Urban Sustainability and Governance: New Challenges in Nordic-Baltic Housing Policies

This is an edited volume of massive proportions. It contains in total 21 modules, namely 12 chapters, two appendix chapters, four text boxes, and separate introductory chapters for each of the three blocks defined by the respective chapters 1 4, 5 8 and 9 12. There is not space in this review to cover all contributions. Therefore, what follows is a more subjective evaluation of the merits of this book only selected parts of it are discussed. The premise of the book is that governance and ‘capacity building’ are tools for achieving economic, social-cultural and environmental-ecologic sustainability. In this setup, local government is merely an arbitrator of interests. It is furthermore argued that urban sustainability issues need to be integrated with housing issues. Thus, on one hand there is still a need for national policies, while on the other hand they ought to be in congruence with the new winds of ‘a vision of a sustainable city’ (p. 7). Støa makes a pragmatic point in her contribution: while it is not possible to unveil the obscurity and internal conflicts surrounding the elusive concept of sustainability, we nevertheless need to make an effort to plan in relation to what we think sustainability is. Støa therefore argues for constant revision of goals in relation to new knowledge of the state of affairs. As an example of successful practices, involving participation, she brings in Svartlamoen, an old inner city neighbourhood in Trondheim. This area is, however, still very small and alternative in many ways, which limits the suitability for generalisation of this case, as Støa rightly notes. Raagmaa notes that in the West there are consistent regional policy and comprehensive planning strategies which are missing in Eastern countries. The situation is not significantly different from that experienced under communism one type of lobbying has merely replaced another. In addition to this problem he notes that the same mistakes in relation to sustainability that have been made in Western countries are now being committed in the Baltic countries. Paadam underscores the importance of capacity building and social capital or rather the lack of those kinds of resources, this being about former Soviet states. First, the nationalisation after World War II and later the denationalisation since 1990 have uncovered serious problems in relation to social structures, many of which are manifested in the housing context. Paadam convincingly shows the enormous work yet to be done in various policy areas in the Baltic countries. Treija’s case study on a housing estate in Riga continues much the same story: physical and social development is required but funds as well as organisational capacity are lacking. Lepkova’s assessment of housing trends in Lithuania, while bringing in some new issues such as the high suicide rate, follows in the same vein. Julegina’s text box on the sustainability of planning in the Tallinn region defines various criteria for urban sustainability: concentration of land use, mixed uses and socioeconomic groups, self-sufficiency, and a well-developed public transportation system. The four municipalities surrounding the city are learning from experiences, and a change in the right direction is evident. However, great variations exist in relation to the quality of planning and implementation of sustainable development. She concludes that, due to a lack of capacity building in Estonian municipalities, inducing public private cooperation is problematic, which in turn obstructs sustainable spatial development. Having read the book the reader can conclude that while the postcommunist countries share plenty of similarities, the three Baltic countries are more different from each other than people think. Much the same applies for the less eventfully evolving Nordic context countries share similar policy pathways but also have marked differences across them. Particularly, in Norway, ostensibly due to its recent history of market-liberal coalitions in power there, are more low density housing areas and urban sprawls than in Finland, Sweden and Denmark. I find this is an interesting book and one which justifies its purpose. However, in attempting to target its readership, it has some weaknesses: