorieuses in France, and Wirtschafstswunder in Germany. Availability of resources such as fossil energy and water helped to sustain this growth and the development of the consumer society: with the rise of living wages and an economy of full-employment, households were able to equip themselves with fridges, television, cars. Rapid industrial growth and rural exodus, coupled with an uncontrolled urban development had profound effects on the urban form. Cities sprawled over the years, with households living further from the city centre, either because of too high housing prices or in order to get closer to nature. The development of single-use areas, such as commercial, offices or industrial zones along with the restoration and modernisation of transport infrastructure moreover increased the necessity of use of single motorized transportation, thus leading to an increase in the consumption of fossil fuel and making cities as both polluted and heavily polluting organs.

Globalization and the rise of the market economy, which requires more and more deregulation from the state, also played a significant role in the shaping of the cities.

Inter-urban competition, either within a region or at a more global scale, brought cities to increase their exchange value according to authors such as David Harvey or Neil Brenner.

More precisely, cities compete to attract educated individuals and firms trying therefore to counteract the effects of deindustrialisation and job losses taking place since the 1990’s. Market oriented policies are often set up to favour economy to the detriment of social policies, thus leading to the concentration of social and economic assets in the more competitive urban areas.

These concentration coupled together with urban sprawl seems to be widely recognized in the literature as being one of the causes of segregation and social exclusion in cities, with the more economically vulnerable people being forced to move to the

1 Whitehead, M. in The future of sustainable planning, Policy Press, 2008

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outskirt of cities in most of the Western European countries, where the offer of public services and jobs is actually less developed. This location makes them more car-reliant than people living in centres of cities. Urban sprawl and its effects on urban forms is also often connected in literature to the loss of urbanity within cities and regarded as “deteriorating quality of urban life for many urban residents” (Whitehead, 2008, p.31).

The third concern raised by urban sprawl and modern cities is the over consumption of natural resources. Indeed cities not only expand on natural or farm land but they are also responsible for a high rate of resource consumption: “Despite taking up only three to four percent of the world’s surface area they [cities] use approximately 80 per cent of its resource and also discharge similar proportions of waste. These figures are still increasing.”

(Commission on cities and climate change, World future council, Regenerative Cities, p.5).

These drawbacks of urban sprawl have been acknowledged by the European Commission:

«Urban sprawl and the spread of low density settlement is one of the main threats to sustainable urban development; public services are more costly and difficult to provide, natural resources are over-exploited, public transport networks are insufficient and car reliance and congestion in and around cities are heavy.»

(EC, 2011, p. VI in NORDREGIO Working Paper, 2014, p. 21)

In this context, sustainable development emerged at the international, European and national levels as a solution to counteract the social, economic and environmental effects of urban sprawl. It arose thus as a solution for a more controlled, socially inclusive and long term urban planning model. Whitehead emphasizes the role of the 1976 Vancouver Declaration as one of the pillar of the recognition of cities’ role as “key centres for environmental /ecological regulation and social welfare provision” arguing that the Vancouver Declaration was also a first step towards “an emerging recognition of the importance of addressing the worst socio-environmental impacts of unregulated urban development.”, a role which has also been underlined in the 2011 European Commission report Cities of Tomorrow, which states in its introduction that “cities are key to the sustainable development of the European Union” (Cities of Tomorrow, 2011, p8). Indeed, with 70% of the European Union living in urban territories with more than 5 000 inhabitants, cities are nodes concentrating activities and as stated before, are places of production and consumption of resources.

Sustainable development is defined by some[C1] as a “normative ideal of generating a better world.” (Carr, 2015, p.1). This idea is clearly stated in the 2007 Leipzig Charter, where Ministers responsible for urban development in the Member States of the European Union list the following topics as dimensions of sustainable development in cities: economic prosperity, social balance, healthy environment and cultural heritage

1 Whitehead, M. in The future of sustainable planning, Policy Press, 2008

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valorisation, stressing the need to pay specific attention to neglected neighbourhoods.

The European Union Regional Policy report Cities of Tomorrow add to this definition the ecological dimension, by stating that “The European Cities of tomorrow are places of advanced social progress; they are platforms for democracy, cultural dialogue and diversity; they are places of green, ecological or environmental regeneration; and they are places of attraction, and engines of economic growth.” (EURP Cities of Tomorrow, 2011, p.12). These objectives are displayed at the national and local levels in the Agenda 21, which are plans adopted by more than 100 states in 1992 after the Earth Summit that took place in Rio de Janeiro. In Lübeck, the municipality adopted in 1995 the following definition of sustainable urban development in its Agenda 21:

“Sustainable development has 3 dimensions: social, economic and ecologic. Parity, integration of the cultural heritage, involvement of children and young people as well as citizen participation are transversal goals for these three dimension.”1

Sustainable development therefore appears as a desirable goal for cities to follow in order to achieve a more inclusive planning, and therefore to achieve more social integration within their urban areas, and less environmentally harmful growth.

Economic goals and competitivity between cities remain prevalent in sustainable development definitions but it can be interpreted as a way to promote a more conscious growth, encouraging a long-term vision based on social cohesion as well as environment protection (Raco & Flint, 2008, p.3).

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2. Sustainable development: what consequences for the shape and planning of cities

2.1 The sustainable city: the emergence of a new paradigm for city planning

In about fifteen years, sustainable development has reshaped urban policies in Europe. First marginalized, and carried by a quite limited number of actors, the notion has become one of the main references and objectives of urban planning policies. The question of the sustainable city, or of sustainable urban development, emerges after the Rio Summit of 1992. In the 1990’s, the concept of sustainable development becomes more and more territorialized and is appropriated differently, at the local scale, according to the different local actors and political contexts. Contrary to the expression “sustainable city”, which can designate an ideal and somehow blurry political horizon -a kind of prospective referential-, the concept of sustainable urban development contains the idea that sustainable development should be internalized to urban planning, through modalities that are more professional and technical than purely political.

- Origins of the concept

Although the notion of sustainable city appeared in the late 1980’s, the concept became more precise during the 1990’s, due to an increased number of academic researches on the topic, but mostly thanks to the initiative of networks of local entities, such as the ICLEI (International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives) and the European network, Sustainable Cities. The conference of Aalborg, held in 1994 in the dynamic of the Rio summit, allowed defining more clearly the shape of the sustainable city. It was about giving substance to a global concept in the field of operative urban planning, but also to integrate it in local public policies.

- A territorial and local translation of a global concept

The concept of sustainable cities was elaborated on the assessment that modern cities, as theorized in the 1930’s by the Charter of Athens, are mainly unsustainable.

Urban sprawl, functional zoning and the central place given to car use were pointed out as responsible for socio-spatial segregation, but also for major local environmental nuisances (noise, pollution, use of agriculture and natural lands, sealing of soils) as well as of global pollutions (dependence on fossil energies, greenhouse-effect gas emissions).

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This table sums up how the charter of Aalborg elaborates principles that are quite systematically opposed to the ones that had been enhanced in the Charter of Athens.

CHARTER OF ATHENS (1933) : THE MODERN CITY

CHARTER OF AALBORG (1994): THE SUSTAINABLE CITY

Principle of demolition / reconstruction

Heritage preservation / retrofitting Out of context architecture (historical, geographical, cultural, economic)

Out of context architecture (historical, geographical, cultural, economic)

Start from the existing situation to enhance it

International style

Architectural diversity

Geometric rationalization of the city

Singularity of answers according to specific contexts

Making car traffic smoother to increase mobility

Reducing imposed mobility

Separation of the different modes of transport

Sharing of public roads & highways by all modes of transport

Functional zoning

Mixed uses areas and transversal policies

Urban planning of experts and technocrats

Participatory planning and bottom-up processes

Comparison between the Charters of Athens and Aalborg 2

- Shaping and defining the sustainable city

In terms of urban shapes, the sustainable city became inseparable from the idea of density, or, to the least, to the will of controlling urban sprawl. It became close to the concept of the “compact city�. But if density is identified as a necessary condition to achieve sustainability in cities, it is not a sufficient principle either. As many authors have

2 Boutaud, 2013 (inspired by Emelianoff, 1999), Translation: Personal

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underlined, the densification of cities has to be achieved alongside with at least four other measures, in order to be truly sustainable and desirable. These measures, here described quite schematically, are the following:

- An increased diversity of functions and uses that would allow shortening distances and long commuting processes. Residential, working, shopping and recreational areas should be better intertwined, so that the daily needs of inhabitants could be satisfied within a few kilometres range.

- Develop polycentric cities, with strong and diverse centres, properly connected by efficient public transports.

- Improved living environments, through an increased number of natural elements, and a decreased number of cars. Indeed, higher densities can only be accepted in a context where car related nuisances are fewer; meanwhile the penetration of nature into cities is enhanced.

- Finally, better environmental and energetic quality of buildings can ensure a reduction in energy consumptions and greenhouse effect gas emissions, meanwhile reducing energetic precariousness for underprivileged households.

2.2 Achievement and limits of sustainable development in cities’ policies and projects

The sustainable city is not only conceptualized in its shape; the conference of Aalborg also established the local agendas 21, a tool for integrating sustainable development in public policies at the scale of a municipality. It is a participatory process that includes a wider variety of themes and issues than the ones mentioned above.

Some twenty years after the conference of Aalborg, it seems that the achievements of the sustainable city are mitigated. From the point of view of urban shapes, the ideas and legislative tools have greatly evolved in the direction of the sustainable city. But, if general awareness and ideas about sustainability have indeed evolved, the enacted principles did not lead to reverse the most unsustainable trends -and deeply rooted practices- such as periurbanization and car use. For instance, in Europe, during the 2000’s, the surfaces of artificial soil kept on expanding considerably, meanwhile fuel consumption increased by 10% between 1990 and the end of the 2000’s (CGDD, 2010). Besides, these national or local policies often let aside the more social aspect of sustainability. The ideals of

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social justice and territorial equity carried by the idea of the sustainable city struggled, sometimes in vain, to transform themselves into policies and finally lead to actions.

The local agendas 21 allowed to familiarize local authorities with sustainable development, and allowed some positive dynamics at the local scales. However, they also disappointed many hopes. Indeed, as they were based on voluntary actions, and not on legal constraints, local agendas 21 enabled initiatives, but quite marginal ones, which visibility and impact (social, environmental, economic or political) were all the more reduced that they were implemented locally, and often without significant support of national governments. Thus, European municipalities rarely succeeded in turning these agendas into real strategic and operative tools. On the contrary, they unfortunately often played the role of catalogues of good practices; practices that were led alongside with unsustainable ones. And as a matter of fact, many local authorities abandoned their Agenda 21 during the decade of the 2000’s, which were characterized by the progressive decline of the idea of sustainable development, as it has been stated before.

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3. From Sustainable development to green growth

3.1 European URBACT program and Rio 20+ as indicators of the shift operated towards green growth

Even though urban development is a local competence in the hands of local authorities, we can note, as shown by the example of the Agenda 21 previously exposed, that they are strongly influenced by international, European and national directives, policies, strategies and programs.

Indeed, in the context of the European Regional Development Fund, the European Union developed programs and funding, that allowed the institutions to guide cities in their strategic planning. Through programs such as URBAN Pilot Projects (since 1989) or URBAN Community initiatives (1994-2006) which are funding small-scale area based projects in more than 100 neighbourhood across Europe or URBACT (since 2002), a network aiming at promoting cross-border relationships and dissemination of best practices among cities, the European Union favoured the spreading of sustainability objectives to local levels.

In this regard, the URBACT program is particularly important for the promotion of sustainability in European cities, as well as to understand the shift from sustainable development to green growth in urban planning. The program has first been launched by the European Union in 2002 and lasted until 2006. It first concentrated on the social and economic aspects of sustainability, with an emphasized focus on environmental and economic issues in its second phase, URBACT II from 2007 to 2013. In the URBACT II program, cities are considered as engines for growth and jobs but should become attractive and cohesive (URBACT II Programme Manual, 2007, p.10); whereas in URBACT III program, which has been launched in 2014 and will last until 2020, it seems that the European Union is underpinning the economic and environmental aspects of sustainability. Indeed, URBACT III thematic objectives are focusing first on economy and competitiveness by “supporting the shift towards a low-carbon economy in all sectors� (URBACT III Programme Manual Fact Sheet I, 2014, p.6), and therefore encouraging cities officials to stimulate green economy thanks to regulation: low carbon jobs, new technologies for a cleaner mobility, and being role model in building energy efficiency sector. The second section of the program is focused on urban environment and resilience and aims at promoting the low carbon and resilient city, adapted to climate change and risk, especially flood

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management, and resource efficient. Even if the social aspects of sustainability are mentioned, they appear less prominent than in the two first URBACT programs. The themes developed during the 1992 Earth Summit, and twenty years later during the Rio 20+ Earth Summit also help to understand this shift from sustainable development to green growth in international institutions frameworks. While the Earth Summit of 1992 had stressed the idea that sustainable development was relying on three pillars (economic, environmental and social sustainability), Rio + 20 quite clearly set the focus on the economic pillar. In order to justify this focus, the international institutions that are the U.N, the World Bank and the OECD have stressed the idea that the links between economic and environmental sustainability are harder to establish, and therefore, that this connection, -or lack of onehad become the weak link of sustainable development. For instance, in the preparatory report to the Rio+20 conference, the head of the UNEP (United Nations Environment Program) wrote that the “achievement of sustainable development would only be possible if the environmental and social pillars [‌] are treated equally with the economic pillarâ€? (UNEP, 2011). Therefore, better dealing with the economic aspects of sustainable development is reckoned as a priority, which is altogether quite coherent in a context of worldwide economic recession.

This shift emphasizing the economic aspect of sustainable development can be explained by the fact that the model of sustainable urban planning and of a more controlled urban development have been indeed threatened by the 2008 financial crisis, showing the limits of discourses held by political decision makers in Western Europe. Following the 2008 financial and economic crisis cities indeed entered a post-crunch cycle. The 2008 crisis had for example a huge impact on European Union countries national economies.

The Eurozone witnessed a significant fall of 4.4% in GDP between 2008 and 2009. Even if

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national economies showed some sign of economic recovery in 2011,they had only little level of growth since then, -0.4% in 2012, and 0.0% 2013 (EUROSTAT, 2015). German and France economies sinked correspondingly by 5.6% and 2.9% and these states currently suffer from an economic downturn with little GDP growth, respectively 0.1% and 0.3% from 2012 to 2013 (EUROSTAT 2015). For this reason the EU states attempted to cut their spending and welfare support in various degrees depending on states, with austerity measures often impacting social benefits and local governments’ support as well as urban regeneration operations. The European Union recognizes this impact of economic crisis on cities development arguing in the 2011 Cities of Tomorrow report (European Union Regional Policy, Cities of Tomorrow, Challenges, visions, ways forward, 2011, p.8) that:

- Europe is no longer in a situation of continuous economic growth, - EU states’ economies in their current form are unable to provide jobs for all, -Social polarisation and segregation are increasing.

It seems therefore that green growth appears to be a way for cities and states across Europe to boost once more their economies and exports thanks to investment and innovation in new fields of production, such as renewable energy or environmental innovation. Thus it is necessary to question the emergence of the concepts of green economy and green growth in political agendas and its possible impacts on the possible achievement of the 2020 objectives in term of consumption of natural resources.

In his paper entitled Green economy - the next oxymoron?, the chair of International Politics at Vienna university and expert member of the Enquete Commission Growth, Wellbeing and Quality of life at the German Bundestag Ulrich Brand indeed clearly questions the emergence of the term of Green Economy in political discourses and papers at the international level arguing that green economy seems to be the 2010 version of sustainable development in political discourses: green economy would therefore be “an attempt to reformulate sustainability”. (Brand, 2011, p.3). Ulrich Brand underlines in his paper that the use of resources and degradation of ecosystems keep increasing strongly since 20 years even if sustainability as since then a place in political discourses as well as in urban planning plans. Whitehead and Dooling also emphasize these paradox of sustainable urban development: “it is not possible to balance the demands for social justice, economic development and environmental protection in all places, at all time” (Whitehead on Dooling, 2008, p.41). Accordingly, a question emerges: is green growth a way to materialize sustainability and make it more marketable, and therefore more accessible to a broader range of stakeholders, or is it a step forward to sustainability?

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1970

Oil Crisis

1973 -

1976 - UN Vancouver Declaration on Human Settlements

Crisis

1979 - Oil

1973 -

Oil Crisis

External factor

1976 - UN Vancouver Declaration on Human Settlements

Events or documents in relation to sustainable development

2007 - 2013 URBACT III

Events or documents in relation to green growth

From sustainable development to green growth : timeline.

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1987 Bruntland Report 1994 Aalborg Charter

Creation of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development by global business leaders

Earth Summit

1992 - Rio

2002-2006 URBACT I

Creation of the Green Growth Knowledge Platform

Creation of the Global Inclusive Green Green Growth Growth - a pathway Institute towards sustainability World Bank Report

2010 Establishment of the EU 2020 Objectives

2015 Climate Change Conference

2014 - 2020 URBACT III

Business and Climate Summit Climate Finance Day

Green Growth in Cities OECD Report

2012 - Rio 20+ Earth Summit

2007 - 2013 URBACT III

2008 Economic Crisis

2007 - IPCC Climate Change Assessment

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3.2 Definitions of green growth

For the World Bank, which is as the OECD an International institution traditionally more preoccupied by economic stakes, “economic and social sustainability on the one hand, and environmental sustainability on the other, are not only compatible, but are very complementary.” It is unfortunately not the truly case for “economic sustainability and environmental sustainability, because growth often harms the environment” (World Bank 2012). Therefore, it appears that the main issue in this concept would be thus to ensure the compatibility of the two. Green growth would thus appear in the numerous definitions given by international institutions as: a way to achieve a low-carbon and resource efficient economy as well as a complement to sustainable development.

As long as nature appeared to us as an endless well of resources, the debates on the relation between economy and nature had indeed been put aside. But, in the seventies, and more precisely after the publication of the Meadows Report by the Club of Rome (1972), which questioned the possibility of an endless growth in a world of limited resources, a change in the debates occurred. In reaction to it, economists theorized the main principles of green growth, which are the following:

- The internalization of nature

In standard economic analysis, the production of wealth is considered to be the result of two factors: capital (investments, tools of production) and human labour force. Therefore, nature and pollution emissions are not taken into account: they are externalities. In such perspective, despite the numerous functions of natural capital, it has no economic value. To some people, this absence of monetized value of nature is one of the causes of its degradation; and so, by attributing it a quantitative value, nature is considered as an element of production in itself, just as capital and labour force.

- Technological substitution: the solution to the finitude of resources?

For the Club of Rome, infinite growth in a finite world is impossible to achieve: the end of fuel resources will provoke a collapsing in production. In answer to that, economists such as Joseph Stiglitz have elaborated economic models showing that the limits of growth did not rely so much on resource scarcity. Indeed, for the tenants of green economy, technical progress and innovations will allow to produce more with fewer resources, and secondly, to investigate on substitution possibilities (replace a scarce resource by one that is available in larger quantities) will ensure growth.

Green growth is a multi-faceted term embracing numerous definition. It is a broad and still evolving concept that still lacks from a clear definition (NORDEREGIO

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2014). Attempt to define it and to guide national and local policies have nevertheless been made since the 2008 crisis. Two main ideas can be drawn from these definitions: green growth is a way towards a low-carbon and resource efficient economy, and green growth is a step towards sustainable development.

According to the STRING network definition or to OECD, “green growth means fostering economic growth and development while ensuring that natural assets continue to provide the resources and environmental services on which our well-being relies.” (OECD 2012), it is a «practical and flexible approach for achieving concrete, measurable progress across its economic and environmental pillars» (OECD 2012). Green growth is a policy concept which originates from the 2008 economic crisis. It does not call for a downscaling in consumption and production of goods or services but rather to underline the need to consume natural assets in a more efficient way. The European Union also put a strong emphasis on economy and resource efficiency as a way to push forward growth in our economic context. Decoupling economic growth and the consumption of raw materials is often a solution highlighted in international institutions documents and guidelines to achieve green growth: with one unit of a given raw material used in the production process, more products should be manufactured. A resource efficient economy also means to use more renewable energies in the manufacturing, transport and use of goods, as well as to recycle them in the most efficient way possible after their use. Green growth therefore implies to re-think production upstream. In order to lower the impact of the economy on the environment, green growth moreover implies to reduce the use of fossil fuels and therefore the emission of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, namely to achieve a low-carbon economy. As green growth takes its roots in the economic crisis, it also aims at creating new markets and innovation, as well as to “boost investors’ confidence” in (western) economic markets (OECD 2012). Green growth can thus be seen as a new and positive mean for the environment to revive economic activity and create new jobs. According to OECD, this could be achieve thanks to several tools, such as investment in specific research sectors (resource efficiency, environmental engineering, urban planning…), incentive or grants given to investors or private companies producing goods related to environmental innovation. Six categories of urban activities are especially important to achieve green growth in cities: land-use planning, transport, buildings, energy, waste and water (OECD 2013). In regard to our approach of green growth which is deliberately applied to an urban context, we based our analysis on these six categories, as it will be explained later in this report. Moreover, as cities are nowadays considered as key players in the economy as well as in the consumption of resources of national states, these categories are particularly relevant to achieve green growth at a global scale. Many improvements in each categories can impact other ones: a mix-used and controlled zoning in land-use planning can therefore lead to an increase in walking

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or cycling in cities, grants to encourage building retrofitting would help energy savings, especially coupled with economic measures aiming to reduce energy, waste and water consumption.

