Modelling Urban Degrowth

When talking about planning for urban degrowth, we lack a lexicon that allows us to express ideas or think of successful urban futures articulated through vectors that aren’t growth – the very essence of (contemporary) city-building is expansionist at its core.

Models and master plans are often used to illustrate growth-driven urban futures, but what would a model for degrowth look like? During the Modelling Urban Degrowth workshop, we will work on a collective model to express notions of urban degrowth for which we -as of yet- lack words. Departing from the Degrowth Manual‘s three chapters – Cartography, Memory, Future – we will explore the material aspects of each layer taking as the basis the city of Narva.

During the Spring School week the Modelling Urban Degrowth group explored new models for talking about degrowth, particularly in post-industrial shrinking cities, like Narva.

In this context, together with the participants Anni Saviaro, Joanna Łałowska, Aneta Kohoutová, Annela Samuel, and Grant Penfield Haugen, METASITU (Eduardo and Liva) tried to develop tools that would help us address the materiality of shrinking cities, and position them in timelines.

How do the elements that make up a city sit in non-human timelines? How can we, collectively, talk and think about the materiality of a city? Why do we need to record the materiality of a shrinking city in the context of urban degrowth?

At the end of the week the group compiled the tools, exercices and discussions and made a booklet.