Degrowth in the Suburbs
A Radical Urban Imaginary
Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Human Geography, Sociology, Urban
| Author: | Samuel Alexander, Brendan Gleeson | ISBN: | 9789811321313 |
| Publisher: | Springer Singapore | Publication: | September 21, 2018 |
| Imprint: | Palgrave Macmillan | Language: | English |
| Author: | Samuel Alexander, Brendan Gleeson |
| ISBN: | 9789811321313 |
| Publisher: | Springer Singapore |
| Publication: | September 21, 2018 |
| Imprint: | Palgrave Macmillan |
| Language: | English |
This book addresses a central dilemma of the urban age: how to make the vast suburban landscapes that ring the globe safe and sustainable in the face of planetary ecological crisis. The authors argue that degrowth, a planned contraction of economic overshoot, is the only feasible principle for suburban renewal. They depart from the anti-suburban sentiment of much environmentalism to show that existing suburbia can be the centre-ground of transition to a new social dispensation based on the principle of self-limitation. The book offers a radical new urban imaginary, that of degrowth suburbia, which can arise Phoenix like from the increasingly stressed cities of the affluent Global North and guide urbanisation in a world at risk. This means dispensing with much contemporary green thinking, including blind faith in electric vehicles and high-density urbanism, and accepting the inevitability and the benefits of planned energy descent. A radical but necessary vision for the times.
This book addresses a central dilemma of the urban age: how to make the vast suburban landscapes that ring the globe safe and sustainable in the face of planetary ecological crisis. The authors argue that degrowth, a planned contraction of economic overshoot, is the only feasible principle for suburban renewal. They depart from the anti-suburban sentiment of much environmentalism to show that existing suburbia can be the centre-ground of transition to a new social dispensation based on the principle of self-limitation. The book offers a radical new urban imaginary, that of degrowth suburbia, which can arise Phoenix like from the increasingly stressed cities of the affluent Global North and guide urbanisation in a world at risk. This means dispensing with much contemporary green thinking, including blind faith in electric vehicles and high-density urbanism, and accepting the inevitability and the benefits of planned energy descent. A radical but necessary vision for the times.
