Degrowth in the Suburbs: A Radical Urban Imaginary

Alexander, Samuel; Gleeson, Brendan

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.

Details

Published by: Palgrave Macmillan

Publication Date: 2018-10-11

Format: Hardcover

ISBN-13: 9789811321306

DOI: 10.1007/978-981-13-2131-3

Dimensions: 210.0cm x148.0cm

Pages: 213.0