Creating new institutions for sustainable transitions. The history of the upcycling station in Sweden

• In today’s consume-and-discard society a steady increase in waste generated per person threatens the overall sustainability of our planet. In response to this global environmental challenge, recent European and national directives have shifted the emphasis to re-circulating and re-using practices. This paper examines the role of cities in fostering sustainable transitions based on the case of the ‘re-circulating room’ in Sweden. The paper starts with a historical reconstruction of reuse parks in Sweden which have also derived into re-circulating mini-parks in city districts and re-circulating rooms in housing block apartments where residents can exchange, borrow, repair or create items, as a combination of a reuse room and a makerspace. In the first part of the paper, we trace how the idea of reuse-park has travelled and been locally translated into different re-circulating rooms in cities in Sweden. The second part of the paper zooms in on the case of the city of Gothenburg where the first reuse park in Sweden was created, and where the City of Gothenburg is in the process of creating several re-circulating mini-parks in city districts in collaboration with public housing companies and civil society organizations. Based on interviews, document analysis and meeting observations, the paper examines the process of creation of this new type of infrastructure, under the prism of institutional entrepreneurship theory, by examining how these projects recombine and mobilize resources (human, financial, material-and spatial), rationales (reframing symbols, transforming abjection to waste into positive creativity) and relations (via internal and external collaboration and the creation of new institutional arrangements, roles and expectations). The paper concludes with a discussion around the role of cities in sustainable transitions towards de-materialization policies.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Företagsekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Business Administration (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Statsvetenskap -- Studier av offentlig förvaltning (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Political Science -- Public Administration Studies (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

kon (subject category)