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The Matrix of Convivial Technology – Assessing technologies for degrowth
Abstract
This article introduces the notion of convivial technology as a conceptual framework for technologies suitable for degrowth societies. This paper is inspired by Ivan Illich's notion of convivial tools but reconsiders it in the light of current practices and discussions. Looking for a definition of convivial technologies it uses qualitative empirical research conducted with degrowth-oriented groups developing or adapting grassroots technologies like Open Source cargo bikes or composting toilets in Germany. The basic ethical values and design criteria that guide these different groups in relation to technology are summed up into five dimensions: relatedness, adaptability, accessibility, bio-interaction and appropriateness. These dimensions can be correlated with the four life-cycle levels material, production, use and infrastructure to form the Matrix for Convivial Technology (MCT). The MCT is a 20-field schema that can be filled in. Experiences with the tool in different fields are presented. The MCT is itself a convivial tool as it allows for degrowth-oriented groups to self-assess their work and products in a qualitative, context-sensitive and independent way. It is a normative schema that fosters discussion concerning degrowth technologies in contexts of political education. And it is a research method as it helps collecting data about underlying ethical assumptions and aspirations of individuals and groups engaged in developing technology.
... If native plant gardening is considered a tool, can it be made into a "convivial community tool" and what would be required to do so? Although there are practical examples of community tools and principles on designing technology with that framework, there is a gap in operationalizing the concept (Mancini and Mancini 2015, Vetter 2018, Voinea 2018). Illich provided the philosophical underpinnings of the idea rather than a prescriptive guide on how to create such a tool (Illich 1973). ...
... The interview schedule was developed through a review of the literature on convivial community tools (Illich 1973, Vetter 2018, Voinea 2018. Interview questions were piloted with three subjects who have hands-on experience running grassroots associations and familiarity with the idea of a convivial community tool. ...
... Whether the practice of ecological restoration should have a rigid definition, with standards and practices, or be open to interpretation has long been debated (Light and Higgs 1996, Nelson et al. 2017, Murphy 2018. The idea of conviviality has been applied to technology, and five key elements have been identified as important to the development of convivial technologies: relatedness (e.g., connection to ecological processes), accessibility, adaptability (e.g., is there a monopoly over usage?), bio-interaction (e.g., level of environmental harm), and appropriateness (Vetter 2018). Accessibility and adaptability are particularly relevant to the discussion of restoration's convivial potential. ...
... The idea of conviviality complicates the optimistic hypes of synthetic biology by considering who controls access to such technologies and who benefits (local enterprises, global companies or the people using them). The social system that constructs and is constructed by the technology is important (Vetter 2018): people are seen as inherently interwoven in social networks and driven by complex motivations (Godbout and Caille 1998;Vetter 2018). In 1973 Illich argued I consider conviviality to be individual freedom realised in personal interdependence and, as such, an intrinsic ethical value. ...
... The idea of conviviality complicates the optimistic hypes of synthetic biology by considering who controls access to such technologies and who benefits (local enterprises, global companies or the people using them). The social system that constructs and is constructed by the technology is important (Vetter 2018): people are seen as inherently interwoven in social networks and driven by complex motivations (Godbout and Caille 1998;Vetter 2018). In 1973 Illich argued I consider conviviality to be individual freedom realised in personal interdependence and, as such, an intrinsic ethical value. ...
... (Illich 2018) The concept of convivial technology considers the interdependence between people and between technology and humans, Vetter, 2016 -'reflecting the social construction of technology as well as the technological construction of human behaviour. This makes it possible to talk about "convivial technologies", a term that Ivan Illich did not use ' Vetter (2018). The concept of convivial technology focuses on the ideas that Illich raised -the need for creativity and autonomy for convivial tools (Illich 2018;Vetter 2018). ...
Synthetic biology predominantly follows a market-driven approach, both within the private sector and academia. We present a research journey undertaken by a synthetic biologist who received guidance from responsible innovation scholars, reflecting on the wider effects of synthetic biology technologies. The outcome is a re-evaluation of synthetic biology through the lens of ‘conviviality’, a concept introduced by Ivan Illich to designate a modern society of responsibly limited tools, where individual freedom is realised through personal interdependence. We find that in its current form, synthetic biology is not convivial since it relies on centralisation, monopolies and technologies which have the capacity to negatively affect the biosphere and its inhabitants. We argue that a broader conception of biotechnology, beyond genetics, is needed to conceive convivial biotechnologies. In our research journey we explore a range of approaches for responsible biotechnology innovation, which includes open-source, commons-based, decentralised organisations, and post-growth models.