Even if OECD’s green growth definition focuses mainly on economy and wealth creation, it is underline in several documents that the social pillar of sustainable development is not to be forgotten when applying green growth policy concept at national and local scale. Indeed, as stated before, green growth also aims at creating new jobs and lowering the unemployment rate. Many green growth application at the local scale also have the advantage to be beneficial for people notably by improving their quality of life in cities. United Nation Environmental Program definition of green growth gives an emphasis on the social aspect of green growth, green growth being “one that results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities. In its simplest expression, a green economy can be thought of as one which is low carbon, resource efficient and socially inclusive.� (UNEP 2008). Therefore green growth seems to be a pragmatic way to achieve sustainable development aims. It seems that the benefits of this policy concept, more rooted in the present economic context, and more concrete could be appropriated more easily by policy makers and private actors.

To put it in a nutshell, green growth, as it will be argued throughout this work, promotes an ecologically sound growth. Albeit being firstly an economical term, its potential for economic and cities development have been recognized in the later years: apart from being a needed mean to create way in a more environmentally friendly way, it can also serves social justice and inclusion at national and local levels if its social aspect is emphasized. To activate green growth, from the local to the national scale, a solid framework of laws, grants and incentives is thus needed. A dense research network is moreover necessary to support and foster the development of green growth.

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4. How can the concept of green growth be applied to cities?

Sustainable development, transition, green growth… what implications can these semantic evolutions have on our way to think and conceive modern urban societies? This question is all the more important that, according to the French CGDD (Comité Général au Développement Durable), “it is in cities that, tomorrow, the transition towards post-carbon societies will either succeed or fail”. Yet, “their place in this transition so far remains quite uncertain 1” (CGDD, 2009). Therefore, we will try to understand what the concept of green growth can imply in terms of urban forms and territorial planning.

If sustainable development, as we have seen, has territorial approaches for cities and led to the creation of political tools in order to be enacted locally, we may wonder, what indeed could be the shape of a “green growth” city? Can it this economic concept be a more operative than the “sustainable city”, which, as we have seen, have created some disappointments? Would it be based on different principles and forms than the “sustainable” city? Who and how such a city could be managed? In order to get glimpses of answers to these questions, one could observe how the international institutions that advocate green growth, mainly the U.N, the World Bank or the OECD, tackle the question.

In a report called “What does the green economy mean for Sustainable Urban Development?”, the U.N assesses that cities have a central role to play in the attempt to decouple growth and resource dependence. Just as green economy does not question economic growth, this understanding of the “green city” does not tackle the issue of urban sprawl, nor does it contain the idea that cities should have somehow clearer boundaries. Although the official documents do state the catastrophic environmental impacts of this sprawl, they also underline the possibility of conciliating urban growth and reduction of the ecological footprint of cities, first by a better managing and planning of this growth, but secondly by developing the infrastructures and technologies that would allow this decoupling. Besides, these institutions see cities as the ultimate spaces where innovation and investments are concentrated: the growth of cities is therefore seen as corollary to increased capacities of decoupling between growth and pressure upon the environment.

As for concrete proposals for urban planning, the UN, in a synthesis document called « Urban patterns for sustainable development: towards a green economy», mention some possible actions, such as controlling urban sprawl ; the construction of “green” buildings, or the promotion of clusters of green industries and jobs (UN-Habitat, 2011). It even mentions the term of “resilience” towards natural risks -a concept used by defenders of a more radical

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approach of sustainability. The OECD is more discrete on the topic of urban shapes, but it goes more into details in ways to enact and establish the “green growth city”, through economic measures, that can reinforce the attractiveness of urban economies. Therefore, according to the OECD, urban policies should “favour the development of local firms in the field of green technologies and energy services, as well as the transition towards new competences, in order to impact the whole economy through the creation of green jobs” (OECD, 2010). Therefore, the mechanisms of economic incentives to make the local economy greener, as well as the development of green technologies, are at the heart of these recommendations. It is then clear that, for an institution such as the OECD, cities are less perceived as cohesive systems, as basins for the lives of inhabitants. Indeed, they seem to be seen through a reductive prism, reduced to a stage on which economic dynamics and actors thrive. In this perspective, cities are seen as the mere receptacles of an economic idea. And as cities are spaces where people, investments, goods and infrastructure concentrate and converge, they naturally become the adequate space for the realization of the concept. Indeed, for the OECD, green growth in cities should rely on four main actions, which are:

- Greening services and public consumption; - Support the industries that are more protective of the environment; - Increase the value and consumption of green technologies and products; - Support research on green technologies.

Densification and control over urban sprawl are objectives that have not been invalidated through the elaboration of the green growth concept, as the UN’s approach of the concept has shown. Nevertheless, urban green growth is mainly to be understood as the greening of local economy. So far, the socio-spatial issues that are considerably important in the reflections and debates on cities have not really been tackled in the conceptualization of green growth. It does not either stress the question of the physical and ecological limits that the “green growth city”. If one must not forget to consider that green growth is a very new concept, which could partly account for this lack of spatial ideas of green growth in the literature, it seems so far the concept, even applied to urban objects, remains very economic. The shape and features of this city remain unclear, uncertain. Hence the question: can green growth cities be more that just a place for green technologies to thrive? What can the concept bring to city planning and projects in comparison with the one of sustainable cities? Besides, one could argue that the approach of urban issues through modalities that are essentially technical -and for means that are mainly economic- raises the question of the possible plurality of actors involved in such a process. Also, what role can bottom-up initiatives play in a model that mainly relies on technologies and hard measures? This issue of governance (who governs the green growth city?) will be discussed in more depth in the following part, as this analysis of green growth requires further critical perspective on the concept.

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5. Critical perspectives on the green growth concept

5.1 A traditional economic approach

According to the OECD, “green growth means fostering economic growth and development while ensuring that natural assets continue to provide the resources and ecosystem services on which our well-being relies” (HAMMER, p. 29). Thus, it is clearly stated that green growth is an economic model above all, as the main factor on which the model intends to act is “economic growth”. This predominance of economy in this definition is not surprising, given the purpose that the OECD gave to itself, which is to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people through the implementation of measures furthering the dynamics of the global flows of trade and investment. Thus, a direct criticism of this definition cannot simply rely on the OECD’s approach, as their perspective on the topic is – and has to be – conditioned by the purpose of their existence.

In a nutshell, one cannot criticize an economist for conceptualizing topics through an economic prism.

Nonetheless, one can criticize the OECD’s approach on what it claims to be.

Indeed, the organization “has been an active participant in global efforts to advance green growth” (HAMMER, p. 8) and to promote its new conceptual framework to international institutions and governments throughout the world. Thus, the OECD stands as the main initiator of the concept, which provides the organisation with an aura of intellectual authority on the topic. This position of double authority – on the economic field and on the green growth topic – allows the OECD to present the green growth concept as a new development paradigm, i.e. a shift in the overall model that drives the globalized economy. However, when referring to the definition given above, one can notice that the vision of economy that underlies the concept of green growth is not as revolutionary as it seems: indeed, it appears that green growth is a mere “lens for looking at growth” (UNMÜSSIG, p. 27), meaning that it is just another source of growth, for at least three reasons that are characteristic of the traditional growth that has driven the economy since the 1980’s and the generalization of the globalization process:

- the increase of productivity thanks to a more efficient management of the raw resources and the energy needed for the production and transformation of these resources;

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- the development of new fields of researches leading to renewed possibilities in technical innovations, especially related to environmental issues;

- the opening of new markets driven by the increasing demand for green technologies, goods and services.

Indeed, in an economic context, growth can be defined as an increase in market value of goods and services produced by an economy. The three previous points match this definition, as they are all about increasing the monetary value of environmental assets, either by making a more efficient use of them or by increasing their added value through technological progress. Thus, green growth appears to be just another name for a traditional growth that would take into consideration in the global economy the worth of the natural ecosystems. Consequently, green growth can be considered as a mere way to extend the liberal market’s domain to the environmental field. Far from a general shift in the economic model, it seems to be just an extension, or an adaptation, of the current globalized capitalism.

5.2 The risk of monetizing nature

Apart from this economic critique, one can also perceive that green growth, far from being beneficial to the preservation of the environment, can actually further its exploitation and thus its degradation. Indeed, even if the monetization of environment – induced by its integration within the economic system – can have positive consequences regarding public awareness and conservation efforts, it is to be feared that establishing tradable prices for environmental services could contribute to the dismantling of the complexity inherent in each ecosystem. Reducing environment to a sole economic approach denies the fact that nature has complex functions that range from environmental to social and cultural aspects. Thus, it appears that it could be difficult, if not hazardous, to link quantitative data to an object that has in essence numerous qualitative characteristics.

Moreover, these qualitative aspects can vary a lot in different parts of the world: for example, whereas in the westernized developed societies nature is seen as an amenity enhancing well-being, in some indigenous communities nature holds a sacred value and is necessary to the society’s balance.

The problem in the monetization of nature as it is promoted by the green growth strategy is then double :

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- firstly, trying to set economic parameters for environmental assets ends up in considering the natural ecosystems as commodities among others, denying on that account their essential specificities;

- secondly, integrating the environmental field within a globalized economy neglects the local essence of ecosystems and their integration to differentiated societies.

Furthermore, commodifying natural resources makes them “more attractive to the private sector, thus making them more vulnerable to commercial exploitation” (UNMÜSSIG, p.

26). Indeed, entrusting the market to protect the environment through the deregulation of its natural assets can be risky. As the general trend of the economic sector leans towards an increased liberalisation of the exchanges and a disinvestment of the public authorities, it appears that linking environmental issues to financial speculations may result in a situation of competition for the appropriation of nature’s processes and functions.

Thus, the ultimate risk of the monetization of nature would be the exclusion of the civil society from the right to use their environment for the benefit of private conglomerates promoting the commercial exploitation of this environment.

5.3 A call for renewed governance?

As a result, one can notice that the issue of the monetization of nature is intrinsically connected to a broader stake related to the governance of the “new” economic paradigm offered by the green growth concept. However, the definitions of green growth provided by international organisations such as the OECD forget to tackle the issue of power and distribution of resources. Yet, this issue is crucial when considering the concrete implementation of a green growth strategy on a territory. Certainly, the concentration of decisional and technological power in the hands of transnational companies well integrated in the globalized economy can allow a quicker achievement of green growth, but forgetting to involve public authorities and the civil society may compromise the sustainability of such a growth, in a context of common distrust towards the attitude of “business-as-usual”. One of the main flaws of the green growth concept such as exposed by the OECD is indeed the rejection to take into account the social aspects that drive any development, whether it is economic or not. However, it appears fundamental to ask who should control the green economy, and under which conditions. Nowadays, the greening of the economy is still stuttering, and this is the reason why its democratisation is a great opportunity to rebalance the relationship between the markets and the societies.

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6. Towards a study at the local scale.

STRENGHTS - Supports the creations of jobs - Promotes the development of green industries and innovative technologies.

- Defined in some documents as a policy-oriented model of development.

WEAKNESSES - A very broad concept, that can be viewed as a simple reformulation of sustainability.

- Needs for many investments to support the construction of new infrastructures and amenities.

- Does not take into account social inclusion in its definition.

- More attractive for some economic actors than sustainable development

OPPORTUNITIES

THREATS

- Aims to the reconciliation of economic development and environmental protection.

- Can be taken apart by political agendas.

- Easy the development of local economy.

- Quantitative approach for the characterization of natural elements may deny their diversity from a society to another.

- Rebalance the relationship between the markets and the societies with the help of a renewed governance.

- Encourage financial speculations around environmental issues.

- Increasing inter-regional competition will threaten the weaker regions.

- Mainly relies in technologies and hard measures : can bottom-up initiatives be applied?

SWOT analysis on the concept of green growth.

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As introduced by the previous SWOT analysis, we identified as a main potential of green growth that it can provide better and green oriented living condition in an urban context. Indeed, it appears as a good method to reconciliate an economic development with environmental-friendly challenges since most of the times, political discourses tend to separate them. Still, some issues must be taken into account. Considering that the method to implement green growth seemed so far to be mostly the set of top-down approaches, with the development of hard measures such as the implementation of new industries and infrastructures, it implies the risk of inequalities between the region that can afford it and the one that cannot.

According to the OECD’s point of view, Green growth is simply economically-oriented, and social inclusion is not part of it. If social benefits happen, it would be considered as an added value but is not considered as a challenge.

What type of compromise must be done to make the balance between political and cultural barriers so as to draw a system of incentives which facilitate the implementation of green growth?

Thus, from the theoretical framework that we developed in our vision of green growth, we assess the need for more concern for social aspects, which are also fundamental issues for planning and shaping the sustainable city. A spatial and comprehensive approach of urban and environmental issues must be taken into account, which implies more consideration for the bottom-up approach, and collaboration at the smallest scale.

STRING and OECD fields or categories of action are interesting tools to enable us to assess what is done in the field of green growth. Thus, so as to understand the stakes and issues carried by the implementation of green growth in a specific urban context, we are now going to try to understand how these fields of actions were taking into consideration in the current development of the city of LĂźbeck, in its european, regional, and local scale. As a consequence of this analysis, it appeared that these different fields of actions had, for some, in the specific case of LĂźbeck, many connections. For theses reasons, we decided to merge them as following : Land-use and buildings Transport and Mobility Resources (more specifically water, waste and energy) in order to easy their comprehension, highlight the links between some fields of action, and to input proposals that would better fit into such a specific context.

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THIRD PART:

CASE STUDY OF THE CITY OF LUBECK ANALYSIS OF THE FIELDS OF ACTION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF GREEN GROWTH POLICIES

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1. Introduction to the free and Hanseatic city of Lübeck

1.1 Regional context and dynamics

First of all, Lübeck has to be considered within an approach which goes beyond the 214 km² of its administrative municipal perimeter. Indeed, through its touristic attractivity, its strategic location between Hamburg and the Baltic Sea and its commercial dynamism, the city has developed a vast urban area of influence as well as significant regional and cross-border connections.

Located in the Northern part of Germany, in the Schleswig Holstein county the free and Hanseatic city of Lübeck is part of the Metropol Region Hamburg, but many municipalities, more than a hundred with a total of 420 000 inhabitants, depend more in their development on the structure of the Region Lübeck than on Hamburg. In this context, the Region Lübeck initiated in 2012 a «Stadt-Umland-Koopearation», a cooperation between Lübeck and its surrounding municipalities, in order to strongly support and enhance their connections. This cooperation was triggered by a need to adapt to the important structural changes in the development of German cities which started after the reunification and it also comes as an answer to three main regional stakes, as described in the document Stadt-Umland Kooperation Lübeck: Grundsatzvereinbarung1: it aims first at improving the cooperation between Lübeck and its surrounding municipalities while enhancing their regional identity; Second, it would be a way to implement a platform for the coordination of projects; third, it is an imperative step towards the development of a uniform culture of planning as a basis for binding guidelines.

The city is also involved in another cooperation which actually expands beyond the German borders, in the STRING perimeter. Considering the fact that Lübeck is geographically closer to foreign cities such as Copenhagen than to Munich of Frankfurt for instance, it is then easy to understand that they might share also a greater sense of identity and more common interests in their development. These are some reasons why the STRING Network was created and it also explains some concepts developed in its strategy. Thus Lübeck lies in the middle of the axis linking Copenhagen and Hamburg and will be strongly impacted by projects which will be launched by the STRING. Its belonging to the STRING perimeter implies the possibility of an important cross-border cooperation with the other cities involved in the STRING. This cooperation touches many fields of

[1] STOLTE Chritian, Stadt-Umland Kooperation Lübeck: Grundsatzvereinbarung, May 2014, Hansestadt

Lübeck

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development such as the regional economy of course, but also research, innovation, resources, culture and tourism.

In this context, Lübeck stands thus at the heart of an enhanced regional and cross-border cooperation which creates important potentials for the further development of the city.

1.2 Identity of the free and Hanseatic City of Lübeck

Founded in 1 143, Lübeck acquired its status as a «free imperial city» as soon as in 1 226 and this had a tremendous influence on the political, economical and even urban development of the city.

SWEDEN

DENMARK SKANE

SCHLESWIG HOLSTEIN

Lübeck GERMANY Hamburg STRING perimeter

Lübeck within the STRING perimeter, own elaboration, source:STRING 2030 Vision and Strategy

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Lübeck is now divided into ten districts which develop around the «Innenstadt», the historical city centre. With an overall area of 214 km² and almost 213 000 inhabitants, that is to say more than 50% of the total population of the Region Lübeck, and with an average density of 994 inh./km², Lübeck is not a dense city, even though its density varies a lot from one district to another with the highest density in the old city district (6 004 inh./km²) and the lowest (325 inh./km²) in the Travemünde district. This demographic disparity perfectly reflects the centralised urban form of the city.

Indeed, historically, the city organised around three main areas which where the Slavic castle and its fortifications in the northern part of the city, the area of the market and the town hall in the old city and finally the cathedral area in the South. These quarters are still important places in the city, with a high density as well as a high concentration of shops and services. Significantly enough, they are very close to the old city which remains in this respect the major centrality of Lübeck.

Lübeck: UNESCO zones and buffer zones source: City of Lübeck, Management Plan,World heritage «Hanseatic City of Lübeck», 2011

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Hence, the historical centre has also been classified as a UNESCO World’s Heritage site since 1987. More precisely, three areas the old city in particular fulfil the UNESCO criterion IV and this implies that they are subject to preservation and protection obligations.

Thus, to maintain this ÂŤoutstanding example of a type of building which illustrates a significant stage of history, a buffer zone has been defined which guarantee visual corridor as well as view perspectives on and from the old city. Buildings, from churches to habitations, as well as streets and the fortification are protected in this manner and this means constraints and challenges but also potentials for the further development of the city. Indeed, it implies rigorous land-use rules or strict regulations for the refurbishment of buildings, but this status also attracts tourists and helps thus the economy of the entire city.

LĂźbeck: Historical center, own elaboration source photograph: http://www.fewo-luebeck-altstadt.de/

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The historical centre is thus a significant part of the identity of Lübeck, but the harbour as well as the vast landscape are two equally important pillars forging this identity. The harbour is located in the extreme northern part of the city, in the Travemünde district and is the city’s interface with Scandinavia, Russia and the Baltic states. Lübeck was historically a leading city in the European commerce until the sixteenth century party thanks to its harbour. The harbour still remains the largest one in the Baltic Sea with its four terminal and its area of 155 hectares and it is also the largest ferry harbour of the whole Germany.

It represents the main economic pole and strength of the city. The harbour was also the reason for the development of a very efficient connection from the sea to the hinterland.

Lübeck: Harbour, own elaboration source photograph: http://www.seereisenmagazin.de/

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Finally, L端beck is also characterised by its landscape. Indeed, 49% of the city is occupied by green areas which can be agriculture areas, woods or moors. These green areas are not concentrated in only one part of the municipal territory, rather, they are multiple fragments of various size spread all over the city. Some of them have specific status of natural protected areas and thus are submitted to specific regulations concerning their use and their maintenance. These places are assets to the city in the sense that they considerably improve its environment and the way of life of its inhabitants. Moreover, they attract visitors and host a very important biodiversity which is also partly subject of specific protection regulations.

L端beck: Green areas, own elaboration

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L端beck: Aerial view source: http://www.zelltechnik-kongress.de/

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So the World Heritage city centre, the harbour on the Baltic Sea and the rich landscape are three elements which define the identity of the free and Hanseatic city of Lübeck, and which imply a specific approach of the land-use and impact the development of the urban fabric in many aspects. Indeed, even though slowly, Lübeck is constantly welcoming new inhabitants and so in the need to build new habitable surfaces and new amenities. To that extent, the city follows some development principles such as the «Soziale Stadt» and the «Stadtumbau West». This shows that, besides its strong environmental approach, the city is strongly willing to tackle social challenges such as cohesion and integration together with the need for an adaptation to economic changes within its urban development.

For these reasons, the free and Hanseatic City of Lübeck seems to show potentials for the development of green growth on its territory, and this is to be further analysed in the following part, according to the three fields of action defined earlier.

