Contesting the city through sustainability discourse: a joint archival and interview analysis of city planning in Louisville, Kentucky.

Sustainability is a part of a global discourse cast as a universal, technocratic solution to the climate crisis in need of a receptive public and active local adaptation. In many cases, language espousing sustainable development ideals and policy implementation promotes a perspective of scientific neutrality that overlooks socio-politically grounded discourses. This joint archival and interview-centered discourse analysis demonstrates that official sustainability discourse in Louisville’s Comprehensive Plan 2040 was produced through a carefully moderated consensus among planners and select stakeholders. Such consensus prioritizes the perspectives and agency of policy experts, business leaders, and others who have “recognized speech” of authority, while discursively omitting non-expert community participants and public critiques. Such discursive omissions prevent conflicting perspectives regarding how sustainability is defined, located, and translated between alternative stakeholders and marginalized groups, and perpetuates a post-political condition.