... Defined in opposition to industrial tools, the concept has been utilized as inspiration for what technologies aligned with degrowth could look like. Vetter (2018) for example combined Illich's concept with a focused ethnography work with degrowth-related groups to develop the Matrix of Convivial Technology (MCT), a tool that has already been applied in the degrowth literature (Bobulescu and Fritscheova 2021, Pansera and Fressoli 2021, Priavolou et al. 2022, Ralph 2021. The literature on degrowth and technology has however so far mostly focused RESEARCH > Marion Meyers on physical technologies. ...
... The MCT (Vetter 2018) lists five dimensions important to convivial technologies: relatedness, access, adaptability, bio-interaction, and appropriateness, which are analyzed on four levels corresponding to typical technologies' lifecycle levels: material, production, use, and infrastructure. Each square of the MCT is filled with antagonist terms that help identify important characteristics of convivial technologies (table 1, pp. 190 f.). ...
... Each square of the MCT is filled with antagonist terms that help identify important characteristics of convivial technologies (table 1, pp. 190 f.). The conviviality dimensions are described by Vetter (2018Vetter ( , pp. 1782 ff.) as follows: ...
The degrowth movement lacks a concrete vision for technology, thereby disregarding a crucial aspect of the green growth narrative. This paper helps fill this gap by exploring the compatibility of Artificial Intelligence with a degrowth-related concept: convivial tools ‐ tools that promote autonomy, creativity, and relationships among humans and with nature.Degrowth has emerged as a strong voice against the green growth narrative. However, it has so far left largely unshaped its vision for technology, thereby overlooking a pivotal element of the green growth narrative. This article contributes to filling this gap by analyzing the appropriateness of a digital technology, Artificial Intelligence, to a degrowth context. It does so through the angle of conviviality, a concept introduced by Ivan Illich and frequently used by degrowth scholars, which states that convivial tools should foster autonomy, creativity, and relationships among humans and with nature. This paper specifically applies Vetter’s Matrix of Convivial Technology to an application of machine learning with potential environmental benefits: predictive maintenance ‐ a proactive maintenance technique based on real-time sensor monitoring. Three key limitations to its conviviality are identified: 1. the high complexity of machine learning, 2. its environmental impacts, and 3. the size of the infrastructure it relies on. These limitations prompt critical reflections on the appropriateness of machine learning (as a part of Artificial Intelligence) to degrowth but also act as inspirations for reshaping the technology towards more conviviality.
... Recently, scholars have sought to engage in a more nuanced way with Illich's critique and the 'love/hate' relationship between degrowth and technology (Kerschner et al., 2018). Two relevant strands include calls for and examples of the democratisation of technology (Bradley, 2018;Rommel et al., 2018) alongside shifts in its governance and appraisal methods (Vetter, 2018). The former still relies, for empirical evidence, upon 'nowtopias' or small-scale, real-world experiments (Demaria et al., 2019). ...
... Variations on this theme are picked up in the work on degrowth and innovation. Both Vetter (2018), and Pansera and Fressoli (2021) identify modularity as an approach to growth that distinguishes conviviality from non-growth oriented technologies and organisations. Certainly, calls for a more modular approach within mainstream critiques of the problems of large scale infrastructures have something in common with similar approaches to convivial technologies (Ansar and Flyvbjerg, 2016). ...
... Certainly, calls for a more modular approach within mainstream critiques of the problems of large scale infrastructures have something in common with similar approaches to convivial technologies (Ansar and Flyvbjerg, 2016). The main difference is that, whereas in this literature modularity is usually designed for upscaling, from a degrowth perspective this modularity should also offer the possibility of downscaling (Vetter, 2018). ...
