Growth in Transition

Just now – in the light of the current financial and economic crisis and intensive efforts for achieving economic growth – the question emerges which kind of growth we want for the future and which goals are targeted with it. The project “Growth in Transition” intends to trigger a dialogue among institutions and people about how we can shape this transformation process towards sustainability. It also aims at contributing to current EU and international processes and at informing the Austrian public about them (e.g. the EU initiative “Beyond GDP”).

SERI and Karuna Consult developed in the preceding project “Which kind of growth is sustainable?” a Presentation of Arguments that forms the basis for deeper and on-going discussion.

The Project operates under the umbrella brand “Growth in Transition”. This brand covers different institutions that organize activities that all focus on the same core issue but from different angles. The outcomes of all bottom-up designed activities will feed in an international conference in January 2010.

The discussion process was stimulated by the publication of a book and an event series including several workshops:

The book – „Which kind of growth is sustainable? A presentation of arguments”

Starting from the sustainable development strategy of the EU, the book compiles arguments for “alternative growth” focusing on concepts of human quality of life and well-being.

A first definition for sustainable growth seems to be clear: Qualitative growth should be interpreted as an increase of quality of life in society. On one hand the book summarises the state of the discussion, and beyond that it also provides new perspectives and first solutions for an alternative growth.

In addition to the presentation of arguments, which was developed in a stakeholder process by SERI and Karuna Consult, the book comprises 13 accompanying commentaries from selected experts. The book is the result of this project and targets the interested public as well as experts.

It (original title in German: “Welches Wachstum ist nachhaltig? Ein Argumentarium”) was published by Mandelbaum at the beginning of May 2009. So far there is only a German edition, but an English rendition is already planned.

The book is commercially available: “Welches Wachstum ist nachhaltig?”, Friedrich Hinterberger, Harald Hutterer, Ines Omann, Elisabeth Freytag (Edts.), 224 pages, Mandelbaum Verlag, ISBN 978-3-85476-296-6, EUR 17,80,-

You can also order the book by return coupon.

Event series

In order to get a wide discussion process going, a series of events was organised by SERI and several partnering institutions within the project:

* 16th March 2009 – Workshop “What growth? The Eco-Social Market Economy under discussion“: The central question posed in this event initiated by the Eco-social Forum was: How much and which growth is needed to secure sustainably wealth and quality of live?

* 21st April 2009 – Workshop in Brussels “Redefining Growth and Prosperity“: SERI organised this workshop in cooperation with UK Sustainable Development Commission. The Presentation of Arguments and the SDC report “Prosperity Without Growth” were presented, different stakeholders commented on and discussed animatedly about it. Afternoon workshop dealt with the topic “Economic growth and economic crisis: Is degrowth here to stay?”.

* 13th May 2009 – Presentation of the book “What kind of growth is sustainable? A Presentation of Arguments” (see above)

* 26th May 2009 – Workshop “Growth and resource use: developments and perspectives” (workshop documentation in german)

* 10th June 2009 – Workshop “Designing growth sustainably: arenas, actors, new approaches“: Ongoing international and European activities on the topic growth/quality of life were presented in this workshop (organised by SERI). A special focus was given to the assessment of growth, wealth and life quality.

* 27  January 2010 – SciBarCamp: The Scientific Workshop was held to discuss the scientific underpinnings of both optimistic and more pessimistic views about the compatibility of economic growth and sustainable development (e.g. substantial reductions in resource use). The workshop was held as a SciBarCamp.

* 28th – 29th January 2010 – International Conference in Vienna: The conference provided a synthesis of all previous events, in order to develop possible scenarios and approaches for “Growth in Transition” based on this synthesis.

* 27th May 2010 – Prosperity Without Growth: Prof. Tim Jackson presented his groundbreaking book with the same title. One of his key messagey: It is possible for humans to flourish within ecological limits.

The event series and other activities continue! For further information please visit www.growthintransition.eu!