Degrowth in the Suburbs: A Radical Urban Imaginary

Description

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. Front Matter ....Pages i-xi Reimagining the Suburbs Beyond Growth (Samuel Alexander, Brendan Gleeson)....Pages 1-30 Carbon Suburbia and the Energy Descent Future (Samuel Alexander, Brendan Gleeson)....Pages 31-57 Light Green Illusions and the ‘Blind Field’ of Techno-optimism (Samuel Alexander, Brendan Gleeson)....Pages 59-86 Resettling Suburbia: A Post-capitalist Politics ‘From Below’ (Samuel Alexander, Brendan Gleeson)....Pages 87-111 Unlearning Abundance: Suburban Practices of Energy Descent (Samuel Alexander, Brendan Gleeson)....Pages 113-143 Degrowth in the Suburbs: Envisioning a Prosperous Descent (Samuel Alexander, Brendan Gleeson)....Pages 145-171 Regoverning the City: Policies for a New Economy (Samuel Alexander, Brendan Gleeson)....Pages 173-199 A New Suburban Condition Dawns (Samuel Alexander, Brendan Gleeson)....Pages 201-206 Back Matter ....Pages 207-213