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buildings and land-use

plans and policies

transports and mobility

resources

Analysis of the fields of action in L端beck, own elaboration

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stakeholders

initiatives and projects

2. Fields of action developing Green Growth in L端beck

This section of our work aims at providing a non-exhaustive overview of the hierarchy of plans and policies in relation to green growth and which are having an impact on L端beck.

Thus, we based our analysis of interconnections between the concept of green growth and the three fields of action previously mentioned on three main questions applicable to each of the three fields, namely "What does green growth means in regard to these fields?"; "How could green growth be achieved within them?"; and "What would then be the main results?".

As numerous plans and policies are produced from the European level to the local level and the whole process of their establishment and their implementation in the form of actual projects relies on the involvement of various stakeholders, we highlighted for each field of action the main plans and policies produced by institutions at the European, federal, regional and local level as well as the strategies established at the STRING level.

Then, we identified the main stakeholders involved into various processes of decisionmaking or implementation according to their status. We analysed their repartition in the different levels of decision and in their different roles: do they produce policies, assure their implementations, develop incentives or strategies or do they do lobbying?

To illustrate these repartitions, we produced graphs which are based on samples of the stakeholders under study and displaying a quantitative analysis. In the end, it shows for example the percentage of public institutions and administrations involved in the field of resources which are active in policy making, or the percentage of research institutions working in the field of transport and mobility and which are active in establishing projects and initiatives. These graphs helped us understanding better the role of each category of stakeholders and identifying the fields of action in which they were the more active, but without giving a qualitative approach, that is to say without showing whether they were actually efficient or not. Finally, some existing projects and initiatives show the current development of green growth in the free and Hanseatic city of L端beck and the involvement of their initiators.

The results of this study on policies, stakeholders and projects in relation to green growth at the scale of the city lead us to identify some challenges which could be tackled through some initiatives that we present at the end of this part of our work, in the form of recommendations to the municipality of L端beck.

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2.1 Buildings and land-use

Buildings and land-use is a field which encapsulates the entire fabric of the city.

Indeed, this field of action understands built-up as well as vacant areas, the urban and the natural fabric altogether and thus stands at the heart of a comprehensive development of the city. Considering this, land-use appears as a potential tool for developing green growth in an urban territory as well as buildings would be a pertinent field of implementation for policies and strategies aiming at promoting green growth. This would be the a way to actually spatialize the concept of green growth and to integrate it into the core of the urban fabric. This process of spatialization of green growth would imply the resilience of the land and of the urban fabric as well as a more comprehensive and horizontal approach for the urban development of the city.

To that extent, actions should be led from the scale of buildings to the scale of the entire territory of the city. The challenge of green growth in the field of buildings would thus be tackled through small interventions such as the systematic construction of zero energy buildings or the renovation of old buildings according to specific regulations. It could also be achieved through a direct protection and revitalization of the land through its remediation and the optimisation and refurbishment of brownfield areas. Measures should also be taken to better support these various initiatives through a strong economic dynamic, for example through the establishment of amenities and companies oriented towards green activities. The integration of the civil society would also represent an important stake in this particular process of development of the city.

As a result, a successful implementation of green growth in the field of buildings and land-use would produce an urban context adapted to environmental challenges and favouring the development of green growth in cross-disciplinary sectors. It would of course lead to the spreading of low-emission neighbourhoods and finally significantly improve citizens’ quality of life.

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Plans and policies

As far as land-use policies at the European level are concerned, they are oriented towards sustainable development since 1999 and new objectives and guidelines are regularly developed. The following examples provide a significant overview of the European orientations concerning this field.

In 1999 an agreement was signed between member states, the European Spatial Development Perspective which aimed at establishing a non-binding policy framework by setting objectives and concepts for a ÂŤbalanced and sustainable development of the European territory.Âť It focused on three main guidelines, namely the development of a polycentric urban system throughout the territory which would allow a new urban-rural relationship, the guarantee of a parity of access to infrastructure and knowledge and it also stressed the importance of the preservation of nature and cultural heritage in the context of a sustainable development of the territory.

To further promote this idea of a balanced and sustainable urban development, Member States produced another document in May 2007, the Leipzig Charter on Sustainable European Cities, signed by the Ministers in charge of Urban Development in the Members States and which consisted in a political agenda mainly recommending a greater use of integrated urban development policy approaches at the national level.

Three years later, the 2010 Energy performance of building directive imposed the inclusion of energy performance certificates in any advertisement for the sale or rental of buildings. In that way, EU countries must also set energy performance requirement for new buildings and for major renovations, along with lists of national financial measures to improve this energy efficiency in buildings.

Since then the European Union has been considering land as a resource in itself and strongly works towards its protection and preservation through a more conscious and responsible use of it by the Member States. In this context, a Roadmap for ResourceEfficient Europe was published in 2011 clearly integrated guidelines on the use of land among resources such as water or energy.

Following that idea, the 2012 Energy efficiency directive integrates the action of government on their own business, by imposing to EU countries to make efficient

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renovations to at least 3% of buildings owned and occupied by central government.

It also implies that European governments should only purchase buildings with high energy efficiency. The long term national building strategies must also be included in the national energy efficiency action plans for each EU country.

Two years later the 7th Environment Action Programme for the EU 2020, Living well, within the limits of our planet entered into force, calling for targets to limit land take for instance. This action programme is a guide for European environment policy until 2020 in general but also provides important guidelines for land-use policies. It even goes further in giving a vision of the Union future achievements by 2050 as follows: «In 2050, we live well, within the planet’s ecological limits. Our prosperity and healthy environment stem from an innovative, circular economy where nothing is wasted and where natural resources are managed sustainably, and biodiversity is protected, valued and restored in ways that enhance our society’s resilience. Our low-carbon growth has long been decoupled from resource use, setting the pace for a safe and sustainable global society.»

Concerning Buildings efficiency, the Objective 2020 is to increase the energy saving for heating by 2% annually, so as to make the new buildings to be nearly zero energy by december 2020, whereas public buildings must nearly zero energy by December 2018.

The Objective 2050 is the decreasing by 80% of primary energy consumption, so as to reach an almost climate neutral building stock and increase retrofitting of buildings rate by 2% annually.

Following the orientations of the European Union, the Federal State established indicators to assess their land-use in regard to sustainable development, also regarded land as a resource. As a significant objective example, by 2020 the land take in Germany should then increase by not more than 30 hectares per day in comparison to an average of 69 hectares per day in 2012. Furthermore, the Federal Ministry for the Environment published in October 2009 the report Nachhaltige Flächennützungen und nachwachsende Rohstoffe, «Sustainable land-use and renewable resources» which provides perspectives and possible handling solutions for a sustainable land-use through the display of several scenarios. The report is based on detailed scientific research, analysis and previsions from which are established political recommendations and a list of measures which could be considered at a national level to implement a sustainable land-use throughout Germany.

The building sector in Germany is responsible for 40% of primary energy consumption, and around 33% of CO2 emissions. It is due to the fact that 75% buildings were erected before 1979 (especially in Lübeck which beneficiates from a strong historical architectural heritage). Funds for the CO2 building modernisation programme were put aside to an amount of around 1.8 billion euros for the period between 2012 and 2014.

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If numerous policies are established at the European and the federal level, it is more plans and strategies which are established at the regional level. These plans answer to a specific hierarchy which proves to be complex in the sense that Lübeck is part of several regional spheres and cooperation: the Schleswig-Holstein county, the Region Lübeck, the Stadt-Umland Kooperation.

As a basis for the production of regional plans the Schleswig-Holstein county established a plan of development for the territory, Landesentwicklungsplan SchleswigHolstein (LEP) in 2010 which enhances the coherence between the regional plans and the municipal plans. It also states the main aims of land-use planning in the county and stipulates a good cooperation between its different areas. It explicitly claims the need to adopt a sustainable approach of land-use planning. To that extent, it provides bindings elements separated into goals and principles. Besides for a more futureoriented approach, the Landesentwicklungsstrategie Schleswig-Holstein 2030, an overall development strategy with a vision until 2030 is currently under creation.

A series of regional plans which will apply until the end of 2015 have been established in concordance to the LEP. More precisely, Lübeck is concerned by the Regionalplan Schleswig-Holstein Ost 2004-2015 which furthers the goals and principles from the LEP and stipulates the necessity for all public planning agencies to integrate them. This plan is usually established in cooperation with the urban planning department of Lübeck and the Kreises Ostholstein.

The Region Lübeck also developed a concept of development through the Entwicklungskonzept Region Lübeck 2003 (ERL). This document aims at enhancing the development of the region through strategies of development focused on economy tourism and the infrastructures. It also intend to put the region in a state of competition with other regions of the Baltic Sea. The ERL provides thus six main guidelines, three of them (building development, landscape and transport) being specifically oriented towards sustainability.

The municipality of Lübeck developed several concepts regarding urban development. As an overall basis for all its other concepts and plans, the municipality integrates two concepts established by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature conservation, Building and Nuclear safety which are the «Soziale Stadt» and the «Stadtumbau West» concepts. The first one aims at promoting a feeling of belonging to the neighbourhoods and strengthening social cohesion and integration while the second one consists in an experimentation in housing and planning development to face demographic and economic changes.

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Following the recommendations of the Leipzig Charter, the municipality adopted in 2010 an Integrated Urban Development Concept (ISEK), for a further development of a green city through the enhancement of economy and science. As Lübeck is considered as a regional center, it is its role to manage demographic and economic structural transformation, by including socio cultural changes and the preservation of environmental resources. The Integrated Building Development Concept is a tool to coordinate all these type of decisions to enhance the future development of the city of Lübeck, and potential applications for all the support programs developed from the European scale to the Schleswig Holstein one. The main thematics regarding the spatial areas of Lübeck were combined in cooperation and consultation with specialist department of the city administration, but also politicians.

Through the «Environment Protection», «Nature Protection» and «Green city and Transports» the city established strategies targeting respectively emissions restrictions along with sanitary and resources regulations, the regulation and management of protected natural areas and of the biological diversity, and finally the protection of green areas fragmented through the urban fabric.

Finally, the «Lübeck 2030» concept establishes a strategy of urban regeneration which will be further developed in the section «Projects and on-going initiatives».

Along with these main concepts, the city produced several plans concerning quite separately built-up areas and green areas. On the one hand, a land-use plan was created in 1990 and updated in 2009 with a section devoted to the integration of sustainability and the identification of undeveloped zones. On the other hand, they produced a landscape plan around the general theme of «Climate Change in Lübeck» which displays sustainable strategies through nature, environment and health protection or the development of a green train. Finally, at an even smaller scale, the local plans, sets binding rules for the dimensions and use of buildings and areas and establish the boundaries of lots and the balance of green spaces within them.

To conclude, it appears through this global hierarchy of policies, strategies and plans, that European policies mainly set up objectives and provide possible ways for a sustainable development of the territory but no binding measures to achieve it. The STRING Strategy seems to be the only one explicitly targeting green growth, through the selection of specific areas and working with partners such as the Lübeck Business Corporation, a community of workers with the aim to develop a collaborative way of life and a sustainable economy (see projects).

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Actual plans are produced only at the regional and the local level. More precisely, the plans and policies established at the regional level are mainly oriented towards more inter-communal cooperation and towards densification in order to limit the damaging effects of urban sprawl.

The inter-communal cooperation is strongly supported at the municipal level through an obvious will to further develop it through common plans and policies. This will for a spatially extended vision is however contradicted by some aspects of the current situation in the field of land-use and building at the scale of the city.

Indeed, the majority of the concepts deal with small parts of the city such as the historical centre. There is no global integrated approach besides the Integrated Urban Development Concept at the local level. Besides, the landscape and the urban fabric are still dealt with separately, more precisely, there is a lack of an overall vision dealing simultaneously with different territories that are the green spaces, the city, the harbour and the interfaces between the three entities. In this context, it appears that there is a need for the development of strong and cohesive green-growth oriented concepts which can apply on all parts of the city of Lübeck.

Also, there is a need for a better cohesion between green and “grey” growth and thus for more interpenetration between the different zones and functions in the next planning documents, as it could enable a more integrated “green city». To that extent, the municipality should consider its “Vision Village” as a best practice example and study how to apply the same cohesion in the implementation of green and grey growth as an overall concept in the rest of the city. An analysis to identify which parts of the city are the more left aside in the current development concept and along an investigation on their potentials for specific projects should also be considered.

Some other specific issues arise in relation to the lack of an overall vision. Indeed, there are numerous conflicting zones throughout the municipal territory, as it appears for example that in several areas the urban development is incompatible with the UNESCO world’s heritage label. This illustrates the need to develop municipal plans and policies regarding green growth which do not alter the inherent quality of the UNESCO classified centre. This would imply for instance, the organization of meetings between Lübeck’s urban planning department and representatives of the UNESCO to explore what possible policies, in the context of the development of green growth in the city, could be implemented within the UNESCO framework, for interventions such as retrofitting or the insulation of buildings for more energy efficiency.

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The presence of natural protected areas in the city and its surroundings also imply challenges regarding the future expansion of the city, particularly regarding urban sprawl and densification issues. Thus it seems important for the city to explore ways to establish green-growth oriented activities within natural protected areas and to reconnect the urban fabric together with these areas. This could be achieved through a study of feasibility of small scale urban bio-agriculture projects, in relation with the Essbare Stadt (a citizens’ initiative furthering social inclusion through the local production and consumption of goods), and in regard to the legislation of the protected areas. Educational activities and awareness towards biodiversity could also be successfully implemented through visits or public gardening activities.

Furthermore, as the municipality abandoned its local Agenda 21 in 2004, there is a need for a new political agenda and operational tools to implement green growth in LĂźbeck, using the demanded overall integrated vision of land-use and planning as a tool for this implementation. A first step to achieve this would be for the municipality to ask for a study to its universities which would analyse the importance of a local Agenda 21, through benchmarks for example, and also to investigate other forms of political agendas oriented towards green growth, with different timelines of objectives on the short-, middle- and long-terms. For instance, setting goals for green roof-tops in five, ten years, for buildings elevations, retrofitting and insulation in the next ten, twenty, or even fifty years. This initiatives would establish concrete objectives for the city and would overcome issues related to the short political temporalities, considering that a mayor is elected for five years.

Finally, there is an obvious lack of cooperation between the civil society and the local authorities. Participatory processes and exhaustive of tools have still to be further developed so as to make as many people as possible participate.

However, the the city already achieved a successful project of inclusion of the civil society into some decision-making processes concerning for instance a pedestrian area in the centre. It could thus be a good start to explore the possibility to implement this type of participatory process more systematically.

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Stakeholders

Many types of stakeholders are involved in the field of land-use and buildings, and can be grouped together in the following categories:

Percentage of the stakeholders in each category from a sample of 26 actors.

Ex: 12% of the stakeholders from the sample are research institutions Public administrations and institutions Plans & policies

Strategies

Private & semi-public companies

Research institutions

Civil society

Percentage of the stakeholders involved in plans and policies, strategies, lobby and projects.

Ex: 100% of the stakeholders from public administrations and institutions are involved in plans and policy making while 65% of the stakeholders from private and semi-public companies are lobbying.

Lobbying

Projects

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Private and semi-public companies mostly help to the financement of urban development and researchal projects. Some of them also set appart their benefits to actions initiated by the civil society. They also work as lobbys to attract and convince new investors and new companies to settle down in Lübeck. Lastly, they provide services for citizens and consumers in order to easy their day-to-day life.

Among them we can identify (from the broader scale to the local scale) :

- The String Network

- The German Sustainable Building Council (DGNE)

- The Architekten Initiative

- The Rat für Nachhaltige Entwicklung

- The Stadt-Umland Kooperation

- The Architektur Forum

-The Gebaüdemanagement der Hansestadt Lübeck

- Urban planning and architecture offices from Lübeck

- The Lübeck Business Development Corporation, as a non-profit organisation.

Public administrations and institutions are in charge to implement new policies and urban development plans in the city so as to achieve green growth. They work at different scales : small-scale projects in the city center, and bigger-scale urban developments outside of the city center.

- The main are (still from the broader scale to the local scale) : - The UNESCO - The ICOMOS

- The European Commission

- The Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure

- The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature conservation,

Building and Nuclear safety

- The Federal Ministry of Education and Research

- The Metropol Region of Hamburg

- The Municipality of Lübeck

Research institutions bring scientific and theoric advices to public or private companies by developing researchal projects and studies so as to make them to initiate innovative strategies in land use and buildings. They also manage to imply students in their work. The city of Lübeck is the seat of high qualified institutions :

- The Lübeck University

- The Lübeck University of Applied Sciences

- The Smart Cities Research Center

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The Civil Society is involved in many organisations, such as networks and clusters created by citizens themselves in order to share interests for and ideas on urban development in L端beck development of projects. The main ones are : - B.U.N.D.

- Die Lernende Stadt - Cloudsters - Landwege.

We can highlight the fact that there are numerous existing stakeholders to participate in the creation and application of policies at the local level from the recommendations made at the EU level. Nevertheless, these stakeholders are mostly international and federal. The city of L端beck might need an integration of policies at the local level initiated by more local public and private companies or corporations. In that purpose, the city should develop incentives to help at the local scale companies to get the recognition of European institutions, such as the EU eco label from the world green building council, and make them to be more visible and active.

Regarding research institutions, although they are strongly involved in land use planning and create partnerships between different authorities and commuters, there is still a lack of cooperative and cohesive initiatives in the field of building efficiency.

Partnerships should be developed in the buildings sector with associations and institutions so as to diffuse the current practises in that field, such as vegetated rooftops, through informative sessions gathering a diversity of actors. These practises could also be promoted by incentives given to real estate owners or promoters to retrofit their properties.

Finally, there is an existing active network of organisation from the civil society.

They are mostly composed of people from different backgrounds. Then, pluri-disciplinary teams of workers can share their opinion on the future development of the city and manage to initiate local projects. But still, they initiate actions on their own and do not have the opportunity to work in collaboration with the municipality, which coud help them to enter in contact with experts. For instance, the municipality should give more visibility to the Lernende Stadt, a participative platform where citizens can bring in projects and vote for them. Thus the city could benefit from these types of mobilization from the civil society by organizing workshops to collect inhabitants and association ideas or contribution on ongoing projects.

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Initiatives and projects

At a large scale, Lübeck is involved in projects of regional cooperation, such as the Stadt-Umland Kooperation, first launched in 2013, with the aim to enhance the intercommunal cooperation to create a feeling of belonging to the region, go beyond the communal boundaries, ensure the development of a sustainable city and community and strengthen the overall area of cooperation. In the same line, Lübeck participates to the Regionale Zusammenarbeit project, also involving stakeholders from the Fehmarnbelt Achse, namely the Kreis Ostolstein, IHK zu Lübeck and Stadt Fehmarn. The project was established in 2011 for a realisation between 2014 and 2016 and its aim is the further development of the A 1 axis and its surrounding urban areas.

Several projects and involving citizens have been initiated thanks to the Lernende

Stadt platform. Among them, the creation of participative forums helping the production of the landscape plan around the theme of «climate change». This on-going initiative aims at developing citizen participation in the establishment of the landscape plan and in the reflection together with actors from the planning and environment departments of the city. Another initiative on the way is the constitution of a workshop on the application of the Transition Town concept to the city of Lübeck and which would involve actors from the Transition Network and from the Lernende Stadt along with citizens. The first meeting of this initiative has already been held and its main goal is to raise citizens’ awareness about the concept of «Transition Town», which is used to refer to towns and cities where a grass-root community project seeks to achieve resilience in response to the increasing scarcity of fossil resources and the climatic change.

Moreover, the reunion of citizens can also initiate and develop local economies.

Cloudsters is a self-organized community created by citizens and commuters from Lübeck and from the Schleswig Holstein region. As a community of pluri-disciplinary workers, they aim to develop a collaborative way of life, and the basis of a sustainable local economy. So far they realised project favouring the use of local and new energies with project such as « creative houses », « re-design Lübeck », « Burger Energie Lübeck » and was awarded by the CeBIT in 2013. As another successful initiative, Landwege is a cooperative founded to link local producers and consumers. By gathering companies and farmers from the region, it helps to provide fresh products to the population of Lübeck and is surroundings. The requirements for any market implied in the cooperative are strict : no use of pesticides, chemical fertilizers, genetic engineering or factory farming must

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be part of the food process. They also support fairs and direct trades, as well as social projects and implementation of jobs by the development of market places and stores in the area of Lübeck.