Infrastructure studies represent a domain that remains significantly uncharted among degrowth scholars. This is paradoxical considering that infrastructures constitute a fundamental prerequisite for the equitable distribution of many aspects of human well-being that degrowth proponents emphasize. Nonetheless, the substantial resource and energy consumption associated with infrastructures cannot be overlooked. The internet offers an instructive case study in this sense, at its best it forges human connections and is productive of considerable societal value. The resource implications of the often-overlooked internet physical layer of data-centres and submarine cables needs to be acknowledged. Furthermore, the ways in which assumptions of perpetual growth are built into this global infrastructure via the logic layer of internet protocols and other governing mechanisms such as finance and network design need to be examined if we are to determine the extent to which such infrastructures are inherently growth dependent. In making these two arguments, we draw upon the work of both Science and Technology Studies (STS) and Large Technological System (LTS) studies on the inherent problems of large in-frastructures which have thus far seen little engagement with questions of degrowth. We review the case of the internet and suggest a number of scenarios that illustrate potential roles for such infrastructures in any planned reduction of economic activity.
... They base their framework on the concept of conviviality developed by Illich, where convivial tools should foster autonomy, creativity, and relationships between humans and between human and nature (Illich, 1973). Vetter (2018) also used Illich's concept of conviviality and combined it with a focused ethnography work to develop the Matrix of Convivial Technologies (MCT) with the following five dimensions: accessibility, relatedness, biointeraction, adaptability and appropriateness. Zoellick & Bisht (2018) developed guidelines to establish the suitability of technologies for degrowth based on ideas from different philosophers, namely Illich (1973), Ellul (1964), Mumford (1934), Schumacher (1973), Arendt (1998) and Marx (1962). ...
... Overall, there is little work that analyses the appropriateness of digital technologies such as machine learning to a degrowth context. I contribute to filling this research gap by applying the matrix of convivial technologies (MCT) developed by Vetter (2018) as an evaluation tool to assess machine learning. By utilizing the MCT as a framework, I propose a way to adapt this existing framework to the analysis of a digital technology, which -to the best of my knowledge -was never done previously. ...
... The matrix is in line with Illich's view about developing criteria for conviviality where he writes that he does not want to "contribute to an engineering manual for the design of convivial institutions or tools […]" but that his purpose is "to lay down criteria by which the manipulation of people for the sake of their tools can be immediately recognized, and this to exclude those artifacts and institutions which inevitably extinguish a convivial lifestyle" (p.14). (Vetter, 2018) ...
Green growth has emerged as a dominant narrative within environmental policy, holding out the prospect that technological progress will enable an absolute decoupling between economic growth and natural resources usage. To achieve such decoupling, digital technologies are considered particularly promising.
The degrowth movement criticizes the green growth narrative and argues based on an increasing amount of evidence that we need an urgent break out of the growth paradigm. However, the movement’s vision on technology remains undefined, meanwhile influential actors such as industrialised governments dedicate great efforts to push their own imaginary of technological developments forward. This thesis therefore aims at contributing to the degrowth discourse on technology by outlining a degrowth perspective on Artificial Intelligence (AI), specifically machine learning (ML), a digital technology at the center of promises of environmental benefits, strong political support and extremely high investments and research interests. The thesis focuses on the question: could AI be appropriate to a degrowth context? If so, how?
The first step of this thesis (the growth perspective) shows that (1) AI has the capacity to accelerate economic growth and that (2) governments and large consultancy firms show high interests in AI actually driving growth. This thesis therefore argues that a degrowth perspective on AI should oppose this technology as long as it acts as a growth-accelerator, while recognizing that most probably only a change in economic paradigm could divert AI from its growth-acceleration effects.
In the second step (the conviviality perspective), Vetter’s Matrix of Convivial Technologies is applied to machine learning, which leads to the identification of three aspects of ML which strongly limit its conviviality: (1) its high complexity, (2) its environmental impacts and (3) the size of the infrastructure it needs. This thesis argues that if despite the above limitations to conviviality, machine learning were to still be considered by the degrowth movement, then it should at least satisfy the following two conditions to be considered appropriate: (1) it should have no global destructive consequences, and (2) it should be carefully assessed in its local context of application by the affected people, while striving for conviviality.
... Yet the ways in which "such provisioning systems can link resource use with social outcomes, for both physical systems (infrastructure and technology) and social ones (governments and markets)" (Hickel et al., 2022: 402) demand further research. Moreover, technologies that enable different relations between human and more-than-human worlds and that permit "the possibility of a postindustrial society in which several distinct modes of production would complement each other" (Illich, 1973: 104) must be included in this degrowth scenario (Vetter, 2018). ...
