Twelfth Global Studies Conference

Abstract

Copenhagen, Denmark, a paragon of the sustainable city, is a likely candidate for emergent policy practice aimed at sustainability and urban social change: congestion charges for cars in central city areas. But the city has not adopted congestion charges, having shelved plans in 2011 after an initial, near-successful push to adopt them. Using a mixed methodological approach, I identify how and why Copenhagen did not adopt congestion charges. Pairing quantitative and qualitative findings, two intertwined conclusions are raised. First, widespread support for further car restrictions (both in the survey data and in a governing coalition in 2011-2012) can unravel in a political context where right-leaning parties are firm in their opposition. Even though about half of right-leaning party voters support a car restriction measure, all major right-leaning parties are wholly opposed to such measures. Second, sustainable cities may continue to be undermined by scalar disjunctures. While Copenhageners may be broadly in support of the measure, the decision in this case rested with the national government. In these ways, a just, sustainable city can be thwarted by the outsized influence of right-leaning political parties operating through misplaced governance mechanisms.