Land filling and urban development projects favouring the development of local economies within the city and easy the access to amenities for every citizen. It also wants to support the resiliency of buildings and brownfield lands. In a long term vision, the Lübeck 2030 concept involves the Land Assembly, the Lübeck Business Development Corporation and the City of Lübeck, in partnerships with business companies. Relying on the landfilling theory, its main purpose is the identification of available lands for the development and the implementation of specific economies (such as commercial areas, housing, industrial activities and agriculture). The selected sites are owned by the city of Lübeck, and are mainly brownfields characterised by a strong potential for development and a few constraints. Their promotion toward private business companies are took in charge by the Lübeck Business Corporation so as to attract them. The realisation of each project on a chosen area must be voted at the Land Assembly after the analysis of the area potential. Vision Village is considered as a successful operation of urban development achieving green growth. The project involves the City of Lübeck, the University of Applied Sciences of Lübeck and the Lübeck Business Development Corporation. This operation has several objectives. The first one is the development of a neighbourhood combining affordability of jobs, research institutions, housing and amenities. The second one is the enhancement of knowledge and technology transfer between businesses and universities and universities in the field of science. The third one is to favour the entrepreneurship among students from the university so as to develop start-ups or technology-driven companies. So far the project has already finished the development of the « Innovation Campus Lübeck » as part of the Vision Village. At a smaller scale, along with the Friedrich Schütt + Sohn Baugesellschaft GmbH company, the municipality of Lübeck developed the Flintenbreite eco-neighbourhood, intended to become a example of good-practice neighbourhood mainly through its use of resources with a circular flow of energy and a decentralised water supply. Several buildings have already been built and inhabitants started moving in as soon as 2006. Besides, amenities such as a kindergarten already function there and the neighbourhood is currently in a state of further expansion.

Cooperations between diverse institutions which to give advices for the development and the cohesion of as much projects as possible, and produce studies to analyse their effects on the citizens behaviour. The Smart City Research Center in Lübeck is a local organisation formed by voluntary associations of the University of Lübeck, the University of Applied Sciences of Lübeck, the Hanseatic city of Lübeck and the Technology Center Lübeck. The aim is to develop urban infrastructure and services according to the

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concept of Smart Cities. It wants to promote and coordinate the implementation of joints projects of the institutions involved in research and applied research, and then to manage the transfer of this knowledge into practice.

As pointed out in the section dealing with the plans and policies at the local level, it appears that concrete projects oriented towards sustainability are often considered as experiments or good practice examples in the form of small scale neighbourhoods and clusters with an exclusive focus on specific innovations and lacking an overall vision as it has been developed in the municipal project of landfilling. There is the same need here to develop a broader vision for an integrated development of green growth in the future projects to come in the field of land-use and building.

There is also an unbalanced, or at least badly coordinated participation of the stakeholders in the various initiatives and projects. Indeed, it seems that citizens are strongly willing to act for their city but they only participate to projects initiated by other citizens rather than by the municipality. Also, even though private and semipublic companies are helping to the implementation of towards buildings efficiency, their actions still remain badly passed to citizens. The challenge for the municipality is here to better integrate citizens’ initiatives into its political agenda and to better support the green growth oriented initiatives of private and semi-public companies and to better communicate on them. To achieve this, the city could launch workshops or challenges open to any citizen related to green growth in the fields of land-use and resource efficiency in buildings. This would be further supported through the collection of good individual or groups practices. In parallel, the municipality should improve the visibility and communication on firms as best practice examples, for instance, through the organisation of salons for the firms to expose their innovations and products.

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2.2 Transports and mobility Mobility is a central concept in the evaluation of a city’s dynamics, both economic and social. Indeed, as Anthony Elliot and John Urry state in Mobile Lives (2010), “mobility” is a word with multiple meanings, as it supports the “overarching narrative” of the cities.

What Elliot and Urry mean by using this expression is that mobility is the pulse of the city, its rhythm that ensures liveability but also equity. Thus, this concept appears to be a useful tool to describe and assess urban transformations, in the sense that it can serve as a cognitive key for the understanding of the socio-spatial transformations ongoing in the contemporary city. In a nutshell, mobility is not only a technical tool for linking places, but a process of urban creation.

Consequently, it is particularly relevant to act in the field of mobility to promote green growth in the cities, as it has the potential to trigger much more changes than the ones that are usually expected. Indeed, when referring to the classic definition of green growth, as seen by the OECD, one could first state that a green mobility strategy should be at the crossroads of the two pillars of green growth: economy (mobility has to enhance the economic activity by furthering the flows of people and goods); environment (the impact of mobility on the natural environment has to be reduced to the minimum, but without compromising the economic activities).

image source: http://www.bnrgreenmobility.it/

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Mobility is a central concept in the evaluation of a city’s dynamics, both economic and social. Indeed, as Anthony Elliot and John Urry state in Mobile Lives (2010), “mobility” is a word with multiple meanings, as it supports the “overarching narrative” of the cities.

What Elliot and Urry mean by using this expression is that mobility is the pulse of the city, its rhythm that ensures liveability but also equity. Thus, this concept appears to be a useful tool to describe and assess urban transformations, in the sense that it can serve as a cognitive key for the understanding of the socio-spatial transformations ongoing in the contemporary city.

In a nutshell, mobility is not only a technical tool for linking places, but a process of urban creation.

Consequently, it is particularly relevant to act in the field of mobility to promote green growth in the cities, as it has the potential to trigger much more changes than the ones that are usually expected. Indeed, when referring to the classic definition of green growth, as seen by the OECD, one could first state that a green mobility strategy should be at the crossroads of the two pillars of green growth:

- economy (mobility has to enhance the economic activity by furthering the flows of people and goods);

- environment (the impact of mobility on the natural environment has to be reduced to the minimum, but without compromising the economic activities).

Nonetheless, the effects of a green mobility strategy will have a broader impact on the city, especially regarding social aspects. In order to be effective, green growth strategies have to be implemented at the scale of the whole city; consequently, they will have to take into account depressed areas and underprivileged social classes, which will benefit from a greater integration to the city’s dynamics. For example, promoting the use of bicycles at the scale of the city can enhance social inclusion (bikes are cheaper than cars, and thus more accessible to poorer populations) while preserving the environment (bikes do not pollute and require less infrastructures than cars).

As we can see, the field of mobility and transports has the potential to generate best practices in the local implementation of a green growth strategy. Indeed, the concretization of the green mobility takes into consideration economic and environmental stakes while tending to the achievement of an increased social inclusion within the city.

Acting in the field of green mobility implies the necessity to conduct projects tackling both the modes of transportation and their infrastructures. The major aim is to reduce to the minimum the impact of the mobility on natural environments while

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preserving the economic activity. To achieve this goal, two main objectives can be set: firstly, to trigger a shift towards non-polluting modes of transportation: this can be carried out by the generalization of low carbon emission vehicles, supported by the acceleration of the polluting vehicles replacement scheme, and the strengthening of alternative modes of transportation (e.g. public transports, bikes); secondly, to adapt the existing infrastructures to the new modes of transportation: this can be accomplished by reducing the necessity of the car, especially in dense urban centres, and by giving more place in the public space to alternative modes of transportation.

The expected results of such a strategy can be synthesised in the following aspects: an overall increase in the quality of life, the creation of new jobs in the field of eco-transports, and a better social inclusion.

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Plans and policies

In the field of transports and green mobility, numerous policies have been launched at many different scales, spurred on by the European Union. The assumed aim of these policies is to boost the competitiveness of the European transport industries, and to achieve an environment-friendly European transport system. On that account, the European Commission has published two directives that set a common framework for the elaboration of coordinated national policies:

-the directive of the 23/04/2009 on the promotion of clean and energy efficient road transport vehicles, which states that the public transport services have to be environment-friendly in order to serve as an example of best practice;

-the directive of the 29/09/2014, which enforce the obligtation for the member States to develop national policy frameworks for the market development of alternative fuels and their infrastructure.

Directly linked to the aims of these European directives, the STRING network has developed its own policy, which intend to focus on the development of a coherent, sustainable and cross-border network of transportation infrastructure. The objective is to create the beginning of a transport system at the scale of a European region, in order to allow the emergence of a European mobility policy relieved from the national contingencies that still hamper the advent of such a project. This cross-border network is considered as a prerequisite to the development of deeper economic synergies between the European States.

This vision has also been adopted by the Schleswig-Holstein Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which considers green mobility as a way to enhance crossborder economy. This approach is coherent, as the Schleswig-Holstein county belongs to the STRING network and enjoys a strategic geographic location, at the crossroads of central and northern Europe.

Nonetheless, the national policy frameworks are still prevailing. Thus, in Germany, at the federal scale, a National Electro-mobility Development Plan has been launched in 2007 in order to achieve a 40% reduction on the 1990 CO2 level emissions by 2020. In 2010, the Joint Agency for Electric Mobility has been created to ensure the enforcement of this plan and set the target of having 1 million of electric vehicles in the total number of vehicles in Germany. In order for this plan to be successful, three types of measures have

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been implemented:

-an exemption of taxes for electric powered vehicles;

-the possibility for these vehicles to use special traffic lanes in dense urban -centres and to park on specific parking lots;

-the classification of vehicles according to their level of pollution emissions.

The available budget for the accomplishment of this plan is 500 million of euros; in comparison, the French government allocated only 150 million of euros for the development of electro-mobility. More generally, Germany is the European leader as far as electric mobilities are concerned.

At the scale of the municipality of L端beck, a more comprehensive approach of mobility is tackled by the public policies. Indeed, the local authorities have established a mobility strategy that aims to bring together all the different modes of transportation existing in the city within a single dedicated space that would allow anyone to reach any point of the city with any transportation mode (car, bus, bike, foot). To achieve this, the city has been divided in 30 zones covering all the urban area of L端beck, in order to assess what are the specific needs of each zone in terms of mobility. Thus, special investments are dedicated to the public transportation system, in order to extend it to all the previously stated zones. Moreover, a specific stress is set on the greening of the main mobility axis, with the objective of preventing major fractures in the ecological environment that could be induced by the largest mobility-ways.

When analysing the different policies that we exposed, we can notice that many differences exist on the interpretation of what measures should to be taken to implement a green mobility. At the European and federal scales, the transports are considered mainly under the perspective of electric mobility applied to road vehicles. On the contrary, at the regional and STRING scales, the focus is set on the importance of the building of crossborder infrastructures in order to foster the economic development at an international scale.

In a nutshell, whereas the European and federal scales tackle green mobility through policies on the modes of transportation, the regional and STRING scales take more into consideration the necessity to develop new infrastructures. Yet, all of these strategies are almost exclusively involved in the development of electric mobility. Except for the municipality of L端beck, none of the policies integrate a collective and comprehensive approach of mobility. Consequently, it seems necessary to take into consideration all the modes of transportation at all the scales, instead of restricting this field of action to the technical innovations that could turn cars into more environment-friendly vehicles.

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Stakeholders

The stakeholders involved in the implementation of the strategies that we exposed form a dense and complete network, allowing an efficient mobility of the public policies. The interactions and exchanges between the public and the private institutions are numerous and create a favourable environment for the emergence of industrial synergies and the development of innovative researches, especially in the field of electro-mobility.

Percentage of the stakeholders in each category from a sample of 14 actors.

Ex: 20% of the stakeholders from the sample are research institutions Public administrations and institutions Plans & policies

Strategies

Lobbying

Projects

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Private & semi-public companies

Research institutions

Civil society

Percentage of the stakeholders involved in plans and policies, strategies, lobby and projects.

Ex: 100% of the stakeholders from the civil society are involved in projects and lobby, while 60% of the stakeholders from private and semi-public companies are producing strategies.

The stakeholders involved in the implementation of the strategies that we exposed form a dense and complete network, allowing an efficient mobility of the public policies. The interactions and exchanges between the public and the private institutions are numerous and create a favourable environment for the emergence of industrial synergies and the development of innovative researches, especially in the field of electro-mobility.

The public institutions and administrations are in charge of setting the strategies in order to establish a framework making the implementation of concrete actions easier for the private sector and the civil society. In parallel, the public sector also participates in the concrete realisation of its strategies, with the assumed objective of triggering the change in mobility practices.

These public actors are the following:

- European Commission

- Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure

- Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature conservation, Building

and Nuclear safety

- Joint Agency for Electric Mobility

- Schleswig-Holstein Chamber of Commerce and Industry

- Municipality of L端beck The private and semi-public companies, as for them, are particularly active in making propositions for possible concrete implementations of the mobility policies. Their main fields of action are principally the designing and building of electric vehicles, and the organisation of the vehicles-sharing systems that exist in L端beck. These private actors are the following:

- STRING Network - Stadtradeln

- Business Development and Technology Transfer Corporation of Schleswig-Holstein

- Stadtverkehr L端beck GmbH - StattAuto The research institutions are also numerous and active in the field of green mobility: they are even amongst the leaders in Germany on researches regarding the improvement of the electric batteries, as well as on scientific innovations concerning different types of alternative bio-fuels.

These research actors are the following:

- Schleswig-Holstein Electro-mobility Centre of Excellence

- L端beck University

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- L端beck University of Applied Sciences

Finally, as far as the civil society is concerned, the involvement of the citizens appears to be important, especially through vehicle-sharing initiatives and proposals for new projects, which are promoted by the Lernende Stadt online platform.

When analysing the listing of the stakeholders in the field of green mobility and transports, we can notice that they are quite numerous and active: the economic stakes related to the field of mobility seems to be a powerful driver for the concretisation of the public strategies. The organisation of the public authorities is well structured and hierarchical, as the competences are clearly defined between the different scales (European, national, regional, local). This enhances the connections with the private sector and the research institutions, which can find in the public institutions and administration an efficient support for their projects and initiatives.

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Initiatives and projects

In the field of green mobility and transports, many projects and initiatives are conducted in Lübeck, but also in the Schleswig-Holstein county. These actions show that the mobility policies are concretely applied, with the help of the dynamic network of stakeholders that we have just exposed.

One of the projects that has the larger scope, both in terms of scale and ambition, is the Green STRING Corridor project. It is initiated by the STRING network, within the framework of the Interreg IV-A Öresund Programme, and aims at promoting and highlighting the potential of innovative transport and logistics solutions for promoting a green transport corridor between the Öresund region in Denmark and Hamburg. The assumed objective is to promote green modes of transportation, such as electric cars or trains, by creating a new transport infrastructure between Hamburg and Copenhagen.

This infrastructure would take on the form of a green way constituted of a highway and a railway; charging stations for alternative fuels will be implemented all along the way, so as to allow and promote the use of low-emissions vehicles. This new infrastructure is thought to be a trigger for economic cross-border cooperations, in a European region that aims to be a leader in industries related to green development. Lübeck would become a central urban pole on this new axis, as it is strategically located between Hamburg and Denmark; the city would thus benefit a lot from the cross-border economic synergies that will result from the creation of this new infrastructure. However, this project is not expected to be realized before 2030.

Nonetheless, some other projects are already ongoing regarding innovative mobilities, especially through research programmes that are supposed to create a favourable context for the development of green mobility in Lübeck. In this perspective, two projects have been launched: - the Electrically Rapid Innovations research programme: it is initiated by the Schleswig-Holstein Electro-mobility Centre of Excellence and aims at developing innovations for electric vehicles and their components, but also for their infrastructures.

Concretely, this programme monitors electric-vans and quads in order to provide a data collection on the operational behaviour of electric vehicles - the E-mobility Coordination Schleswig-Holstein project : it is initiated by the Business Development and Technology Transfer Corporation in Schleswig-

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Holstein and aims at increasing the participation of companies and institutions in the future market of electro-mobility, and to implement an electro-mobility strategy for the Schleswig-Holstein county. This is concretized through the holding of events on electromobility to mobilize the different actors and raise their awareness on the topic.

For now, we can state one concrete example of the implementation of electromobility in Lübeck is the delivery of hybrid electric busses. The municipality intends to renew all the oil-powered public busses with these new electric ones bus 2020, enforcing on that account the European Commission directive of the 23/04/2009.

At the scale of Lübeck, the civil society is also very active and well supported by the research institutions. This dynamism explains the existence of numerous initiatives that reveal the strong involvement of the citizens in the fields of green mobility. Thus, the Lernende Stadt online platform supported two ideas that were then concretized : - a workshop on the “Transition Town” concept applied to Lübeck: the objective was to raise the citizens’ awareness on the concept of «Transition Town», which is used to refer to towns and cities where a grass-root community project seeks to achieve resilience in response to the increasing scarcity of fossil resources and the climatic change; - the calculation of the Lübeck’s transport industries ecological footprint: the objective was to create a tool that would allow the transport industries to calculate their ecological footprint, in order for them to assess their environmental strategies (especially regarding CO2 emission levels) and to lessen their impact on the environment.

Beyond these bottom-up initiatives, some projects initiated by the municipality rely on the citizens’ involvement, such as the creation of car and bike sharing systems.

These projects intend to provide new transportation services at the scale of the urban area of Lübeck. At this date, 25 car-sharing stations have been implemented on the municipality’s territory. Moreover, the city has been awarded the Stadtradeln price, which is given to the cities that are actively promoting the use of the bike as a daily mode of transportation.

When analysing the projects and initiatives that we just presented, we can notice that numerous interventions are initiated both by the public authorities and by the civil society. Moreover, there is a good complementarity between the different scales: indeed, whereas at the STRING and the Schleswig-Holstein scales the projects are focused on research programmes and lobbying initiatives for the promotion of electric powered

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vehicles and their infrastructures, at the municipality scale the projects reflect a multimodal and daily approach of green mobility. Thus, we can say that the city of Lübeck is well advanced in the implementation of the European and national mobility policies.

Nonetheless, during our field trips, we have noticed that some infrastructures such as the bicycle lanes are either deteriorated or not adapted to the actual flow of bikers. Consequently, the city should refurbish its bike-lanes network and provide more services to the cyclists (e.g. repair stations, secured parking boxes). In addition, during our investigations, we found out that the habits of the citizens are still strongly conditioned by the «all-car» ideology that prevailed during the second half of the 20th century. For example, the inhabitants of the Flintenbreite neighbourhood, which is supposed to be ecological and environment-friendly, still have an intensive use of their oil-powered cars (many households even have more than one).

This sheds light on the difficulty to achieve a behavioural shift in the inhabitant’s practices towards modes of transportation that are more ecological. Here, our study points out the limits of the rapid implementation of green mobility: one cannot possibly force the inhabitants of a city to stop using their cars whereas they do not have other modes of transportation that are as efficient. However, the city of Lübeck should help triggering this change in the citizens’ habits by raising their awareness on the green mobility topic: it is important to not only improve the modes of transportation, but also the uses and representations of the inhabitants. In order to achieve its transition towards green mobility, the public authorities of Lübeck should rely on private investments. Indeed, the investments of the Schleswig-Holstein government are mostly orientated towards road traffic (renovation and construction): 3,5% of the total budget of the Land is used to improve the road network, whereas the investments in the public transportation system represent 1,75% of the total budget (this rate is also among the lowest in Germany). Thus, as the public funds allocated to alternative modes of transportation are quite low, the city should promote industrial and business synergies to support innovations in the field of green mobility.

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2.3 Resources The field of resources includes the fields of energy, waste and water. Energy is ÂŤusually regarded as the capacity for doing workÂť (Merrian-Webster Dictionary, 2015).

In an urban and architectural context, it can be seen as a flowing movement of usable power (electricity, chemical energy, heat), spread from the household to the entire city.

Waste management revolves around the recycling of the material used from our daily life, but also from any type of massive production (from industries or amenities). Regarding water, it mostly deals with the development of policies regarding the treatment of water as producing energy and flows, but also as a waste (water sewage). The reserves of these resources are currently suffering from climate change, economic growth, and increasing population, which means an increasing demand. In order to prevent their ongoing scarcity, their use need urgently to be re-evaluated. It is to be considered as one of the main challenge in human health issues, and as regard to the resiliency of territories to optimize the gesture of resource demand and supply.

Accordingly, the achievement of green growth deals with reducing the consumption of resources such as water, minerals, or fossil fuels used to produce economic growth; through a better use and management of green energies, water and recycling of waste. It could be triggered by encouraging industrial symbiosis, which means complementarity between the different resources. In other words, resources have to be considered in their entire life cycle, from the moment they are extracted to their final disposal and connections between these life-cycles must be found and developed between industries so as to optimize their production and re-use (for instance, waste can be used in the field of energy as biomass).

As a result, we should expect the implementation of industrial symbiosis to lead to the development of a circular economy, characterised by an increasing production of biobased materials. The decoupling of green growth from resource uses implies an ecological smart design of innovative technologies, and to increase the exportation of skills and tools in the field of water, waste and energy. It must then create new jobs and promote the Schleswig Holstein region at a national and international scale as a highly advanced and even leader in the production of green energies. Finally it means that citizens could be provided a better understanding of the services they get and have the opportunity to impact on them.

