A good life for all beyond growth? Supporting policy and grassroots initiatives for a new vision of prosperity in Amsterdam

One of the most urgent questions of our times is whether economic growth will deliver well-being for all while staying within the ecological limits of our planet. A rising number of scientists and citizens think that this will not be possible, and that ‘prosperity’ or ‘quality of life’ must be rethought, and separated from GDP growth.

The Cities for Change event “A good life for all beyond growth?” presents the research being done in Amsterdam on current ‘post-growth initiatives’. A consortium of scholars across the social sciences and humanities from UvA, HvA, VU, ISS and PThU will be exploring the factors and conditions that influence sustainable urban transformations towards a high quality of life beyond growth-centric economies. It pays special attention to the frictions and contradictions between the conventional growth-centric model of urban development and a number of emerging policy and grassroots initiatives which prioritize a higher quality of life based on a holistic understanding of human and nonhuman needs instead of growth. This includes the city’s initiatives around municipalism and ‘Doughnut economics’ and will be investigated along three key dimensions of urban life: housing commons, food practices, and community health.

PROGRAMME:

11:00 – Welcome

11:05 – Introduction into the consortium (Julien-François Gerber)

[Diving deeper into different parts of the project]

11:15 – Housing commons (Federico Savini)

11:25 – Food practices in intentional communities (Peter-Ben Smit & Mirella Klomp)

11:40 – Community health (Lea den Broeder)

11:50 – Applying the Doughnut model along post-growth lines (Crelis Rammelt)

12:00 – Discussions on three different consortium themes (housing, food, health) and its applications in Amsterdam in breakout rooms

12:25 – Recaps and general discussion