... Conviviality signifies the connectedness among human and morethanhuman beings. When attributed to technologies for degrowth living, connectedness implies alternative production modes that are more inclusive and participatory (Vetter, 2018). ...
... Connectedness among technology, humans, and nature addresses concerns about how technology interacts with living organisms and how technologies may enable caring (e.g., caring for nature, supporting health, enhancing the quality of soil, water, and air) (Vetter, 2018). These concerns highlight how enhancing connectedness between human and more-thanhuman beings through technological intermediation can enable symbiosis (Vetter, 2018). ...
Prosumption is gaining momentum among the critical accounts of sustainable consumption that have thus far enriched the marketing discourse. Attention to prosumption is increasing whilst the degrowth movement is emerging to tackle the contradictions inherent in growth-driven, technology-fueled, and capitalist modes of sustainable production and consumption. In response to dominant critical voices that portray technology as counter to degrowth living, we propose an alternative symbiotic lens with which to reconsider the relations between technology, prosumption, and degrowth living, and assess how a degrowth transition in the context of food can be carried out at the intersection of human–nature–technology. We contribute to the critical debates on prosumption in marketing by analyzing the potentials and limits of technology-enabled food prosumption for a degrowth transition through the degrowth principles of conviviality and appropriateness. Finally, we consider the sociopolitical challenges involved in mobilizing such technologies to achieve symbiosis and propose a future research agenda.
... La « démarche low-tech » (DLT) est un ensemble de principes destinés à soustendre une activité, qui s'inscrivent dans le cadre référent du Low-tech Lab dont nous prenons ici le parti : « Utile, Durable, Accessible », auquel il est assez aisé de rattacher l'ensemble des essais de définitions qui ont pu précéder, discuter, vérifier ou préciser l'indivision de ces trois vocables [Bihouix, 2021 ;Carrey, 2020 ;Keller, 2022 ;La Fabrique Écologique, 2019 ;Low-Tech Lab ;Martin, 2022 ;Sempels, 2022 ;Tanguy, 2023 ;Vetter, 2018]. Le dernier nous intéresse particulièrement puisque c'est sur lui que repose l'essentiel de la surprise : l'accessibilité évoque à la fois le prix du produit commercialisé, sa compréhension (fonctionnalités, composition, fonctionnement, art de son assemblage), et la mise en capacité à reproduire le bien, et à pouvoir le réparer. ...
... C'est aussi naturellement une cible de clients moins experts qui permet de générer un revenu via les formations. Les systèmes proposés présentent souvent suffisamment de complexité pour inciter à acheter la formation, qui a par ailleurs l'avantage de fidéliser : échanges et participation sont recherchés par les membres de la communauté comme elles permettent le partage de valeurs communes[Vetter, 2018] et d'un engagement commun[Habhab, 2020]. La rencontre des acteurs est aussi une source de confiance[Karoui, 2014], tout comme la transparence dans les procédés de fabrication, ou celle issue de la transmission d'une documentation libre. ...
https://hal.science/hal-04637837
... Guachagmira promotes technological innovation around energy in Intag. He looks at energy from a perspective not centered on profit or rentability but on care, both for people and for nature-in a way that resonates strongly with both Ivan Illich's perspective on convivial technologies (Illich, 1973) and more recent elaborations around technologies within degrowth scholarship (Muraca & Neuber, 2018;Vetter, 2018). Serving people's situated needs in the context of environmental challenges is what has driven him to invent micro-hydro-powerplants and design virtuous cycles: ...
... In his inventive low-tech work, Guachagmira aims at holistic solutions in which greenhouse gas emissions and pollution are avoided, raw materials are effectively recycled, and organic fertilizer and appropriate technology are produced. His technologies are aligned with recent accounts of convivial technologies: they comply with the criteria of relatedness, accessibility, adaptability, bio-interaction, and appropriateness (Vetter, 2018). ...
Climate coloniality manifests in the violent appropriation of territories in the Global South, including the extraction of strategic minerals such as copper and molybdenum to service energy transition and green growth for the major world powers. Peasant communities in the Intag river valley in Ecuador have been resisting large-scale mining for decades and, thus, have built up a local solidarity economy as a livelihood alternative. This includes communitarian hydropower projects at different scales, which are designed not only to provide families with extra income or jobs but also to build virtuous circles that avoid deforestation, protect biodiversity, and strengthen relations in all their dimensions: within communities, with nature, and with organized actors in the Global North who recognize and wish to cancel their climate debt.
