It’s after hours at the fishmongers on Gloucester Road, Bristol, but owner Dan Stern is still busy. He’s discussing the price of fish with a group of wannabe urban fish farmers – whilst teaching them how to gut and fillet mackerel. It starts with a finger through the gills and gets messier.

Stern’s students for the evening are the directors of The Bristol Fish Project, which recently received £50,000 of funding as part of Bristol’s year as Green Capital of Europe. They plan to use the money to set up a community-supported fish farm in the city. The farm will produce not only fish but salad and vegetables fertilised by fish waste, a system known as aquaponics, which has its origins in rice paddies. Project leader Alice-Marie Archer, a PhD student studying urban agriculture, admits the concept is sometimes viewed as “fringey”.

Bristol, though, has a reputation for slightly off-kilter stuff. It’s big on the street-art scene, it has a mayor who’s as famous for his red trousers as his transport policies, and its airport is served by a “poo bus” – a bus powered by methane generated at Bristol Sewage Treatment Works. When its Green Capital win was announced in 2013, it was awarded to “the city with the sense of fun”. This accolade is referenced more than once at the 2015 launch, which centres on a circus performer pedalling a bike across a high wire stretched between two warehouses. (Suspended from the bike is a second performer wearing a voluminous, LED-lit dress that changes colour as they edge slowly across the gap. It’s oddly entrancing.)

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Bristol Fish Project, a community-supported fish farm which will also produce salad and vegetables fertilised by fish waste

Like Archer’s aquaponics, perhaps, the city’s Green Capital programme looks a bit bonkers at first glimpse. Besides the circus theatrics, there’s the “solar tree” that will make music from falling fruit, and the flotilla of abandoned boats due to be installed in Leigh Woods by local artist Luke Jerram. So is it all just for show?

“The launch night was essentially going, hey, this is Bristol, this is what’s happening,” says Savita Custead, one of the directors of Bristol 2015, the organisation set up by the council to run the Green Capital events programme for the year. Bristol 2015 has three core objectives, she explains, one of which is putting Bristol on the map internationally; hence the media spectacle. But the others are about developing leadership in sustainability and engaging local citizens in green issues and projects. Alongside neighbourhood arts and schools programmes, a £2m funding pot for local environmental and sustainability projects has been created.

The Bristol Fish Project was one of the projects that got funding, though there was discontent about how the applications were assessed. Based on a demonstration system that ran for 18 months under a polytunnel at an old school site in Knowle, south Bristol, Archer plans to scale-up her fish farm by 10 times. She just needs to find the right site. Wherever that is, she’ll encourage the local community to be directly involved in tending to fish and vegetables, as it was in Knowle.

“We had quite a lot of retired people who wanted something intellectual to do,” says Archer. “One of them said they didn’t have much money, so they were taking home salad and being really happy about that as well.” Some of these volunteers later joined the organisation as directors and have taken part in a 12-week course in aquaponics, finishing with Stern’s hands-on fish-filleting session.

A hydroponics demonstration in Knowle, Bristol. Photograph: Alice-Marie Archer

Businesses in the region are also supporting Green Capital aims. FirstGroup, which operates the city’s buses, claims to be cleaning up its act by putting 39 new vehicles that meet the most stringent European emissions standards into service. Meanwhile, Bristol Port Company will sponsor a Bristol University project that will see engineering students designing a small-scale tidal energy generator to engage the public with renewable energies. The company has agreed to turn any viable design into a working generator for its site at the Royal Edward Dock in Avonmouth on the Severn Estuary.

Because behind the green facade, Bristol is grappling with many of the same grimy problems as other major UK cities

While the Severn Estuary has one of the largest tidal ranges in the world – a renewable energy source that could supply 5% of the UK’s power – building a barrage would have costs for the natural environment that would be difficult to justify. But according to University of Bristol civil engineer Colin Taylor, it’s less about providing an alternative solution than illustrating the principles of renewable energy and bringing green technologies “into the forefront of people’s minds”.

