What comes to count as sustainable in Rosendal? a study of how sustainability is being reproduced in an urban sociomaterial assemblage

Urban districts around the world are increasingly developed to be sustainable. In this thesis Iexplore what comes to count as sustainable in Rosendal, a developing urban district inUppsala, Sweden. I view Rosendal as an example of contemporary urban sustainability. Inlight of how urban sustainability initiatives tend to reproduce the status quo, my aim is toquestion taken-for-granted meanings of sustainability and open up for alternativeperspectives. I explore which everyday practices residents of Rosendal associate withsustainability, by drawing upon practice-theoretical approaches. Additionally, I analyse theSustainability in Rosendal discourse by focusing on the perspectives of Uppsala Municipalityand property developers. I approach Rosendal as an urban sociomaterial assemblage,constantly in the process of being made. This perspective helps account for the variouspractices, discourses and ‘more-than-humans’ shaping what comes to count as sustainable,while decentring humans and bringing forth human interdependency with ‘the environment’.Additionally, the emergent character of assemblages points towards the possibility for urbanenvironments to be developed differently. My findings show that prevailing sustainabilitymeanings reproduced within practices and discourses, do not initiate the type oftransformation often called for. Much of what currently comes to count as sustainable inRosendal is underpinned by a neoliberal growth logic where attractive districts are developedfor the chosen few. I show how more-than-human actants, including allotments, cars andwooden panels, contribute to what comes to count as sustainable in Rosendal. By payingattention to the effects of these actants, I envision alternative trajectories for the urbanassemblages making up Rosendal. Finally, I suggest that integrating feminist care ethics intourban development can foster more just and transformative sustainabilities.