Planning for Degrowth

* Article: Durand, Cédric and Hofferberth, Elena and Schmelzer, Matthias. Planning Beyond Growth the Case for Economic Democracy within Ecological Limits. 2023. doi

URL = https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4457481

Abstract

"Degrowth and post-growth economics has rejuvenated the debates about the reorientation of economies in the Global North towards environmental sustainability, equality, need satisfaction and democracy. This perspective promotes a planned reduction of energy and resource use in the global North to limit environmental pressures and global inequalities and improving well-being. Yet, the specifics of this ‘design’ are not delineated.On the one hand, there is a wide acceptance, at the abstract, most general, even definitional level, that degrowth involves planning or amounts to a planned transition. On the other hand, there is strikingly little explicit engagement with, debate on, and research into what exactly ‘planning for degrowth’ could look like. This gap needs to be addressed.By exploring the degrowth-planning nexus, this paper seeks to lay a foundation for this effort. It starts by critically reviewing the existing degrowth and post-growth literature on planning and scrutinises the reasons why planning has so far largely been neglected in this research."