Degrowth: an operationalization in an urban context - in search of alternative development paths

Abstract

Limits to further economic growth became clear to the scientific community, and various alternative development strategies have appeared. One such strategy is degrowth, a socio-economic development concept based on ecological economics and social equity ideas. The main idea of degrowth is to decrease the size of the global economy by fair reductions in global production and consumption levels. Interest in degrowth is constantly increasing, though clear ways of operationalisation of degrowth transitions are still lacking. A degrowth transition requires clear criteria for its implementation, especially in an urban context, to which little attention has been paid so far in degrowth debates. The key research problem addressed in this PhD thesis is how to operationalise the concept of degrowth, especially in an urban context. The main goal of this PhD thesis is to create a set of comprehensive proposals for the operationalisation of degrowth in cities. This thesis consists of an introduction, three related scientific articles published in international journals, and a discussion and conclusions wrapping up the whole series of articles.