The life and death of growth cities: investigating the transition to degrowth spatial planning

• Autor(a) principal: Deeg, Anna
• Data de Publicação: 2025
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10773/44744
• topic: Degrowth; Degrowth spatial planning; Transition theory; Spatial planning

While sustainability has started to permeate the spatial planning practices of a number of municipalities, this somewhat superficial and ambiguous approach is grounded in an inherently unsustainable growth mindset. As cities attempt to transition towards climate neutrality and circularity, greenwashing and techno-optimist fixes threaten to supplant and undermine initially altruistic climate ambitions. Paradigmatic spatial planning is therefore in need of a new, non-growth based spatial planning model to earnestly, expeditiously and actually reimagine and realize a built environment configured around social and environmental well-being rather than economic profit. This report therefore positions the degrowth movement in relation both to transition theory and spatial planning practice to hypothesize what a transition to degrowth spatial planning would entail. Note: This paper is abridged from a longer thesis paper.