In the context of the climate crisis, the transition to a post-growth future is the only viable option if we want to ensure a sustainable, fair, and equitable future for future generations. In particular, cities must move beyond the logic of growth to achieve resilience in the face of climate change. This transition can only be sustainable if it is carried out democratically, so that it can respond to the needs of different communities and stakeholders.
In this sense, the WeAll project’s main objective is to provide a learning space for participating cities, including Zagreb, to increase their transformative agency and accelerate their transition to post-growth in times of climate emergency. They will leverage the practices they can develop to reduce the city’s ecological footprint and place the well-being of their citizens at the center of collective action. Through education, they will acquire new leadership skills and tools to influence local policy from their different roles and based on post-growth objectives. The project considers the planning and design of this transition to be of great importance, as it must be inclusive, collaborative, and democratic.
More specifically, the project focuses on developing an engaging and replicable educational model on the post-growth transition as the main tool for training people working in/with local governments, businesses, neighborhoods, and communities in six European cities. It will foster democratized and participatory processes for planning and negotiating post-growth-oriented policies that involve representatives from social, business, and municipal sectors, thus legitimizing the city’s plans in this regard. In turn, the project will pay special attention to the less-advantaged neighborhoods of the selected cities, which will be addressed/involved both indirectly and directly, in order to strengthen the capacities of their communities to organize around post-growth strategies in their cities, articulate their needs with municipal councils, and participate in the planning and implementation of municipal policies.
The WeAll project seeks to provide all participants with a general understanding of the transition and policies aligned with post-growth, and will help them understand their role in this change, carried out through inclusive and democratic political planning. It will also seek to contribute to equipping people with a set of skills, tools, and competencies necessary for the transition to post-growth, such as collaboration, solidarity, systems thinking, self-organization, and active listening. Finally, the project will result in a set of theoretical and practical learning outcomes, which will be reflected in both an educational manual and a basic manual for other European cities.
Specific objectives:
1) To develop an education and training model for citizens, businesses, and local governments in six European cities, including Madrid, on the role and opportunities of post-growth strategies in the transition to more sustainable societies.
2) To create a multi-stakeholder dialogue for all citizens and generations around the post-growth transformation, thereby simultaneously addressing climate change and inequality.
3) To develop an educational manual and a primer for post-growth cities that will focus on a new set of skills centered on collaboration, solidarity, and negotiation through peer support and diverse deliberative methods to enhance their engagement in the process and the integration of their needs into the planning of future plans and policies aligned with post-growth.
The training delivered will include a general introductory module on the conceptual framework of post-growth applied to the urban context, exploring associated concepts such as the doughnut economy, community wealth creation, and universal basic services. In turn, each partner will develop tailored modules, with different approaches and selected target groups, to empower local stakeholder networks to facilitate the transition to a post-growth city.
Project partners:
Transnational Institute (leading partner, the Netherlands), IPE, FUHEM (Spain), Oikos (Belgium), NaZemi (Czechia), Commons Network (the Netherlands)
Funding:
This project is funded by the European Commission’s Erasmus+ Programme.