Sustainable building approaches in two city regions - A discursive inquiry of policy legitimation strategies

Adopting analytical tools of environmental discourses (Hajer, 1997; Dryzeck, 1997), this presentation looks at how the transition towards sustainable buildings is framed in public discourses in two different city regions: Luxembourg (LU) and Freiburg (DE). The analysis relies on publicly available documents, further contextualised through interviews with key local actors, to outline the particular understanding or vision of sustainable building dominant in each of the case studies. Their material consequence will be further illustrated through concrete examples of development projects.
In seeking to better understand the motivations behind these policy choices, the discursive analysis particularly focus on outlining legitimation and justification aspects, arguing that the chosen understanding of sustainable building is prodded by pre-existing local institutional contexts, notably dominant socio-economic actor constellations.