Rutt, Rebecca L., A Green, Livable Copenhagen in the Shadow of Racializing, Neoliberalizing Politics, in The Green City and Social Injustice, ed. by Isabelle Anguelovski and James J. T. Connolly (Routledge, 2021), pp. 241–54
Copenhagen is often portrayed as a sustainable and livable city, echoing Denmark’s longstanding reputation as a leader in environmental and social welfare protections, including affordable housing. Yet, neoliberal and racializing trends at the national level are undermining social and environmental justice across the country. In Copenhagen, these intertwining trends manifest in the dominance of a green growth rhetoric in the city’s urban sustainability and livability agendas alongside the dismantling of housing protections, leading to skyrocketing prices and the uprooting of more vulnerable residents. Focusing on the Nørrebro neighborhood, this chapter sheds light on local manifestations of national trends through several recent struggles over the right to the neighborhood. These struggles illustrate how processes of ecological gentrification are shaped by broader trends of neoliberal and racializing politics that manifest in urban governance, but that the tireless efforts of resident-activists may stem the tide and avoid the co-option of urban green spaces.
Keywords the urban development pattern of the city and neighborhood: sustainability planning; livable city planning; green growth; urban neoliberalization; racialization the urban greening of the neighborhood/city: climate resilience; smart technology; urban farming; entrepreneurial greening; green design the inequalities at stake: green gentrification; housing exclusion; environmental injustice; racializing politics