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Plans and policies

Resource efficiency and energy policies at European levels aim mainly at decoupling growth through resource and energy use. Achieving this decoupling of growth through the use of recyclable resources and renewable energy appears critical in terms of competitiveness for European firms and of self-sufficiency issues in regards to raw materials. It seems especially relevant for crude oil, gaz, ores and other scarce resources used in the production of electronic devices for instance. In a more ecological perspective, these policies also aim at protecting the environment and public health so as to insure citizens’ safety. These objectives can be achieved thanks to a better handling of waste, waste water and an increased production and use of renewable energies. Thus, several measures have been taken concerning resource and energy efficiency since the 2000’s.

Indeed, in 2005, a Thematic Strategy for the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources was established. It states that European economies are dependant on environmental assets as well as on resources. Therefore, the strategy lays the groundwork for the implementation of a less environmentally-harmful economical growth. It also stresses the need to raise awareness on these topics among civil society and private sectors. The Resource Efficiency Flagship Initiatives was then published in 2011 to improve the European framework for the establishment of national policies in the Member States. This document targets existing national policies supporting a resource efficient and low-carbon economy, thanks to innovation and economic growth. It also stresses the importance of resource self-sufficiency as a geopolitical and economical issue.

A year later, the European Union published two important documents, a Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe 2012 and the Energy Efficiency Directive 2012. The first one urges Member States to apply milestones for a more resource efficient Europe, and also emphasizes the need for more research and awareness raising of citizens, recognizing their role in the improvement of natural resources use. It sets objectives for 2030 in resource efficiency and waste management: 30% increase in the resource productivity on the period 2007-2030 for a more efficient industrial symbiosis and towards self-sufficiency.

In the same perspective, the second document initiates binding measures concerning energy efficiency, notably audits of energy consumptions for large companies and SMEs, and also states that the European Union has to reach a target of 20% of energy efficiency by 2020 from 2008 levels.

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At another level, The STRING Strategy focuses on the development of crossborder relationships, and more precisely on the promotion of best practices concerning resource efficiency among regional members and on the promotion of more cooperation between companies, local authorities and universities. The strategy also established objectives in this field, such as the reduction by 10% of the production of household waste between 2008 and 2016. It also aims at increasing the reuse of produced waste as a secondary resource, and developing a bio based economy thanks to the the promotion of composting as an opportunity to increase the production of biogas.

On its side, the Federal State implemented several laws framing regional policies: For instance, the Packaging Ordinance 1991 encourages companies to reduce their use of material and the Waste Deposit Ordinance municipalities to stop the landfilling of biodegradable organic substances and to reuse them in compost instead. Germany also implemented strict requirements on sludge handling and reuse, such as specific rules concerning the incineration or landfilling of sludge, the type of sludge, the concentration of heavy metals, or the frequency of their reuse for agricultural use.

In this context, the German Federal State established in 2002 the National Sustainability Strategy , becoming a pioneer in Europe for resource efficiency and waste handling, and stated at the same time the aim to double resource productivity by 2020 compared to 1994. Significantly enough, resource productivity had already been increased by 47.5 percent in 2010.

To support this strategy, the federal state created a network of stakeholders at the federal level in 2007, the Resource Efficiency Network with the aim to spread good practices among the country and with the objective to become the most resource efficient economy in 2020.

The federal state also adopted the German Resource Efficiency Program in 2012 and passed the Law on Renewable Energies in 2014 with the main aims to first enable sustainable development through renewable energies, lower the economic cost of its supply, preserve fossil energies and promote research in renewable energies, second to reach a share of 80% of renewable energy in the German gross electric power consumption by 2050 (40-45% by 2025 and 50-55 % by 2035), and third to reach a share of at least 18% of renewable energy in the German gross total final energy consumption by 2020.

At the regional level, the State Office for Environment, Agriculture and Rural Areas in Schleswig-Holstein (LLUR) is responsible for developing laws concerning waste management at the Schleswig-Holstein level and participates in the development

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of federal laws. It is also responsible for the technical supervision of local level waste management systems. The State Office for Environmental Engineering acts on its side as a technical authority in the region and approves the implementation of waste disposal facilities.

Finally, the Hanseatic city of Lübeck adopted a «Climate protection» concept mainly regulating emissions, controlling and managing bathing areas and regulating the quality of drinking water. The city follows of course the federal and regional laws and objectives previously developed such as the 2014 federal law on Renewable Energy and its targets.

In the end, it appears that at the European level, there is an exhaustive set of policies, strategies and objectives which are hierarchically followed by the policies of the national level. Lübeck is located within the STRING perimeter which gathers crossborder territories with efficient strategies in resources and for instance with a globally low carbon footprint. Furthermore, the city closely follows federal laws which, in comparison to other legislative frameworks in Europe, have a leading position in resource efficiency and renewable energy in Europe.

However, at the local scale, strategies are mainly implemented by semi-public firms in terms of management of the resources and the development and design of new technologies, as for example the Entsorgungsbetriebe Lübeck for the management of waste in the city. Besides, even though private stakeholders are drawn to innovation in resource or energy efficiency and thus have a good culture in sustainable development, they still need to be further activated by public stakeholders. Hence the need to improve the visibility of innovative projects to favour the spreading of their best-practices. To achieve this, the city could organise seminars or symposiums gathering specialists from high qualified institutions and companies together with representatives from local authorities and from local associations. The municipality could also develop more objectives for the city in the field of energy efficiency.

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Stakeholders

The field of resources, which regroups policies in the fields of water, waste and energy, includes many stakeholders. As issues in these fields are often intertwined, many actors involved in the development of frameworks or projects are committed to several topics, thus at all levels. Some actors are drawn in the fields of water and waste, some others in the fields of waste and energies, but most of them are have cross-cutting competences in the three fields. Stakeholders can nevertheless be grouped together in their scale of intervention, from the broader to the more local.

Percentage of the stakeholders in each category from a sample of 26 actors.

Ex: 12% of the stakeholders from the sample are research institutions Public administrations and institutions Plans & policies

Strategies

Lobbying

Projects

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Private & semi-public companies

Research institutions

Civil society

Percentage of the stakeholders involved in plans and policies, strategies, lobby and projects.

Ex: 100% of the stakeholders from research institutions are involved in strategies and lobby, in comparison to 55% of the stakeholders from private and semi-public companies.

Public administrations and institutions are acting on resources management at different scale. However it is noticeable that European Commission directives and policies frame national laws, standards and norms and therefore also impact local policies and actions concerning waste. Public administrations and institutions are also responsible for raising awareness of the public or private companies and the spreading of best practices at regional or local levels. Cross-borders relationships, especially through the mean of the STRING Network or through INTEREG Program is one of the main way to disseminate best practices in resource management. The main actors involved in this field are the following:

- European Commission

- Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature conservation, Building and Nuclear safety

- Umwelt Bundesamt National agency (UBA)

- State Office for Environment, Agriculture and Rural Areas in Schleswig- Holstein (LLUR)

- Ministry of Energy Transition, Agriculture, Environment and Rural Areas

- Schlewig-Holstein State office for environmental engineering

- Ministerium für Wirtschaft, Arbeit, Verkehr und Technologie

- Museum für Nature & Umwelt

- EnergieTisch Lübeck

- Water authority Lübeck

Private and semi-public companies at regional or local levels are responsible for the collection of waste and its improvement, as well as the treatment of wastewater. They are also involved in the distribution and enhancement of resource consumption (energy).

Semi-public companies such as Lübeck Chamber of Commerce & Industries are notably responsible for activating green growth in the private sector through funding.

- Business Development and Technology Transfer Corporation of

Schleswig-Holstein

- Entsorgung Betriebe Lübeck

- Stadtwerke Lübeck GmbH

- Travelodge Erneuerbare Energien GmbH & Co. KG (Travelodge EE)

- Lübeck Chamber of Commerce & Industries

- Lubecker Hafen-Gesellschaft mbH (LHG, Port Authority of Lübeck)

- CATUM Engineering (private company)

Research institutions in Lübeck are focused on innovation, notably innovation in the field of environmental engineering. They are therefore involved in the dissemination process in the field of resource management.

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- University of Lübeck, - University of Applied Sciences, - Ministry of Education and Research

Non-profit consultancy organizations are in charge of evaluating the current public policies or strategies implemented in the fields of water management, waste management and energy management. They are also advisor for public institutions in these fields to help them to implement more resource efficient policies or strategies.

Schleswig-Holstein region ordered for example studies to Öko Institute to evaluate the efficiency of measures implemented in the field of waste and circular economy.

- DWA (water)

- Ökopol (energy)

- Öko Institute (waste, energy)

- DENA (energy)

Finally, he civil society at a local level is clearly strongly involved in the fields of resource efficiency and many projects are develop by citizens in the municipality of Lübeck, this especially through the Lernende Stadt platform.

In the field of resources and resource efficiency, numerous actors are involved.

From public authorities at all level, which elaborate policies and frameworks necessary to improve the use of resources and their quality to civil society and private actors. If the approach to policy making and its application seems to be rather a top-down approach from the European to the local level, it is important to notice that the involvement of citizens and private businesses is strong in this field.

It is also necessary to underline that this involvement should be encouraged at a local level, since individual actions play a huge role for the decrease of energy consumption or waste production. Awareness raising and educational tools, provided by public bodies, are a decisive point to foster a more resource efficient way of life, and thus city. Therefore, public authorities, such as the state of Schleswig-Holstein or the European Union, should keep on supporting private stakeholders, which are drawn to innovation in resource and energy efficiency at the local level, and which have a good culture and know-how in these field, in order to further activate their involvement. It is also apparent that there is an active sharing of knowledge between stakeholders in the field of resources, notably thanks cross-border relationships among the STRING network and thanks to the Union of the Baltic Sea Cities.

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Initiatives and projects

In the field of resources, the city of Lübeck is involved in quite a lot of projects and initiatives, not only by itself, but also often in cooperation with other cities of the region Schleswig-Holstein and even through cross-border and international partnerships. As some of these projects are partly funded by the EU, it seems that they are in accordance and continuity with the European directives and the objectives that it set for 2030 in the documents Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe and the Energy Efficiency Directive (2012). In other words, they reveal a quite efficient policy mobility from the European institutions to the local level of the municipality of Lübeck and once again show the relative exemplarity of the Baltic region for the rest of Europe, regarding these issues.

Relying on different tools and types of incentives, these projects also highlight the diversity and complexity of what is at stake for cities in terms of resources management and renewable energies.

The project “Future of the Economy”, initiated by the Schleswig-Holstein region and backed by the European Commission, is a financial incentive for SMEs to support for environmental innovation in the fields of resource efficiency, environmental management and renewable energies. Indeed, the Business Development and Technology Transfer Corporation of Schleswig-Holstein (WTSH) allocates grants to SMEs innovative projects up to 70% of the total amount of the project, with a minimum grant of 20 000 euros. If the initiative mainly targets smaller firms, it is worth noting that the Corporation also allocates funds to larger firms, and still up to 30% of the total amount of the project. The program was indeed funded by the EU’s structural funds, with a budget of 770 000 euros annually from 2008 to 2015. The result of this initiative is quite positive, since it even exceeded the objectives set the WTSH itself. As an example, in 2012, thirty-two projects had already been supported (30 was the target figure) while forty-five new products had been created, when the estimation was only 18. The only downside of the initiative is that it did not lead to the creation of as many jobs as expected. Indeed, in 2012, 80 jobs had been created, against the 115 that were predicted.

Another example of these regional programs is the CE Energy Biomass project.

Involving a plurality of actors -the Universities of Applied Sciences of Kiel, Flensburg and Lübeck, the Schleswig Holstein Land Development, and agricultural firms- this initiative aims at enhancing collaboration and reinforcing networks between private companies and universities so as to coordinate biomass exploitation, and enable a transfer of

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technologies in Schleswig-Holstein. It is a way to engage ideas about its future uses while tackling the issue of the adequate infrastructure. As a result, individual projects are carried out to enable companies in the development of raw materials and products. Besides, this type of regional and transversal initiatives can play an important role in the assessment of the Schleswig Holstein as a cohesive and innovative territorial entity.

The projects that revolve around the issue of resource efficiency enable us to see that Lübeck, far from being isolated, includes itself in dynamics that actually go beyond the boundaries of the Schleswig-Holstein land. Therefore, it truly sets actions in a way that conforms to a European ideal according to which territorial links, proximities and trades are not are not only defined in the boundaries of national territories. As a matter of fact, it is the whole idea behind the STRING strategy, which has also exposed its vision on the issue of resources and renewable energies. Indeed, the bio- based economy project is one of the numerous goals that the STRING sets for the Baltic region. Based on the idea that different economic activities could use locally produced renewable resources as a raw material, the project –or rather the strategy- aims at triggering innovation; entrepreneurship and job creation on the whole territory. In 2015, a study began to establish how exactly could this bio-based economy be implemented and the gains -ecological, social and economicthat it could enable.

If the PURE Project does not rely on the cooperation of the STRING, it does demonstrate other positive cross border dynamics, especially when it comes to issues regarding the Baltic Sea, a strategic space for diverse countries of the area. Part of an Interreg program, the PURE project aimed at dealing with the decontamination of sludge in the Baltic Sea, as well as the disposing and recycling of the sludge. Indeed, the treated phosphorus can be reused for agricultural purposes, as a fertiliser. This international project involved cities in Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Belarus, but also the city of Lübeck, since the EntsorgunsBetriebe, the waste disposal company of the city, which invested 140.000 euros for the realization of the PURE project. As the levels of phosphorus from the wastewater entering the Baltic Sea are now less than 0.2 mg/l., and since the elimination rate is 99.0%, the project is regarded as a major success. It is worth underlining that, although the project was successfully led to its end, a workshop took place in Lübeck in 2011 to inform the population and raise awareness on the issue of sludge pollution of the Baltic Sea, but also on possible ways to transform this issue into a sustainable and viable opportunity for innovation.

Lübeck has also recently been involved in a project called MATALOG, funded at 50% by the E.U. The aim of this initiative was to improve air quality in port towns, and contribute to the developing “highways of the sea” by encouraging a switch to an alternative fuel for

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ships: liquefied natural gas (LNG). Indeed, shipping activities have unfortunately grown to become one of the most polluting in Europe. Aiming at developing this solution in main European port towns, Lübeck was selected to be the pioneer project of the MATALOG initiative. With the recent increase in the activity and traffic of the Lübeck-Travemünder harbour, a considerable decline of the air quality in the area began to alarm both public and shipping authorities. This example shows again a certain commitment of the city of Lübeck to protect the quality of surrounding air and waters, which means that the economic development that the harbour allows is also considered in terms of potential environmental impacts. And these two last examples of projects highlight the city’s will to tackle these regional -if not global- issues, meanwhile actively encouraging innovative measures through fianacial support. Besides, the Port Authority of Lübeck is also directly involved in similar project. By using biodegradable lubricants, collecting and recycling the waste, cleaning rainwater and protecting the area through sound buffer zones, it seems that the city does have an environmental strategy for waste management for the Port of Lübeck, which could aim at becoming an exemplary “green port” over the Baltic Sea.

The above-mentioned projects could be characterized as “large scale” projects, either because they involve a variety of regional or international actors, or because of the scope of their effects. Nevertheless, the fields of resources, waste management and renewable energies also triggered a few local scale and bottom-up initiatives. Aktion Sauberes, for instance, is a yearly event organized by the waste management company of Lübeck, which aims at raising awareness. In cooperation with the elementary schools of the city, pupils and inhabitants are asked to participate in a waste gathering collective collection, for a whole afternoon. Although it may seem symbolic, this type of actions is probably an efficient educational tool: it allows consolidating public concern on the topic of waste recycling and could be seen as a long-term investment on future generations’ handling of waste in cities. Finally, we could mention the Lernende Stadt’s ungoing initiative “wähl dein Klima”, which is about the creation of a non-profit organization that would create financial incentives for environmentally friendly projects. The website platform of the organization would organize contests for students or civil society members, for them to make proposals and projects whose aims would be the sparing of CO2 emissions. This example shows that the inhabitants of Lübeck somehow well understood the mechanisms to achieve sustainability or green growth: pragmatism, that is to say, economic incentives, often is an efficient drive for stimulating research and innovative possibilities.

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3. Comparative Findings

The detailed study of the development of green growth within the three fields of action of buildings and land-use, transport and mobility and resources in L端beck lead us to identify some more general characteristics of the current situation of the city in relation to this concept of green growth. Consequently, it allows us to also introduce some strategic recommendations tackling the existing overall challenges in the city.

First, it appears that there is a strong civil society in the city but a lack of tools to enhance the participation and comprehension of all the citizens, as citizens and municipal authorities develop initiatives on their side without cooperation. So there is clearly a need for raising awareness and empowering citizens. This could be achieved through the support of more participatory processes and a more active cooperation between citizens and municipality and by making bottom-up initiatives more visible.

Second, there are clearly more policies, plans and strategies produced in the sustainable development perspective than in the green growth one, and as one of the consequences, there are at the moment already many existing innovative technologies in renewable energy production but without any synergy to expand them to other fields of action. In this context, there seems to be a need for actually triggering the green local economy which is still missing in L端beck. To do it successfully, the municipality should for instance encourage private-public partnerships and raise private funding, support short circuit agriculture and also develop industrial symbiosis and innovative resource efficiency measures.

Third, we noticed disparities in the importance of crossborder and regional cooperation, together with the lack of a comprehensive political agenda on green development and the absence of a systemic approach in the development of projects.

This leads us to highlight the need for L端beck to develop multiscalar strategies by developing a network of actors to pursue the integration of the city in regional and cross- border dynamics and by favouring compatibility over competition for an harmonious economic and urban growth at the regional scale.

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Raising awareness and empowering citizens

Triggering the green local economy

Developing multi-scalar strategies

- Allow more participatory processes and active

-Encourage private / public partnerships & raise private

-Develop a network of actors to pursue the

cooperation between citizens and municipality.

fundings

integration of L没beck in regional and cross border dynamics.

- Make bottom-up initiatives more visible

-Support short circuit agriculture -Develop industrial symbiosis and innovative resource efficiency measures

-Favour compatibility over competition for an harmonious economic and urban growth at the regional scale

To achieve raising awareness and empowering citizens while triggering the green local economy and developing multi-scalar strategies in the free and Hanseatic city of L眉beck we established a series of propositions with different time-frames, scales and involving various stakeholders and which are developed in the following last part of our work.

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FOURTH PART:

PROPOSALS

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financial incentives regional planning for complementarities in green industries

urban farming initiatives

strategic plan to oversee the projects

leaflet of projects

public assistance

RAISING AWARENESS AND EMPOWERING THE CITIZENS

DEVELOPING MULTI-SCALAR STRATEGIES

urban explorations

municipal programme for greening public buildings

industrial symbiosis in the port

TRIGGERING THE GREEN LOCAL ECONOMY

advertisement for the innovation cluster

charging stations all around the city

green roofs for social housings

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RAISING AWARENESS AND EMPOWERING THE CITIZENS

MORE BOTTOM-UP INITIATIVES

MORE CO-DECISION

MORE GOVERNANCE

urban explorations urban farming initiatives

2015

leaflet of projects urban farming initiatives

public assistance financial incentives

2035

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FINANCIAL INCENTIVES THROUGH DIGITAL APPLICATION

Soft measure Priority status: 1 Initiated : Municipality Financed: Municipality Project scale: City-scale Actors involved: Municipality, citizens, private companies

BENEFITS Social: Raising awareness around the subject of sustainability Environmental: Reduction of energy consumption

RAISING AWARENESS AND EMPOWERING THE CITIZENS

Location: Lübeck Cost scale: + + Timeframe: Set-up of the project: 1 year Realisation: 1 year Effective results: 1 to 2 years

CONCEPT The application/website is enabling citizens and local businesses to track and earn points when having sustainable behaviours. These points are then to be exchanged with refunds on green products.

Economic: Creation of local jobs, as incentives would benefit local green businesses and innovations

AIM The aim of the application is to encourage citizens/shop owners to decrease their energy consumption in their buildings. It can also help to stimulate local shops if the points are to be used in the city on local innovations.

Inspired by South Korea/Seoul: Seoul’s Eco-Mileage system Source: Sustainia 100

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URBAN FARMING INITIATIVES

Soft measure Priority status : 1 Initiated : Municipality Financed : Municipality Project scale : City-scale Actors involved : Councillors, citizens, Essbare Stadt, local markets

RAISING AWARENESS AND EMPOWERING THE CITIZENS

Location : Lübeck Cost scale : Timeframe : Set-up of the project : 3-6 months Realisation : 3-6 months Effective results : 1 month or less

BENEFITS

CONCEPT

Economic: Incentives could beneficiate to local green businesses or local green inovations, they would be a support to the local production circles and would enhance thus the local economy

The municipality implements several measures to support urban planning initiatives.

First, by strongly supporting ideas developed by the Essbare Stadt, a project started by citizen to further local production and consumption of food.

