Urban Experiments for Socio-Ecological Transformation

There is mounting scientific evidence that the environment is in a state of emergency and that making fundamental changes to how humans relate to it is more urgent than ever. Yet, precisely at a time when decisive action is imperative, confidence in established tools for action is crumbling: The sustainability paradigm the hegemonic eco-political frame (Brand) for almost 30 years is increasingly perceived as having failed to deliver major socio-ecological change; political institutions and civil society traditionally perceived as key drivers of change seem unable to generate and maintain the required political momentum. This leaves contemporary societies with a formidable dilemma which might give reasonable cause for disillusionment about the very possibility of breaking with sustained unsustainability (Blühdorn). In recent years, however, new confidence in socio- ecological transformation has emerged at a scale one might consider to be of secondary importance to tackling global crises: the city. Especially two innovative urban experiments for socio-ecological transformation have become prominent: the smart city and degrowth spaces, such as repair cafés, sharing platforms, urban agriculture, food co-ops and co-housing projects. The smart city seeks to re-instill confidence in techno-scientific innovation and Green growth. It considers urban everyday life as a promising living laboratory in which techno-scientific and policy innovations are co-developed and tested with local stakeholders. Degrowth spaces, in contrast, suggest breaking with growth-related norms, values, and lifestyles in favor of sufficiency-, community-, and solidarity-driven ways of consuming, producing, and living. But beyond their significant differences, there is also a common denominator: Both trust in local (rather than national and transnational) intervention and in experimental (rather than end-of-the- pipe) solutions. While the smart city and degrowth spaces are typically regarded as competing responses to the socio- ecological dilemma, this research project is inspired by the commonalities and studies them conjointly. Its goal is to provide an empirically and theoretically grounded account of the emergence, the hopes attached to, the transformative potentials of the trend towards localism and experimentalism in current responses to the global socio-ecological crisis. Yet, one of the projects preliminary suspicions is that localism and experimentalism may be strategies of coping with, rather than of transforming, unsustainable relations to the environment. Methodologically, we draw on multimodal discourse analysis of flagship smart city and degrowth experiments in Vienna as well as a critical engagement with contemporary debates on post-sustainability, environmental (urban) governance, and socio- political and economic developments. Given the continued worsening of the socio-ecological crises despite an abundance of proposed solution, this project takes a step back from promising, quick solutions to delivering a better understanding of current socio-political conditions for transformative change.

Experimental politics has an important role to play in climate- and sustainability politics. This research project reveals that common understandings of such policy approaches are, however, often simplistic. It contributes to more nuanced understanding. Given the urgency of a socio-ecological transformation and increasing criticism of expert- and state-centred interventions, considerable confidence has recently been invested in experimental approaches to socio-ecological change. Cities in particular have turned into laboratories for experimental politics. This is evidenced by Smart City initiatives as well as by civil society-driven initiatives in urban food production, repair- and sharing networks or in the field of mobility. The starting point of the research project was the question why experimental approaches are becoming increasingly popular. Furthermore, we wanted to find out to what extent local, experimental action can actually be considered as a promising way out of the socio-ecological crises and the current policy emergency. The project has mapped out how urban experiments for a socio-ecological transformation are being portrayed in the social science literature and what kind of promises and hopes are ascribed to them - ascriptions which we critically assessed also with regard to their historical and conceptual implications and blind spots. Working empirically with initiatives of urban experimental politics, we furthermore conducted interviews with focus groups as well as experts. They aimed to explore how participants in and proponents of such experimental interventions themselves interpret these initiatives. The research has revealed striking tensions between (often quite hopeful) academic portrayals of socio-ecological experimentation and the self-perceptions of those directly involved. Conceptual considerations as well as empirical findings pointed us beyond common depictions of urban experiments as a key instrument for socio-ecological change: Inter alia, the turn towards local, experimental interventions may be indicative of the diminishing scope for action of policy makers. Experimental approaches may signal the attempt to shift political responsibility for achieving transformative change which, in turn, may reduce political accountability. Our research reveals that urban experiments are clearly playing a key role in ongoing transformation processes, yet this role is not well captured in mainstream research. An important aspect is, not least, their function as a coping strategy for socio-ecological dilemmas which in late-modern societies cannot easily be resolved as envisaged by established narratives of socio-ecological transformation.