So is being Green Capital just an awareness-raising exercise? From Custead’s point of view, there’s only so much that Bristol 2015 can do. “There’s an opportunity to launch a number of things,” she says. “But no one can change the physical infrastructure of the city except the city. We’re here to shine a spotlight on things, which hopefully others can make some progress on.” By “others”, she is referring to the organisation’s partner in the Green Capital initiative, the city council, which is promising action on what are potentially Bristol’s biggest environmental problems: congestion and air quality.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Pero’s Bridge, which has been transformed into a fog bridge by Japanese artist Fujiko Nakaya to celebrate the city’s status as European Green Capital. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Because behind the green facade, Bristol is grappling with many of the same grimy problems as other major UK cities. Despite a decrease in the share of Bristolians driving to work since 2001, Bristol has been labelled one of the UK’s most congested cities. In 2013, levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), which causes lung disease and aggravates asthma, exceeded EU limits. Average NO 2 concentrations were more than double the 40 µg/m3 limit at one city-centre location.

It’s no surprise that some residents question the city’s green credentials, viewing the Green Capital award as a distraction from the real environmental issues. Rosey Mushens, who works at NHS Blood and Transplant in Filton, says, “I would love it if Bristol was a green city but on the whole it’s not. The culture is still in favour of cars. I have even been told [by other road users] that I’m selfish for cycling to work, with so much venom I might as well have been drowning puppies for kicks.”

Mayor George Ferguson agrees that transport is a priority, noting that he’s already been prepared to take “a lot of stick” for rolling out residential parking schemes and 20mph speed limits. During Green Capital year, he’s offering Bristol up as a test bed for green technologies including hybrid buses with “geo-fence” technology, which will switch the diesel-electric vehicles into zero emission mode as they enter poor air-quality zones. But, says Ferguson, “There’s no magic bullet in tackling congestion. The answer lies in a mix of carrot and stick provision including investing in a more integrated public transport network, encouraging active transport in the form of walking and cycling, and enticing people out of their cars.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Luminous umbrellas lit beneath high wire artist Jade Kindar-Martin. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

The trouble is that many of Bristol’s green-minded citizens oppose the city’s plans for dealing with congestion. Mushens recently complained to her MP about the controversial Metrobus development – a series of new bus routes intended to reduce commuting times, but which will cut into allotments and fertile land used by a local food-growing project in north Bristol. When contractors arrived to “reconfigure” allotments in early February, they were met by tree-top protesters.

I get my trout from Salisbury, but why am I buying fish even from Salisbury if I could buy it in Bristol? Dan Stern

Perhaps the problem with the Green Capital is that it is viewed as an award for good service rather than an opportunity to develop green initiatives and infrastructure. But Roger Key, a transport planner with his own Bristol-based consultancy, says it’s more about the latter – providing a platform for the city to develop strategic plans for a greener future.

Comparing Bristol to last year’s award-holder, Copenhagen, Key says: “They’ve been planning their cycling, rail and bus networks for decades, so the reason you can live there quite happily with no need for a car whatsoever is that they’ve got fantastic infrastructure. And Bristol, I guess, is following on because it has an ambition to become something similar.”

According to Key, Bristol’s congestion problems are only as bad as those of other UK cities, and it’s “streets ahead” on walking and cycling. At the time of the last census in 2011, 20% of Bristolians walked and 8% cycled to work; by far the highest levels among eight core UK cities. In July 2014, the council pledged to spend £35m on cycling over five years.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The centre of Bristol. Photograph: High Level/Rex

Back at The Fish Shop on Gloucester Road, Archer and her co-directors throw around ideas for their fish-and-vegetable system. Tilapia is an aquaponics staple, but crustaceans are also up for discussion. As long as the price is right, Stern is interested in anything that will cut down on food mileage, guaranteeing him fresher fish. “Fish has a long journey,” he says. “Sea bass, or bream, is typically farmed in Turkey or Greece, and it’s at least a week old before it comes to me. I get my trout from Salisbury, but why am I buying fish even from Salisbury if I could buy it in Bristol?”

In this light, Archer’s “fringey” fish farm ideas makes perfect sense. It’s these sorts of projects that Ferguson wants to see giving Bristolians “real pride in what they have achieved”. More ambitiously, he says, he wants Green Capital to “put Bristol on the map as a global leader in urban sustainable living”. For all its faults, Bristol is a city that’s trying hard to be green. The high-wire stunt, it turns out, symbolises the bridging of the gap between Bristol’s intentions and its actions as a sustainable city.

Asked what she hopes the legacy of the year will be, Archer says it’s not just about developing her own project, but developing a wider culture of sustainability within the city. “Some people think of [sustainability] as a fringe kind of activity, and it shouldn’t be. We’re really aware with the Fish Project that we depend on being in a system with lots of other people. To develop that connectivity and bring the disparate projects that are already amazing together; I think that would be a good vision.”

Hayley Birch is a science and environment writer based in Bristol.