Second, through the development of incentives in the form of reduction tickets distributed to citizens to help them buying endogenous seeds and gardening materials and tools.

Third, by allowing citizens to use vacant areas or areas in transition, as identified in the municipality’s project of landfilling, for temporary urban farming activities.

This would lead to a spreading of these activities in various neighbourhood and make them accessible to any citizen.

Environmental: It would help promoting local consumption, preserving the environment and developing a better use of vacant areas Social: It would also raise awareness, further a social link between citizens of various generations, help everyone to be involved and to educate the youngest

AIM The implementation of this proposal would represent a strong support to the civil society’ s existing will to act in the perspective of a local production and consumption of food.

It would also provide citizens with appropriate means to multiply and maitain urban farming places and allow the poorest to also beneficiate from it.

Finally, it would give these initiatives more visibility and would thus attract new participants from the civil society and involve new actors such as local producers.

Initiated by Incredible Edible Todmorden, http://www.incredible-edible-todmorden.co.uk/ Image: urban farming in New-York source: http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/ 101

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LÜBECK’S GREEN GROWTH PROJECTS LEAFLET AND MAP Soft measure Priority status: 1 Initiated and financed: Municipality Project scale: Stadt-Umland scale Actors involved: Urban planning department, civil society

RAISING AWARENESS AND EMPOWERING THE CITIZENS

Location: Lübeck Cost scale: + Timeframe: Set-up of the project: 6 months Realisation: 1 month or less Effective results: 1 year or less

BENEFITS

CONCEPT

Social: Empowerment of civil society and of initiatives taken by local businesses

Lübeck’s green growth projects leaflet will display on a map between 10 and 20 projects initiated by the municipality, citizens, research and local businesses or industries in the field of green growth. Each project, besides being located on the map, will moreover be described briefly in the leaflet, thus promoting best practices in the city.

Environmental: Raising awareness around innovative products or services and encouraging best practices Economic: Give support to local green and sustainable initiatives and increase their visibility

The free leaflet is to be distributed in buildings, public places such as school, universities and or the town hall. It will additionally be displayed in the tourist information office and the chamber of commerce.

AIM The leaflet’s purpose is to support hard measures initiated by the municipality of Lübeck, and to give more visibility to existing projects and initiatives in Lübeck. It aims at stirring up interest around existing projects while simulating the creativity of possible projects founders. The leaflet also targets to give more strength and importance to the numerous civil society projects in the field of green growth or sustainable development by showcasing and promoting them. Lastly it aims to promote Lübeck as an innovative and green city to external stakeholders and visitors.

Initiated by Netherlands/Rotterdam: Climate initiative Image : personal drawing

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PUBLIC ASSISTANCE TO LOW INCOME HOUSEHOLDS Soft measure Priority status : medium Initiated : Municipality Project scale : neighbourhood scale Actors involved : municipality, private companies, civil society, associations of the designated neighbourhoods, volunteers Financed: municipality and corporations

BENEFITS

RAISING AWARENESS AND EMPOWERING THE CITIZENS

Location : less priviledged neighbourhoods Cost scale : + Timeframe :

set-up: 3 to 6 months realisation: 1 year

effective results: 2 months or less

CONCEPT

Economic : mobilisation of public funds, creation of jobs and/or developement of public companies in the field of energy and public assistance Environmental : reduce energy consumption Social : raising awareness of less priviledges people around the subject of sustainability

Offices will be settled in less priviledged neighbourhoods where people can consultate, in groups or individual meetings, experts that will give them informations and advices to consume less. If needed, funds can be provided to people to make them to implement specific equipments (such as solar pannels) or tools ( to help to the separation of waste or to the filtration of water) in their home.

AIM Its aims to enhance the communication between experts, local authorities and the civil society. While giving more visibility and access to new technologies to less priviledged people, the program helps communities to get a better understanding of how energy flow, water and waste management work at the scale of their home and make them to behave eco-responsibly.

Inspired by Livegreen Toronto : http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal Images : HELP operation, Livegreen Toronto operation

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URBAN EXPLORATION

RAISING AWARENESS AND EMPOWERING THE CITIZENS

Soft measure Priority status: 1 Initiated : Municipality Financed : Municipality Project scale: City-scale Actors involved: Councillors, experts in environment and private architecture and planning offices and citizens

BENEFITS

CONCEPT

Economic: Mobilisation of professionals for the creation of the interventions and mobilisation of municipal employees for their maintenance Environmental: Renewal of derelict or vacant areas. Development of small-scale interventions for the revitalization of the environment Social: Raising awareness around the subject of sustainability and empowering the civil society

The organization by the municipality of thematic urban walks throughout each district to develop new initiatives and projects. Members of the municipality and citizens meet to walk through specific areas and make an inventory of spaces, pointed out issues and discussing potential solutions or interventions according to a specific theme which can change from one walk to another, from one district to another. These walks would also be the opportunity for citizens to point out their own initiatives and interventions in the urban space.

Citizens can thus share their concerns, the way they experiment each day the urban space, their will to be part of an improvment of the urban quality of their environment while councillors share their knowledge of what is or not possible to achiveved.

AIM This initiative would strongly enhance the communication and the cooperation between the civil society an the municipality.

Another important point would be the ability of any category of citizen to take part to the process of the improvement of the urban environment of the city.

Finally, it would be a very important initiative to establish in Lßbeck as it would help triggering the awareness of the municipality on citizens’ own initiative in a city where the civil society is already very active, and to make them think on how they could support such iitiatives and thus allow the developmet of new projects.

Inspired by France/Paris: Marches nocturnes, Luc Gwiazdwzinski, A travers Paris project Sources images: levoyagemetropolitain.com, atraversparis.com

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TRIGGERING THE GREEN LOCAL ECONOMY

MORE INNOVATION

MORE SYMBIOSIS

MORE IMPLICATION

municipal programme advertisement for for greening public buildings the innovation cluster

2015

green roofs for social housing charging stations all industrial symbiosis around the city in the port

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ALTERNATIVE FUELS CHARGING STATION

Hard measure Priority status : medium Initiated : municipality Project scale : Stadt-Umland Actors involved : municipality, private company Financed : local and regional public funds, or private company within the framework of a delegation of public service

BENEFITS Economic : creation of jobs and support to the electro-mobility industrial sector Environmental : promotion of lowemission vehicles and incentive to their use

TRIGGERING THE GREEN LOCAL ECONOMY

Location : urban area of L端beck Cost scale : ++ Timeframe :

set-up : 1 year

realisation : 6 months

effective results : immediate

CONCEPT This measure aims at implementing charging stations for alternative fuels and energy sources used by environment-friendly vehicles.

Social : inclusion of deprived neighbourhood and populations in the shift towards green mobility

AIM Within the framework of the STRING green corridor, it is important that the city of L端beck is also equipped with charging stations, like the ones that will be implemented along the green highway between Hamburg and Copenhagen損. Indeed, the economic benefits from the new axis will be enhanced if L端beck can become a major stop for tourists and commuters within the Fehmarnbelt region.

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ADVERTISE THE SUSTAINABLE CLUSTER

Soft measure Priority status: medium Initiated: University of L端beck Financed: local public funds Project scale: regional scale Actors involved: university, municipality

BENEFITS Economic: foster the growth of the eco-industries Environmental: lead researches and innovations in the field of environment

TRIGGERING THE GREEN LOCAL ECONOMY

Location: scientific and academic media Cost scale: + Timeframe:

set-up: 6 months

realisation: 6 months

effective results: immediate

CONCEPT This measure intends to launch an advertising campaign towards the professionals and the scholars of the field of green growth to promote the actions of the L端beck research and innovation cluster.

Social: raise the awareness and knowledge of the citizens interested in the field of green growth in order to promote the best practices developed in the cluster

AIM This measure aims at two main goals: - Raising awareness on the local actions and innovations in L端beck; -Attracting new researchers and companies in the cluster.

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LAUNCH A MUNICIPAL PROGRAMME FOR GREENING PUBLIC BUILDINGS Soft measure Priority status: high Initiated: Municipality of Lübeck Financed: municipality and private funds Project scale: the city of Lübeck Actors involved: local authorities, tenders of public buildings, companies in civil and building engineeing

BENEFITS Social : provides low-energy consuming public amenities to every citizens Environmental : reduces energy consumption Economic : develops jobs and workforce in the field of construction

TRIGGERING THE GREEN LOCAL ECONOMY

Location: the City of Lübeck Cost scale: +++ Timeframe:

set-up: 1 to 2 years

realisation: 3 to 5 years

effective results: immediate

CONCEPT Following the EU reglementation, public buildings must be nearly zero energy by December 2018. In order to easy their renovation, the municipality should launch a competition in architecture and civil engineering to attract to new investors and innovative agencies. At first, sites and buildings in need to be renovated will be chosen by the municipal authority. Then, project teams (composed of multi disciplinary partners) will have the opportunity to compete by developing projects on these sites or buildings. Finally, there will be a vote for the best projects made by the municipal authority, a jury of experts, and the civil society. The selected ones will be constructed.

AIM By improving building efficiency and urban refurbishment, this proposal is also an opportunity for the city of Lübeck to give more visibility to the actions lead by the municipality in terms of urban refurbishment and energy efficiency, and for companies and firms to promote their skills.

Inspired by Reinventer Paris - Appel à projets urbain innovants. images : Reinventer.paris – SITES PROJETS EQUIPES HOTEL DE COULANGES ; Réinventer Paris - PARC ARCHITECTES / PUBLICIS ; Réinventer Paris - ALEXANDRE HORDÉ ARCHITECTE

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GREEN ROOFS FOR SOCIAL HOUSING

Hard measure Priority status : high Initiated : Municipality of L端beck Financed: Municipality and private funds Project scale: Neighbourhood scale Actors involved : Urban planning department, independant experts, specialized firms, architecture offices, citizens, local associations (Essbare Stadt)

BENEFITS Social : Raising awareness of less priviledged population around the subject of sustainability Environmental : Reduce energy consumption and cooling demand, improve the quality of stormwater, reduce the water discharged in sewerage system during a storm event Economic : Creation of local jobs during construction and maintenance, energy cost reduction

TRIGGERING THE GREEN LOCAL ECONOMY

Location : Specific neighbourhood(s): existing social housing neighbourhoods in need for refurbishment and revitalization Cost scale : +++ Timeframe:

set-up : 2 years

realisation : 5 years

effective results : 1 year

CONCEPT The proposal consists in the development of green roofs in specific social housing neighbourhoods.

It first requires the identification of potential buildings and studies of feasibility and then the involvement of inhabitants to support the projects.

AIM In the short term, this project aims at the revitalization of social housing neighbourhoods, through the improvement of the leaving conditions of their inhabitants as they would be able to grow their own food in the context of an educational process.

In a longer term this would first lead to the implementation of a green grid in the existing urban fabric.

Second, the project would represent a support to local agriculture, to the development of energy efficiency and it would favour a better situation in terms of water discharge., among other environmental improvements.

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INVESTIGATE THE POTENTIAL FOR AN INDUSTRIAL SYMBIOSIS IN LÜBECK Hard measure Priority status: 2 Initiated and financed: Municipalityand Port Authority Project scale: Stadt-Umland scale Actors involved: Municipality, industries, port authority, local universities

TRIGGERING THE GREEN LOCAL ECONOMY

Location: Lübeck and city’s harbour Cost scale: + + + Timeframe: Set-up of the project: 6 months Realisation: 5 years and more Effective results: 4 years

BENEFITS

CONCEPT

Social: Create local jobs in the circular economy

Lübeck is home of many industries, producing in various fields such as health care, food and food technology as well as wind energy and turbines production. Industrial symbiosis aims to develop partnership between industries and firms: a byproduct of an industry would be used as a resource for another one, industrial symbiosis therefore aiming to create a circular and local “industrial ecosystem”. As an example, waste water, steam, sludge, or heat generated during the production phase of a good can be reused in the process of production of another good.

Environmental: Reduce resource and energy consumption Economic: Increase competitiveness of local industries by reducing costs of resources and transport

AIM The purpose of this study is to investigate, in cooperation with research teams from Lübeck’s universities, resources, products and waste streams in the city urban area. A management plan will help the city of Lübeck and industries to reach environmental performance targets while increasing their economic competitiveness and cutting their resources and transport costs.

The study could moreover investigate the potential to reuse the heat produced by activities in the port and in industrial zones to use it as energy in the city of Lübeck.

Initiated by Netherlands/Rotterdam: INES project, Denmark/Kalundborg: industrial symbiosis

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DEVELOPING MULTI-SCALAR STRATEGIES

MORE POLICY INTEGRATION

MORE COORDINATION

MORE VISIBILITY

strategic plan to oversee the projects

2015

regional planning for complementarities in green industries

2035

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Soft measure Priority status : high Initiated : municipality Financed : local and regional public funds Project scale : Stadt-Umland Actors involved : municipality, citizens

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Location : within a perimeter defined by the projects Cost scale : + Timeframe : set-up : 3 years

realisation : 20 year

effective results : 3 to 20 years

GREEN GROWTH STRATEGIC PLAN

BENEFITS Economic : job creation and increased competitiveness of the local businesses Environmental : reduction of resources and energy consumption Social : raising awareness among civil society, local businesses, industries and creation of links between the municipality and the civil society

DEVELOPING MULTI-SCALAR STRATEGIES

CONCEPT This plan is an instrument of urban development: it intends to enhance innovation and local initiatives by providing a unifying framework for projects that are currently being implemented without any coordination between each other. The main idea behind this measure is to provide a masterplan that would ease the spatialization of the green growth strategies by bringing a systemic approach of the concrete projects into play.

Thus, the plan will coordinate the actions, projects and initiatives undertaken by the public authorities (inter-regional, regional and local), the private companies and the civil society. Concretely, it will present in a single document all the policies related to green growth, so that the different stakeholders can be aware of them and adapt their actions accordingly. The plan should also provide a map locating the projects that have been realised, the ongoing ones and the ones that are planned.

AIM This measure aims at two main goals:

- coordinating the projects and promote their symbiosis, within the framework of a systemic approach of planning: for example, a company can find out that the Entsorgungsbetriebe L端beck (EBL) collects wastewaters and produce biogas out of the sludge, and decide to send their own wastewaters to the EBL in order to get back some energy. Thus, the plan will enable symbioses that may not have existed if the different actions related to green growth in L端beck had not been presented;

- enhancing the visibility of the initiatives thanks to their affiliation to a broader set of projects: for example, thanks to the plan, the industrial symbiosis in the port can be brought out, and this could help to attract more investors and companies in order to deepen this symbiosis.

The plan should not be binding, as we believe that the green growth dynamics have to be triggered through knowledge and awareness, and not through constraining regulatory frameworks.

Inspired by SUSTANIA 100 (Denmark/Copenhagen)

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REGIONAL PLANNING GREEN-INDUTRIES Soft measure Priority status : medium Initiated : Municipalities from the cities.

Financed : local and regional funds Project scale: Regional Actors involved : Local authorities from Lübeck, Kiel, Lünebourg. Universities and research institutions, green industries.

BENEFITS Social : raising awareness among civil society ath the scale of the region, creation of links between the municipal authorities and industries involved.

Environmental : Improve the sprawl of knowledge and skills through the Schleswig Holstein region, and support innovation in green industries Economic : Try to improve common businesses at the scale of the Schleswig Holstein so as be a cluster region in the field of energy.

FOR

DEVELOPING MULTI-SCALAR STRATEGIES

Location : Main cities of the Schleswig Holstein region : Lübeck, Kiel, Lünebourg, ...

Cost scale : + Timeframe:

set-up : 3 to 5 years

realisation : 20 years

effective results : 5 to 20 years

CONCEPT This regional plan is a tool to organise the settlement of innovative and green industries on the basis of complementarity more than competitiveness. In other words, it aims to manage the spread of industries in the Schleswig-Holstein region according to a specific field of work. For instance, one city will specialize itself in the field of waste management and production of biomass, an other will specialize itself in the field of water treatment and so on. In each city, universities will be in charge to specify the task of some of their laboratories so as to work as partners with the industries. At the end, this plan wants to create a cluster at the scale of the region, with several polarities made of high qualified industries and universities.

AIM The identification of areas devoted to a specific development should facilitate the settlement of new industries in terms of land use planning at the scale of the region, but also to ccordinate their production so as to optimize them. Moreover, the idea of complementarity has for purpose to facilitate the cooperations and links between the main cities of the Schleswig Holstein region, then to the creation of a multi-polar cluster to balance the core city of Hamburg. Finally, thanks to the affiliation of industries to a specific location, the attractiveness and visibility of each city should be enhanced, as well as its cultural identity.

Image from : Hammer, S. et al.(2011), “Cities and Green Growth: A Conceptual Framework”, OECDRegional Development Working Papers2011/08, OECD Publishing

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The proposals depicted in this study underline two main points which seem crucial for the activation of a broad network of actors at a local scale. The first one, and probably the most important, is the need for local authorities to get involved in order to foster the development of a low-carbon and resource efficient economy. The second one is the need for long-term and hard measures that involve many actors and require huge investment.These hard measures can be supported by soft measures that would rise the awareness of the civil society and of local businesses around the topics of green growth and sustainable development, so as to favour their implementation.

Finally, all these measures can not effective on the long term if not carried by an overall vision for the city. We mentioned earlier the difficulty to develop green growthoriented projects on a long term vision with short-term political agendas. Thus, the reflexion arising from that proposals must be oriented on the construction of a tool or structure to carry this long term vision. A charter for a green growth-oriented development, the reification of a local and regional agenda might help to draw this vision, and to promote it at a regional and local scale, but only if they are taken in charge by stakeholders acting independantly of political orientation.

Moreover, this vision and way forward to a low-carbon and resource efficient city needs to be evaluated regularly, if not yearly, to reckon the steps achieved at the local scale. This evaluation, whether it is established by local authorities or by the civil society (citizens or non-profit organization), will help to reckon the milestone achieved towards this vision of a greener and more efficient city.

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CONCLUSION

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The city of Lübeck is characterised by a great involvement from its stakeholders (the civil society, several academic and research institutions, private and public companies) when it comes to the development of its urban area, which gives rise to a lot of debates and conflicts regarding that topic, and leads to several transformations of the city. From our analysis, it came out that in Lübeck economic actors do not hesitate to take part to the debate around the implementation of green growth-oriented actions. Industries and research institutions collaborate with the local authorities to favour innovative entrepreneurship and studies. Moreover, the scale of the city allows the development of many local economies and multi-disciplinary networks or clusters with an easy communication between them. Thus, it appears to us that the city can be considered as a laboratory for the implementation of green growth.

However one should not forget the tremendous changes which will be brought to the city by the various on-going regional and cross-border projects. In this regard, one can wonder for instance what role Lübeck could play in the ongoing construction of the STRING network, and how the city will be impacted by the major changes that these cross-border dynamics are likely to trigger in the years to come?

In a larger context, this study focused on the local scale enabled us to better understand the issues, stakes, and potential of the concept of green growth, and its impact on cities. For instance, the theoretical part of our work, by the analysis of the scientific literature and strategies developed at different levels shows a multiplicity of definitions concerning green growth.

From our study, we are now able to suggest our point of view on the question, and clearly identify the differences between concepts such as sustainable development, green growth, green economy and degrowth. Indeed, at the heart of the debate around green growth, lies one main fracture. This fracture divides those who believe that our economic system should be adapted to the resources available to us, and the ones who think that it is desirable to adapt environmental issues to our economy. Consequently, one may consider three possible ways of interpreting green growth. The most basic approach of green growth enrols the sectors of activities whose aim is environment protection and green business. A second approach, more relative, consists of seeing green growth as a process of greening the traditional economic activities. Depending of its impact over the environment, an activity will be qualified of “green” in comparison to a similar activity which exercise a higher pressure on the environment. In this case, the economic system is not questioned. Finally, green growth can be seen as a deeper process of economic evolution, which implies more distance towards a model than promotes systematic and perpetual growth. This thinking trend, appropriated by the degrowth, post-growth

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and ecological economics movements, relies on the idea that ecological limits should be accepted and that we should transit towards a post-growth society, in which growth and productivity gains would not be seen as a pursuit in itself anymore. Instead, more qualitative forms of development would be favoured. (Schor, 2013).

However, considering the fact that our work was intentionally focused on urban development, we have here to emphasize the idea that indeed urban development cannot be separated from its spatial and social context, which necessarily vary from a place to another, so as to be properly initiated. Furthermore, the implementation of green growth requires certain conditions such as a favourable economic context, the ability and space for industries to settle down as well as an interest from private, public and civil actors for green growth. In this way, bottom-up approaches appear as key elements in the understanding of what can be realised and what is missing to the development of a vision for the city which integrates the green growth requirement and the local demand.

