Second-hand values and the production of ethical urban markets

We are seeing today an increased interest in ethics, the environment, and social responsibility at the same time as the individual is expected, in different ways, to realize him-/herself through consumption. These interests coincide with the establishment of ethical markets for re-use and second-hand. In this paper we investigate and map out the ethical shopping spaces in Helsingborg, and how these retail spaces are co-created by consumers, retailers and city planners. Helsingborg is a regional center in the south of Sweden. Challenged by recent retail reconstruction at the global and national scale, the city’s commercial center is struggling in maintaining its position against out-of-town shopping malls and growing e-commerce. The paper aims to describe and analyse how re-use and second-hand are organised. In retail planning, re-use is a partly problematic business that generates different types of value for a place. Which values are expressed in various re-use and second-hand practices? How are these values transformed into strategies in retail planning? The paper is based on empirical data gathered in the process of producing a digital map for ‘environment-friendly’ good assortment and shops in Helsingborg, as well as a survey conducted among retailers and in-depth interviews with city planners.