Paper short abstract:

What is, and how can a city become, ‘socially sustainable?’ Helsingborg is one of many cities currently implementing vision plans that incorporates branding and marketing to construct an imagined fantasy future. This paper explores what counts as ‘socially sustainable’ in cities’ imagined futures.

Paper long abstract:

The year 2035 marks a point in the not-so-distant future towards which employees of the city of Helsingborg, Sweden currently aspire with their plans, visions, and actions. The stakes are set high for the future of this city, as politicians recently adopted a vision plan called 'Helsingborg 2035' that pushes an agenda of a joint, global, creative, vibrant, and balanced city. Or in other words, it should be a 'sustainable' and tolerant city. Indicative of a utopian future, the vision nevertheless guides Helsingborg towards a future that at times stands in opposition to past and current experiences of the city, which are often characterized by stark socioeconomic division, localness, and tranquility.

This paper specifically addresses the future oriented politics of the Helsingborg 2035 campaign by anthropologically investigating notions of the fantasy futurism and enforced presentism (Guyer 2007) in development vision plans. The leaders of the vision use marketing and branding techniques in planning the future of this city in order to transform and steer its image towards one of a sustainable place. I examine how the notion of social sustainability is constructed, stabilized, and maintained by the discourses produced by city planners who work with the future vision development plans and social sustainability in its various departments and manifestations. Through this simultaneous process of creating the vision and constructing the future, what counts as 'socially sustainable' for the future city is being developed.

Guyer, Jane (2007). Prophecy and the near future: Thoughts on macroeconomic, evangelical, and punctuated time. American Anthropologist, 34(3). Pp. 409-421