Hence, our analysis of what is happening in a specific urban area through the study of policies, stakeholders, and projects.

Indeed, we came to wonder who were the main actors when triggering green growth in an urban context? Local governments are the one in charge to develop an urban vision and guidelines, by taking into consideration with equity the opinion of the citizens that legitimate their role and status. From our studies, it appeared than in the specific case of LĂźbeck, the political changes had a huge influence on the implementation of green growth-oriented actions in the city. More precisely, in a long-term vision necessary to implement green growth, how a continuity in the process would then be guaranteed when political agendas are changing so frequently?

In parallel, the role and impact of technologies in cities is most of the time accentued, and makes them more marketable and attractive. It is considered as value driver and a transformer for sustainable development of the city and the society, by paying an important impulse in the demographic changes of networks and economy in a city. Nevertheless, one has to understand that cities are not only technologies and investments. What other prerequisites for the implementation of green growth then?

Important flows of people, an inclusive city, an overall social justice, ‌? Most of the time, the civil society (associations such as die Lernende Stadt) is willing to act, but is often not enough empowered by municipal authorities. For us, it is now clear that citizens can act at a small scale in a green growth-oriented economy. By keeping on giving their opinion, sharing informations and develop local initiatives, they can influence the daily life of each and constitute at least a non exhaustive base of profiles projects, tools, actions to be considered as supply to orientate the future developments of cities.

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Finally, as urban planners, the point of view on green growth that we adopted was in direct relation with urbanism, and influenced by a constant need to spatialize the concept of green growth. In this context, it appears now to us that urban planners, as they produce spaces for people should be vectors of a more inclusive model of urban development based on the concept of green growth to ease its spreading throughout the diverse dimensions that compose urbanity. More precisely, they have to be the hinge between political authorities, research teams and the civil society in order to foster the development of green growth which should be at the service of citizens as well as the economic development of small and middle-size cities.

Further investigations have to be considered. A first one in the direction of a deeper analysis of the communication around the concept of green growth to the stakeholders concerned, as we noticed that, very often, they were not able to make the difference between sustainable development and green growth strategies. Also, as we emphasize the importance of the civil society of our work, it would be another concern to study the legitimacy of its most active members. Indeed, are the citizens who share their ideas and projects very representative of the major opinion?

A second point results from our work, namely the obvious necessity to develop indicators or ways of assessment of green growth in cities and further questions directly emerge from this idea: Who would be in charge to develop these indicators and on which criterias? Would it be possible to support these assessments by incentives? And If yes established by whom, and at which scale?

Finally, we discovered from our work the added value and potential of green growth in an urban context for an optimal economical and social development of cities. In a context of a post-crisis time, local authorities have to find new means to stay economically dynamic, while achieving the European 2020 objectives. More precisely, a very import prerequisite to a successful implementation of green growth in cities would be for the local authorities to come to the understanding that the concept of green growth can prove to be an efficient mean to trigger and support the local economy while improving the urban development in its cohesive dimension and providing a better quality of life for the inhabitants of their city. And to this extend, who would tackle the challenge to develop a global awareness and will to act in the direction of green growth?

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BIRKHOELSER K., 2000. Formen und Reichweite Lokaler Ökonomien, Interdisziplinäre Forschungsgruppe Lokale ökonomie an der Technischen Universität Berlin.

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The World Bank, 2010. Eco2 Cities. Ecological Cities as Economic Cities, The World Bank, Washington D.C. The World Bank, Herndon, 2012. Inclusive Green Growth : The Pathway to Sustainable Development. The World Bank, Washington D.C. UN-Habitat, 2011. “What Does the Green Economy Mean for Sustainable Human Development”. Expert Group Meeting 17-18 February 2011 Tribe Hotel, Nairobi.

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WEBOGRAPHY greattransition.org, “Monetizing nature: taking precaution on a slippery slope”, consulted on the 29/05/2015. oecd.org, “About the OECD – Our mission”, consulted on the 28/05/2015. www.greenemotion-project.eu/, consulted on the 14/05/2015. ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/h2020-section/smart-green-andintegrated-transport, consulted on the 14/05/2015. http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/urban/cpt/index_en.htm, consulted on the 14/05/2015. dgnb.de, consulted on the 02/05/2015. die-lernende-stadt.de, consulted on the 03/04/2015. eur-lex.europa.eu, consulted on the 07/04/2015. luebeck.de, consulted on the 31/07/2015. meinestadt.de/luebeck, consulted on the 22/05/2015. neweconomics.org, consulted on the 17/06/2015. smartcircle.uni-luebeck.de, consulted on the 14/05/2015. stadtentwicklung.luebeck.de, consulted on the 22/05/2015. urbact.eut, consulted on the 27/05/2015. uebeck.cloudsters.net, consulted on the 16/06/2015.

ILLUSTRATIONS catalog.flatworldknowledge.com/bookhub/reader/3064?e=barkansoc_1.0-ch15_s01 a.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/poster/2014/04/3028661-poster-psuburb-az.jpg mcacesblogs.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/lttr_green_jobs.gif thenounproject.com/: pictogrammes from Anne Caroline Bittencourt Gonçalves, Marie-Pierre Bauduin, Juan Pablo Bravo, Callum Taylor, Luis Prado, Castor & Pollux, Klara Zalokar, Wilson Joseph, artworkbean, James Cottell, Pascal Conil-lacoste e360.yale.edu/slideshow/along_scar_of_iron_curtain_a_green_belt_rises/82/2/

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ANNEXES

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- Interview with M. Vestergaard, STRING network CEO – 23/04/15 – 55 min.

- Interview with Rudiger Schacht, vice CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of Lübeck 27/05/15 - Interview with U. Kuhn and I. Bauer, Administration of nature protection of the city of Lubeck - 04/06/15.

- Interview with Pr. Schwartze, Lübeck University of Applied Sciences - 25/06/15.

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Interview with M. Vestergaard, STRING network CEO 23/04/15 – 55 min.

Vestergaard : I am a journalist, I used to be a political correspondent, and then I went to public affairs, when we started to do the very large bridges in Denmark, between the East and the West and also to Sweden. And now I changed my position to my current position where I am CEO of the political organisation called STRING, which is an acronym for South-western baltic Trans-national Region Implementing New Geography. We think this name is a good idea, because it is simple to name the link between Hamburg and Copenhagen. So we are a political organisation consisting of region Skane in the south of Sweden, Copenhagen, the Capital Region of Denmark, the region Zeeland, the land of Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg. We cover an area of around 10 million people, and our aim is to develop the region in the consequence of the new infrastructure that is going to be built between Copenhagen and Hamburg via the Fehmarnbelt link, which is going to be a tunnel of 18 km.

I joined the cooperation in 2011, and we started to develop a strategy in order to develop this area, first in terms of infrastructure. We want an efficient infrastructure between Copenhagen and Hamburg. We work with green growth, culture and tourism, science and research, and cross-border barriers. These are the five fields we have in all our strategies.

Student : The first thing we were wondering what were the changes triggered by the STRING network in the field of green growth.

Vestergaard : I think it’s important to understand that green growth is a way of working within the STRING. We have our STRING 2030 strategy, which is our strategy that is divided into these five areas. And obviously we are very keen on infrastructure, as this is the reason for us to be together. It is going to be what we call “a game-changing infrastructure”: it will change quite a lot of things in our region, in our way of working, of living, of spending our spare time. Normally, when you have a new link, you see boost in traffic and collaboration. So that boost is what we are working with. Where is the boost supposed to be? What direction should we give it? Who should be involved? So the development of the green growth strategy is influencing all the other things that we do, when we work with culture, tourism or infrastructure. When we talk infrastructure, we talk railways, alternative energies, because we think there should be a green development.

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Overall, we want to have a green development, a sustainable development.

The overall result of our work, I refer to the overall strategy, is that we now work together and focus on the development of the corridor whereas earlier we focused on the development in Sweden, in Denmark, in Northern Germany. Now we see that we have a future that will bond us together by the infrastructure. And this may seem a small thing, because we are only building one infrastructure, which will cost 100 billion Danish Crowns, but it reduces travel time, it increases accessibility. And for example, now the city of Hamburg has delivered its proposal for the organisation of the Olympic Games in 2024, and that will be a huge event. And Hamburg airport is not big enough for that. So when they get the link, they could go from Copenhagen airport to Hamburg in 2 hours, and that’s a big change because today it would take 4 to 5 hours. And that could be an access route for the athletes and the people coming. So that would be what we call “a game-changing infrastructure” in the region. Also, the companies working on either side will start to work closer together. They will start to consider that redistribution systems, because they will be able to have one distribution centre to deliver all around the region.

So that would have a big influence on the planning and the private sector.

We also have on the scientific sector a big institution in Hamburg called DAISY, that are working with material sciences, and we are building another installation in Malmö, and these two could actually work together. Therefore we could see a development of companies all along the corridor, because they could use both of these research centres.

So all this thinking, this mind-set of thinking together instead of separately is a concrete result of what we do in STRING. I think that is some of the main changes that we brought.

It is also obvious that all the strategies that we have, nationally and regionally and locally and in the EU, think sustainable. They think green, in various fields. And we want to get people together to share their knowledge. And we do that by making this green growth strategy. And the vision is also linked to growth: we want growth, we want more jobs, we want growth in our economy. But we want to do it in a sustainable way.

So how do we do that, then? How do we take our overall strategy and put it into action? We do that by making projects, and we have developed proposals for projects that could be part of the way that we plan and conduct our societies. One project that we have made is called GREAT (?) and it is a project that will supply infrastructures for alternative fuels. It stretches from Hamburg all the way up to Oslo. You will have charging stations for electricity, you will have liquid gas stations, hydrogen stations, so that you can be sure that in these 1 000 km you can use your alternative car and be safe that you are not out of gas in the middle of the corridor. It’s quite a large project: I think it’s like 13 million euros project. We both invest in hardware, that is the charging stations, but it’s also an investment in the marketing and the idea of going in cars driven by alternative

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fuels. And that is our intention, that we should transform our vision of green growth into something that could be visible and understandable, something that could be a sort of a showcase of how we think. We want to promote green transports, and we do it in concrete terms.

Another project that we have is about biofuels, which are difficult to get because they use lots of energy. But we want to go deeper in the issues of biofuels and start to make production of biofuels in our region. A third thing that we have done in the field of transportation is that we have asked the governments of Sweden, Denmark and Germany to start planning the future rail service, not the rail lines, but the service: how to operate it when the link is there. And the reason for us to do that is for the people and the accessibility, to get the best train service for our citizens, if they want to travel.

But it is also to be more competitive towards other transport modes. So this is all part of our green thinking, that we say “If we want to attract more goods and more passengers from roads to trains or green transportations, it has to be sufficient and a customerfriendly system.” And it has also to be a coherent trans-border system. One of the most difficult things in the world is to plan railroad services across borders. In the EU they have started to work with transportation corridors, where they want to make smooth passage between cars and trains, in order to get better accessibility to markets along the line. This piece of infrastructure between Copenhagen and Hamburg is part of the ScandinavianMediterranean corridor running all the way North to Finland down to Malta in the South.

It’s the longest and the wealthiest corridor in Europe.

The minds of the planners have to be changed from a patchwork to a network, because the railroad administrations have been a patchwork for many years, they are very national, they don’t think beyond borders, and that makes it very difficult to have trains running across Europe. So that is another way of thinking green in a very concrete and political way.

Student : When you are talking about “we”, you mean the STRING network? Is it the initiator of all the projects, or do you give ideas and someone else is involved in the development of the projects?

Vestergaard : The common group is the initiator of projects, and, to certain extend driver of the idea. But for example, the great project on alternative fuels is led by one of our members, region Skane in Sweden. But it could also be another institution that does our projects. But when I say “we”, it is the network, the politicians. We are working on a very strategic political level: we are planning for the next 50 years, but again, we want projects now to illustrate our ideas. It should be visible. Another thing that we’ve been

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working with is clusters, and there we have initiated an idea that all the clusters in this area, where we are so good at renewable energies, would have an umbrella that covers all the clusters, in order to be more competitive in the world market. But that actually has already been done. So we have some influence. With this umbrella, we want to promote renewable industries and renewable researches, but also create growth and more jobs.

That is also another way to think green and lead to more growth, more development.

Student : What is your relationship towards the authorities, local and national?

Verstergaard : The concrete thing that we did is that we had a project called “Green STRING corridor” that worked with an EU project related to sustainable transports and logistics. During that project, they had a group of companies from Sweden, Denmark and Germany, and they acted together to analyse the situation. And they never met before we put them in relation. And they came back and said “If we should have a very efficient and modern transport system, we need at least five years to plan, establish the strategy, and make the business plans”. They gave that to us, and then we had some consultancy to take a look at that, and it resulted in a small report that we handed over to the ministers, in March, in Berlin. So that’s normal lobbying, I would say. And we suggested an action plan, what you should do as governments if we should have this project. So it was a roadmap towards a more efficient railroad service. In very concrete terms. Nobody has asked for it, but in our mind it was a way of lobbying for this. And we are regions, so we are not national governments, and therefore we have to lobby towards national governments, because some of these issues that we deal with are national government issues, especially in infrastructures. So we try to figure out how we want the development, and what would lead to that, who are the actors involved, and then we try to influence them. And that’s basic normal lobbying work. So we have very close relations with the governments, we talk to them, frequently, and also to the parliamentarians themselves.

Then we have quite a lot of collaborations with Brussels, with the Commission, especially with the research and science department. And we also have contacts to the members of the EU parliament from Denmark, Sweden and Germany, because they have an influence on the policies. Then we have all the businesses in the area, that organised themselves in the Fehmarnbelt business association. They are a parallel business organisation. And of course we have a lot of collaborations, because we have the same issues. So we are quite close to them and we have conferences with them. Then, of course, we have relations with the universities. We also have initiated an advisor board, consisting of researchers and business people: they would meet frequently and look at the way we work and the projects that we have, and then see the direction we should head to. They criticize our work, but they are a good balancing discussion partner, and also with the

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right to suggest initiatives. I find it quite stimulating to have these meetings, because it’s a huge workshop. So these are some of our partners.

Student : And do you have difficulties to negotiate with so many partners, at different scales? Is it an obstacle for the implementation of the STRING strategy?

Vestergaard : The regions themselves are our members, as well as any city in the corridor. They are working with their agenda, and there are a lot of common agendas.

But they are not necessarily thinking at the regional scale, or in the corridor. So there we have to be the driver that initiates thoughts, new ways of thinking, ideas, and projects.

The biggest obstacle is that this is something new: it is a new development that crosses borders, political entities, economic entities or infrastructure entities. And getting people to think out of the box is the biggest obstacle. But it is there in all new situations.

I don’t see the governments or the EU or Lübeck as obstacles, I see them as potentials, because when we explain our thinking to the mayor of Lübeck he sees that he will be in the middle of the corridor, and that he will gain a new airport, Copenhagen airport.

So he sees that as part of the change. It is going to be the revival of the Hanseastadt.

But a lot of other cities don’t see it, because they are so focused on their own agenda, fulfilling the wishes of their pairs. That’s the thing we have to deal with, try to tell the stories of the future, which is always difficult. And that is why we want to transform our strategies in concrete projects. We have also joined all the tourist organisations in the corridor, and they are now making a project on the tourism development. It could be a brand new worldwide destination on the market, being bigger than Copenhagen and Hamburg separately. So we use our forces to do something new, and we want to have collaborations before the link opens, in order to see the changes now.

Student : How do you evaluate the progress?

Vestergaard : We deliver a yearly report which we delivered last year for the first time. It has indicators for several green developments and use of energy. One of the propositions is to join research forces to create new standards to measure green development.

Student : Could you tell us something about the potentialities in Lübeck?

Vestergaard : I think Lübeck is involved in a logistic cluster and a renewable cluster.

They are certainly part of the tourism network, also. But I do not know this in detail, because our direct partner is the land Schleswig-Holstein. But the Chamber of Commerce works a lot to develop the link and what could happen after the link is created. I think Lübeck

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is going to be one of the key-points when it comes to transport. And they think green in the planning and the development of industrial areas. So they are already thinking that.

But it is going to be a quite new position for Lübeck. They could, and they would, benefit from the strategy. They see themselves as the centre. They are working a lot on science collaborations.

Student : What do you mean by “green development” and “green growth”? Is it different for you from sustainable development?

Vestergaard : No. Not necessarily. But we use the term “green growth”, because it recognises the need for economic growth that is balanced with environmentally responsible economic development. So there you have the sustainability too in the definition of green growth. But when we started to develop this, there was not one definition of green growth, there were many. So we had to find our own definition. So sustainability is for me a part of green growth.

Student : And do you tackle the social aspect of sustainable development?

Vestergaard : We had the discussion on that when we created the organisation, because in the first draft we had the social development. But our politicians said “No, we don’t want to work with social development”. So we shouldn’t care about that. So that was not included in our definition and our work, but it was in the first draft. We are the catalyst of a development, and also the driver in a certain extent, so we are not social politicians, and I think it is quite fair that they told us to exclude this aspect. We cannot do it all.

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- Interview with Rudiger Schacht, vice CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of Lübeck - 27/05/15.

Rudiger Schacht : I studied international economics and then I go to the Chamber of Commerce here in Lubeck, and now I’m the vice CEO of the Chamber of Commerce.

And I am responsible for all things which belong to regional policy, traffic, infrastructure, regional planning here in the region and also in Schleswig- Holstein, so called Landes entwicklungs plan. It is the development plan of Schleswig- Holstein and the Chamber are really strongly involved in this process because we are the voice of the regional economy.

In Germany it’s law for all companies to be a member of the chamber. If you have industrial traffic companies, all sales, all these companies they all have to be a member of the Chamber. And for the part of the handycraft there is a special chamber. But all the other companies have to be a member of the chamber, and that’s a little bit different than other countries where the companies can decide to be member or not. That gives us the possibility to speak for the whole economy of the region. Not for the part who are members because all have to be member we can speak for all. We have no problem with the money because they have to pay (laugh), yes we represent the whole economy. To the public and especially to the politicians. What are the needs of the economy, then we answer, not only alone we have special organizations where the people from the companies are members and we ask them, it’s special committees for traffic, for industries, for education and we ask our members through these committees, that’s the organization of the chamber. It’s not only our opinion we give to the politician because we have to have a feedback with our members. It’s a bottom-up organization.

We are involved into the preparation of regulatory documents, we give our statements.

We are not a private organization, it’s a little bit between private and public. It’s called korperschaft the government as to ask us when they make a new law or planning for infrastructure, all this things, where a motorway should be put, or railway track, they have to ask us and we have to answer. They do not have to do exactly what we want of course but they have consider our opinion that is our influence. The better our arguments are, the bigger is the chance that the governments realize what we want. But it doesn’t always work, sometimes they have different opinion of course. (Government being either Schleswig- Holstein or the city of Lubeck)

We have contact with the local governments like the Hanseatic city of Lubeck, which is a part of Schleswig- Holstein. So we have our regional government for all the thing which are interesting in the region but the main government is in Kiel, the capital

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of Schleswig- Holstein. So we have contact with our regional government, and also with the government of Kiel. And Schleswig- Holstein is divided in three chamber districts, Lubeck, Kiel. The biggest cities in Schleswig- Holstein. The district of the chamber goes from the Baltic Sea to the North Sea.

Students : How could green growth enhance the economy of Lubeck?

Rudiger Schacht : It depends on which part of the economy you consider.

Traffic for example is something that make noise and co2 and all the things with the competitiveness of Lübeck would be better if we find green solutions but it’s not easy because the completion now. You have to invest money if you change something and you have to hand this money to the market. I think it’s a process to come to greener solutions. Especially for traffic. But I think in total, because in every economy in the world it become more and more green, not as fast as some people would like but it would be good for the climate or something like this but I think it’s the German economy, and also the economy of Lübeck and Schleswig- Holstein has green solutions. It may strengthen their economic competitiveness in the long run of course. Because if you look at China they have a lot of issues in cities because of pollution and smog, if you have solutions for this I think the Chinese would buy this, especially with Lubeck, I think our companies have such solutions. It is a market for the future and I think a market that will grow in the future. But you have to be careful that the steps are not too big at one time. Because you have to finance it, the State have to finance and also the companies they have to earn money on the market.

Students : Could you tell us more about the program of green innovation of the Chamber of Commerce?

Rudiger Schacht : One of my colleague is a counselor for companies and help them to understand what can be done, either to get some grants from the state, or to implement green solutions for their businesses in terms of innovation, traffic… We explain to the companies how they can become greener, it’s one of our main jobs. We don’t take any money for that, because people asking for advice are our members. The small and medium size companies especially use our services, because the biggest companies have their own counselors and experts.

Students : Is there a strategy towards the local government to promote green growth in the proposition that you make?

