The uncertain quest for urban sustainability: Case studies of local sustainability in comparative perspective

Sustainability remains among the most contested, but least understood, public policies debated in the past 30 years. While the explicit differences of between theories and models of sustainability typically center on issues of global V. local, ecology V. economics, and the level of government or civic involvement, I looked beyond the environmental or resource maintenance arguments of the "three 'E's" by delving into the palpable issues of accountability and the promise of civic participation. Moreover, I also examined the impact of those who advocate globalized economic sustainable development and sought its "triple bottom line" where addressing the three 'E's' remain mutually inclusive and complimentary at the global level versus localization under urban sustainability where the 'E's' remain mutually exclusive by seeking homeostasis first at the local level, then moving outward regionally, with power issues firmly at the forefront.; A cross-national juxtaposition of sustainable efforts from cities across Canada and the United States on these issues yielded great normative explanation of the impact of sustainability at the case study level, be the city receptive or rejective of a particular sustainability policy strategy. Because these two democratic neighbors are so similar, only an in-depth qualitative analysis performed at the local level was deemed sufficient to flesh out these not-so-subtle semantical differences. To interpret and explain the sustainability movement differences, I used a research design that employed both a single- and multiple-explanatory case study analysis of cities where sustainability has been proposed but not enacted, was receptive and remains viable, or was enacted and subsequently rejected.