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Rudiger Schacht : We have no special strategy, but we are in a constant contact to

the local government, the senators, the mayor. But we are member of an organization called Climate for Lübeck, along with big companies. We meet four or five times a year, talking about what can be done towards green growth in the next few months. Some new companies have to join this organization. Some companies being part of this organization belongs to the Lübeck government entirely or partly. So in an indirect way the government is involved in the organization, notably through the public transport company of the city or through the electricity provider in Lübeck, partially owned by the city. Every year one company get a prize for having done something good, so the newspaper come and raise public interest around this. I think that the public interest is really important, that they see that the companies of Lübeck does something towards green growth.

Electric cars are also a big part of green growth according to me. If they are powered by electricity coming from wind turbines. Not from nuclear power plant of course. We have a lot of wind in our region, if you look at the west-coast of Schleswig- Holstein, they are a lot of so called wind parks. And they are some days in the year, when the wind is blowing, the complete electricity in the Schleswig- Holstein is produced by wind power.

It is the goal of our government that the whole electricity used in the region is produced by the wind. They are also planning to sell this electricity to the southern part of Germany.

Because there are the big industries and they need a lot of electricity. But they are some problems to build up new lines for electricity. It is also our role of the Chamber to make public relations to promote green companies in Lübeck. Electric mobility is especially good in cities, because you’re only driving short ways.

Students : For you, what are the main obstacles for the implementation of green growth strategies in Lübeck?

Rudiger Schacht : I think one of the big obstacle is the acceptance of stakeholders.

As I explain, we have to do a lot to convince the companies that it is a good way. It is one of the biggest goal to have a conversion to electric mobility for example.

Students : Do they invoke the economic drawback?

Rudiger Schacht : Sometimes it is not only the company but also the customer of the company. They are green and will ask for such products. But if they are not thinking in this way… It’s all a matter of thinking and the company who think in the green way will become more and more. Big markets like China moreover demand for this. But sometimes it is easier to make things move by law, even if it is better if the companies come to that idea by themselves. This is a discussion we also have with the government, when is it time

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to make that law, or when is it time that companies come on their point on their own.

Sometimes the government is a bit too quick, it is too expensive, but in the last possibility you have to make that laws.

Students : Is there laws that already exist that could correspond to the green growth concept? Or financial incitation?

Rudiger Schacht : The possibility for local government to make laws on that topic is very small. Most of them come from Kiel or Berlin, and in this case also for Brussels.

But Lübeck have to be sure the companies follow the rules. But they are especially a lot of laws for the farmers coming from Kiel, concerning the ground and saving nature. We have special laws in Germany, concerning what is allowed to produce and where, the traffic produced, and here is the chance for the local government to influence companies on green growth. But as I said, a lot of things are coming from Kiel or from Brussels. It is often said by politicians, it’s not me, it’s Brussels, but you know, sometimes Brussels laws are translated in German laws in a much more strong way, being translated from the European laws to national laws.

Students : As we are talking about the stakeholders, do you get involve with the civil society? Do you discuss with citizens or local organizations to make them closer to your approach?

Rudiger Schacht : Yes, we have also contact with civil organizations from environmental protection, we have a lot of them in Germany. We need these organizations and we are in contact with them. Especially when bigger infrastructure systems are to be realize, such as motorways. You may have heard that the Danish government is planning to build a tunnel to connect Danish and German islands. It is a very big project. And that’s not easy in Germany to plan such projects, and that’s why we have contact with organizations. We do not always have the same opinions, but we need to come together.

A lot of time they are right of course.

Students : Do you know how Lübeck will position itself, because it is more or less in the middle of the infrastructure?

Rudiger Schacht : We hope that we will have a lot of chances with this. It is clear that it makes good development for the economy of the region for the Oresund region and Hamburg. But we are quite optimistic that this infrastructure will have positive effects on Lübeck, not only the train noises. But we have to do something for it. We have to help the companies to have contact with the Danish companies. We have to help them to

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come together in the future. We also have to pay some money for the tunnel, because it is financed by the Danish government but it will be refinanced by the users, but it will be quicker for companies to reach Denmark than today. And then we have to be prepared that if the companies want to settle here, we have the ground for the companies to settle.

If we do this, I think in Lübeck we have good chances.

Students : Do you have examples of companies you put in contact?

Rudiger Schacht : Yes we have some examples. One of them is about the education.

Our companies they educate young people and also the Danish companies. So the young people from each border are working in companies from the other country. It is really interesting for young people to learn something about the work culture of the other country. Then we have companies that works together with universities that work together for medical technologies. Small companies are working together with researchers from each borders. We organize meeting for them so they can know each other.

One more question, for you, as an economic stakeholder, do you think that green growth policy concept is different from sustainable development concept?

I think it’s not different. I think sustainability is a part of green growth, it belongs together for my understanding.

Students : And how would you define green growth? If you had to give your definition, your approach?

Rudiger Schacht : It’s a growth of economy but taking in mind that the growth have to be sustainable, because we can’t use all the things, makes products out of them and do not think that they will be an afterward. But I think that sustainability and green growth, one needs the other. I think it’s the only chance to have growth in the future, green growth.

I think we need growth also in the future. But I think green growth is the chance to have growth also in the future, because you think about what will come afterward.

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Interview with U. Kuhn and I. Bauer, Administration of nature protection of the city of Lubeck - 04/06/15

Louise Meyer : To begin, could you shortly introduce yourselves and present your mission in the administration?

Ursula Kuhn : Im Ursula Kuhn, I work here at the admnistration of nature protection of the Hansestadt Lubeck. We deal with several topics and we give permissions or restrictions to develop projects in natural areas. We also do the landscape planning of the city.

Ingrid Bauer : And I develop some projects with people outside the administration, such as civil society organizations, and more precisely the Lernendestadt, to develop urban gardening initiatives.

Arthur Bourhis : What are these projects and how do you involve the citizens in such projects?

IB : The network (the Lernendestadt) contains twenty five different projects.

Eventhough they evolve on thier own, we try to coordinate them and create some commun actions so as to bring these different projects together. We try to make them visible so that the city can see how they contribute to the preservation of biodiversity.

Besides, if some people want to start other projects that seem relevent, what I try to do is helping them getting a piece of land, which I can do thanks to my connexions with the city. UK: We also help financing the projects, by creating connexions between these initiatives and NGO's who would be willing to support these initiatives.

AB : And could you give an example of a project that was successful?

IB : Yes, one of the greatest achievements was a project that aimed at planting apple trees in the city. A brand of local apple juice was created. We managed to raise 40.000 euros last year for this project and hopefully, we will keep on supporting this initiative this year.

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LM : And you support projects, such as this one, dealing with local agriculture.

What other type of projects do you support?

IB : Urban gardening, and the ones that aim at teaching, passing on information and methods to children... but also to adults! on the theme of biodiversity.

UK : the projects of the Eadible Town, in the Lernendestadt, are only one part of this climate protection oriented projects.

LM : And how would you characterize the civil society of Lubeck in regards these environmental initiatives? Are they rather active?

UK : Yes, I think so. The name "Eadible Town" was actually created by the city of Andernach, near the Rhin river. But here, in Lubeck, it is not so much that city that enourages initiatives: it really comes from the civil society. People start things by themselves, the initiatives are totally private, and what we do is try to connect them and give them recognition from the part of the city. We are very interested in the idea that these projects of urban gardening, and agriculture, can be developed not only in private gardens but also in public spaces. For instance, we supported a project of wild flowers plantation on the city's public's spaces. it is not so usual to have wild flowers in densly built urban areas.

IB :These areas with wild flowers have been integrated in our map of landscap planning of biodiversity and climate protection.The idea of implementing meadows of wild flowers has actually been taken over by the city, who now tries to do it more, at the edge of the old town.

AB : Do private companies also involve themselves in these projects?

IB : Not really. We do have some contacts with the Chamber of Commerce though.

LM : We read that the Local agenda 21 was the main framework for local environmental policies. It is a useful tool for you?

UK : We had that, but it is very old, you know. There was an administration for the local agenda 21, but in the 1990's. It ended in 2004, so it really does not exist anymore.

LM : But then, who sets the objectives and the policies for the city?

UK : It has become directly connected to the mayor's office. But since our mayor

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is not so interested in the topics of climate and biodiversity protection, it seems that nothing is done anymore for it. Our admnistrations still exist, but they are several: there is no one compact office of the city council dealing with this topic. And the problem is, it is not only the mayor, but most of the local politicians who are simply not interested in the matter.

For instance, we had one big project named "Lubeck 2030, that set objectives for the developement of the city. We selected areas for housing, others for industrial developments, and finally, areas of adaptation to climatic change. The idea was that, with a plan of climatic adapation, it would not have been possible to build housing or industries anywhere in the city, for instance, along the river, which should remain a protected area.

But the politicians of the Burgershaft declined this plan, saying that they wanted new areas for housing, offices, and industries, but no more areas for nature protection. They consider that Lubeck has enough of these areas. It was really sad to understand that it was not something that interested them at all.

IB : It was also difficult to integrate this plan into town planning. Because we are two different administrations (town planning on the one side, nature protection on the other), it is hard to combine the two plans and make them evolve together, in a way that is more integrated.

AB : So would you say that there are no environmental policies at all?

IB : No, that would not be correct either. But in some other towns in Germany, such as Friburg, there are some land use regulations that are much more strict.

UK: It is just that they (the mayor's office) do not see the chances, the oportunities that exist in combining nature protection and town planning. The mayor's priorities are much more linked to economical topics.

LM : What would you say the city of Lubeck has nevertheless acheived, not only in nature protection but also in the promotion of a greener economy?

UK : Citizens are very interested in green developments, but not really if their goal is only financial. We also have a system called Regiobranding, in collaboration with the university of Hanover, which is to know what people like most about the landscape of the city. We asked citizens to pin on a map the places that made them the happier in Lubeck.

It was very striking that people especially loved green areas, and most of all the green areas that are near the water. This project is very interesting. It will go on until 2019.

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IB : The idea of this project is also to confront the people to their own attachment to the landscape. Normally, people do not really think about it, they sort of take it for granted. So it is a means to show the qualitative value of the landscape.

AB : And in the end, with this evalutation, will you make propositions to the city to promote green spaces?

IB : Yes, it's the idea.

AB : And besides Andernach, do you take examples on other cities in Germany, or in Europe that you find interesting?

IB : There are many cities who go in this direction.But generally, they are cities that are more driven torwards culture. They're usually also a bit wider than Lubeck. In Andernach, what is good is that there is a great support from the public authorities and admnistration, and this is what we lack here.

UK : We are also part of a union of 250 cities for biodiversity. The goal is that they support each other and share information about biodiversity in cities.

LM : And what about the other fields of environment protection, such as water protection, waste management, renewable energies? Is the city active in those fields?

UK : They are separate entities from us. But you see, for the waste management, the city has legal obligations to comply to certains standarts, wether it is from the region, the German federal gover첫ent, or the EU. It is not the same for natural areas protection.

There are not such quotas or limits existing. So the city just does the legal minimum.

LM : Do you work in relation with these other administrations?

IB : Yes, we do. There is one for the environment, one for climate change, another for consumers' rights, one for water, one for waste, and so on.

LM : Do they share your diagnosis, that not enough is being done in the city for sustainability?

UK : Yes, I think so! I cannot really speak for them, but I know some people from the climate change department, and they say that there is not enough money in their department for actually being able to do projects. Their staff is also too limited.

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People do agree on the fact that the city won't give money to do anything more that the legal minimum.

IB : We also feel it is hard to reach the decision makers.

UK : Nevertheless, we have done many things here, on our theme. We were actually the first to integrate areas of adaptation to climate change to our lanscape planning document. We have done it! it has been ready since last year! but the politicians did not agreed on it so far, so it cannot be implemented.

AB : Do you know what are the missions and objectives of the urban planning department?

UK : They first have to employ more people there. They are usually not against environmental measures and projects, but they have so much to do that they cannot focus on anything else than housing and indutrial areas' planning.

LM : And what do you think about projects such as the Flintenbrite econeighborhood?

UK : It's a quite old project, that came for the Hanover World Exibition in 2000. They were built on ecological standarts but you have to know that the people who actually live there do not really accept all these standarts. For instance, at the beginning, it was said that there should be no cars near the houses. But the residents did not accept that, so the rules changed. But the types of energies they use for these construction is something that is interesting and important to develop. Now it has become quite common, but in 2000, it actually was quite new and innovative.

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Interview with Pr. Schwartze, Lübeck University of Applied Sciences - 25/06/15.

Students : Green growth is basically green washing of the growth, it is not good for anyone. It is basically again growing without taking care of other countries.

Look also for the project between the university and the department of environmental protection for the improvement of bike lanes infrastructures between the city centre and the University of Applied Science in order to allow even more students to commute everyday using bikes.

Does natural spaces produce growth?

P. Schwartze : I don’t know, because if you look at land use planning, so of course we have this discussion, it’s related to my research topic, climate change adaptation. So what is better, to have a land use planning which is trying to achieve a compact and dense planning, which are not green at all but better in term of resource efficiency and would let more open green spaces around the city so that you have a green areas and grey areas. So for the grey areas maybe you don’t think that they are part of the green growth strategy if you look at the single urban spot. But the alternative is what is in the discussion now, is that the cities should become green with this green growth strategy so that we integrate urban farming and green roofs, and so on. But I’m not sure that this is the ideal conclusion just to put some green in order to make cities more sustainable. Because if I start to extend green spaces in the urban areas, of course I cover more space with urban areas so it requires more space so it is again then has an impact on our mobility patterns.

So they are contradictions in this concept from my point of view. But of course I would agree that green growth and sustainable development just basically mean the same.

There is as well blue growth, to exploit the maritime resources in a sustainable way. There is also purple growth or other colourful growth but the important thing is to understand that it’s not important if the growth is blue or green, the important stuff is to understand that they want to promote growth. That’s the point you have to discuss.

Whether we really have to keep this pace of growth so that if you start to think about the growth model, then maybe you can start to think whether it should be green, blue or grey but we have to rethink the growth model not whether it is green or not. It is just a bit greener, with some more green spaces.

It’s really difficult for policy makers or ourselves to think about less growth.

It’s a way to promote a market oriented growth. Of course they are aspects which are

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interesting, you can think whether it is possible to develop energy efficiency technologies, how to deal with the German government for instance think, with the implementation of the Energie Wende (energie transition), with the fact that jobs can be created with green industries. This is of course part of the green growth strategy.

Students : Do you think that citizens and commuters have specific expectations concerning green growth or sustainable development?

P. Schwartze : Oh yes of course they have but you know it’s a complicate topic.

There is a very nice example: people like to feel comfortable with themselves and they try to have a green lifestyle. So to have a green lifestyle is really chic, we all agree, it’s nice.

So the people go, if they can afford it, they go to organic supermarkets and so on. But the problem is if you buy an apple from an organic supermarket you see whether it’s coming from the region or from Chile. If it come from Chile you’ll think it’s not sustainable. But then when you take your car to go to the supermarket and you come from your nice little house from the countryside where you live your sustainable green life, you make 4 km from with your car to the supermarket, you’re less sustainable than this apple from Chile.

Even if you only buy local products, as long as you go with your car to the supermarket it’s much better to take apple from Chile because they are more sustainable than you at this moment. It’s difficult for the people to understand what really sustainable lifestyle is. So I think especially here in Lübeck a lot of people would say yes, we try to live sustainable, we have wonderful big organization called Landwege that has established this regional network of food producers and you can buy the food in the organic supermarkets and they are organized as a kind of cooperative. What has been established here is exceptional for a city of this size. They are a lot of people in Lübeck which are aware of this question.

What you can see in a town of this size, 200 000 inhabitants is that it is big enough to really set up larger networks concept projects but in the other hand it small enough to know all the relevant people and to connect to each other, so it’s in term of size of the town it will be be quite a good town in term of size to bring this idea of green growth.

Students : Is transport a more efficient way to tackle the challenge of sustainable development than land use planning?

P. Schwartze : They are closely interlinked because with land use planning you define those links. But basically it’s not a problem of land use planning but a problem of our mobility behaviours. It’s not about planning. Of course planning is about decision making but sustainable development is not about planning, you really have to influence mobility patterns and behaviours, that’s the two fields we have to work on. You cannot influence people’s behaviour through planning.

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The city of Lübeck is not dense enough to offer close amenities, you would need a proper public transport system which is not possible if you don’t have the right density.

Therefore bicycles and new forms of mobility plays a role in it.

Public transport in Germany is organized depending on the needs of the schools, which is not related to the daily trips. You need money to make a more efficient public transport system, which is again a problem of conception, because people might not want to pay more taxes to have efficient public transport. There is also a problem of price of the gasoline compared to the income, it has never been so cheap. It is again a problem of financing.

Students : Car sharing

P. Schwartze : Car sharing is another topic, I think it’s working quite well, even if I have no empirical study on it. I think Lübeck is really special for that because people really care, if I remember well car sharing was established quite early compared to other cities.

I think it is working.

Students : Stakeholders in the field of sustainable Land Use planning in Lübeck

P. Schwartze : The key actor is the Senate, with the two departments of urban planning and environmental protection department. Including in transport planning there is also transport planning.

Students : Smarticity research center

P. Schwartze : No projects yet

Students : Successful examples in sustainable/green growth land use planning

P. Schwartze : Maybe the area of the new cluster could be a good example. The academic quarter is an area for 3000 inhabitants, quite dense with amenities, kinder gardens, public services, a park, it is designed to be adapted to heavy rain events. To a certain extent the whole area is quite sustainable.

The problem we all have with sustainable development is that when it comes to show something, there are only little districts so there is nothing to show.

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Examples from other cities: Tuping sudsadt, Freiburg Vauban, Ludwigsburg for sustainable planning policies and energy efficiency, cities taking part in sustainable cities initiatives with climate change programs, Augsburg have a checklist on sustainable development to evaluate each project according to sustainability goals. The department for natural protection is trying to develop this kind of checklist as well here in Lübeck but they failed to implement it together with urban planning department. There are conflict between the two.

It is interesting in Lübeck, it’s true, according to my experience you have a very strong civil society then you have a very big local government.

The civil society in Lûbeck is powerful, they have ideas, they know how to organize themselves, they have set and they do set up a lot of projects and they try to push against the local government and the administrative structures which are weak, because of the people working there, because the city has no money, because of the political structure as well.

Lübeck has a very old tradition of having a civil society organization that take care of the wellbeing of the local community. They have the so called Gemeinde zeige that is an organization that exists since nearly 220 years, taking care for poor and non-educated people but now they have different initiatives and foundations working on social issues, on ecological issues and so on. You have this initiative along Essbare stadt with people dealing with organic food production and so on. Ou have initiative for the redevelopment of the harbour area. Close to the historic city there is the former haror ara and it was planned like Hafencity in Hamurg to have a new chic and fancy neighbourhood and there was a really strong civil society movement against this Hafencity like development they wanted a more grass root development with local initiatives and they have develop a concept now.

You have have a group called Cloudsters, they try to combine the community thinking of the internet with the local society, there is an organization called E-punkt, the citizen engine. It is Bürger Kraftwerk. You can go there if you want to volunteer and they give you recommendation of where you can work and help. So you have a lot of initiatives, it is unbelievable, I didn’t know that in one city you can have all those initiatives. The Lernende Stadt as well. And the Wissen schaft which is as well a local organization, local actors working together to profit of the science we have here in the location.

People are so invest here because apparently it always have been a free hanseatic city, so they have this engagement, this civil society thinking which is somehow in their genes. And they have fundings, this is an interesting point because Lübeck has very strong funding agency, so called Prossil foundation that is a big company and the owner of this

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company has declared before he died in the 1915’s that all the profit of the company, which is a huge global company, has to be spend for purposes, for the benefits of the citizens of Lübeck. Like the new Hanse museum which was totally paid by this company.

If you have an idea for the city you can write an application to this company and you get funding. And this does not exists in other cities that civil engagement can be really funded. It is also creating a lot of activities.

Students : It seems that the obstacles to activate sustainable development in Lübeck comes more from the local government than from the citizens here in the city

P. Schwartze : The local is a quite normal German local government, not better or worse than any governments, they have this very powerful civil society, it is not like in Freiburg where the civil society and the local government are more linked together going in the same direction, it is not the case here.

This illustrates also the issue that we all want to have civil society engagement but then the local politician are so feeling legitimate as the people elected by the citizens, feeling they have to decide for the entire city, of course you have to have more green areas but people have not elected the party to implement this. So the politicians they can say yes, we represent the wish of all the people in a democratic way, if you have strong powerful initiatives that just fight for the wellbeing, they want to have nice apple trees somewhere, but do they really reflect, express the wish and the will of all the society?

That’s a problem.

How do you include all the citizens and not only those who have the time and the education to express themselves?

It’s a difficult and complex issue you have to discuss.

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