... Technological prowess has, indeed, freed humans from their needs. Now, they are enslaved by their wants (Kerschner et al., 2018;Vetter, 2018). This is the economy of replacement based on a servile society where objects and people are transient 4 commodities. ...
... Likewise, Fairchild opposes this development to the extent that it contributes to maintaining our "technological idiocy", rather than developing our "independent intelligence". Today as well, we ignore most of the functioning of the technology we use, let alone how to repair them-after all, each year comes with novel and increasingly sophisticated technologies (Vetter, 2018). Fairchild criticised how this system is managed by a select technocratic few who hold the keys to worldwide decisions; a world in which industrial monopolies and oligopolies enjoy the highest concentration of power. ...
Who is afraid of the Cheerful Robot? This question echoes through Dr. Mills Fairchild's lecture, who invited his 1958 audience to reflect upon the danger and hubris of science as an engine for societal annihilation. In this commentary, we start by discussing the fears pointed to by Fairchild, going back and forth between the canvas of his time and the landscape of ours. Then, we highlight the societal status quo that Fairchild denounced in his lecture and the related challenges of environmental exploitation, rampant consumerism, and technological development that demonstrates rationality without reason. Finally, we open a discussion about the sociological solutions outlined by Fairchild, reflecting on his ideas in view of our numerous contemporary crises and the role played by creativity in creating and in solving these challenges. This commentary, much as the original talk, is an invitation to change our practices, to cultivate our reflexivity, and to move to what we describe, here, as "Creative Preservation". That is, a form of creation that explores multiple affordances in a context of resource frugality.
... C'est peut-être aussi, en sus d'une cible de clients moins experts qui permettent de générer un revenu via les formations, le moyen de conserver la possession du produit (Foray, 2018). Les systèmes proposés présentent souvent suffisamment de complexité pour inciter à acheter la formation, qui a par ailleurs l'avantage de fidéliser : les échanges, la participation, sont recherchés par les membres de la communauté comme elles permettent le partage de valeurs communes (Vetter, 2018). La rencontre des acteurs est aussi une source de confiance, tout comme la transparence dans les procédés de fabrication, ou ...
... Néanmoins cette absence oblige à rencontrer pour échanger, à « encourager les liens sociaux » (McMahon, 2022) et à aller chercher différents points de vue, i.e. à intégrer de manière transitoire ou plus durable la communauté LT. Cela constitue aussi un motif de formation et d'accompagnement susceptible de nourrir les activités d'acteurs de l'EcoLT, puisque des entreprises de conseil émergent dans ce domaine.Une comparaison de quelques caractérisations de la DLT a été réalisée, ainsi qu'un essai de synthèse des grands principes de la DLT 21 : toutes rejoignent la formule concise du LTL même si certaines la distinguent mal de la frugalité(Bauwens, 2020 ;Bihouix, 2021 ;Carrey, 2020 ;Keller & Bournigal, 2022 ;La Fabrique écologique, 2019 ; LTL ;Martin et al., 2022 ;Tanguy et al., 2023 ;Vetter, 2018. Pourraient y être ajoutés :Locuratolo & Guimbretiere, 2021 ;Mateus et Roussilhe 2023 ;Sirois-Cournoyer 2018).Le fonds de dotation Explore, par le biais de son pôle Campus, présente la DLT comme une « démarche de compréhension et d'interrogation des rouages de notre société, de nos envies, de nos biais psychologiques, de nos habitudes, de nos freins. ...
With the aim of responding to the ecological transition and the resulting economic and social transformations (Triple Bottom Line), the recent "low-tech" french movement is emerging, letting see material (products and processes), social and organizational innovations, gradually moving from the association towards entrepreneurship, and displaying a set of key principles that sometimes seem incompatible with the usual business models. What are the characteristics of the low-tech movement and approach? How do they transpose to low-tech entrepreneurship? What are the unexpected innovations implemented? How to scale up? To achieve what viability? The research aims to show the existence of a community, and to question the singularities of entrepreneurial experiences associated with low-tech principles. A cartography of the low-tech movement achieves to represent a community and its interactions. The business models of some low-tech companies are studied and replaced in the sustainable entrepreneurship’s field. The results show that the principle of ‘encapacitation’, inducing open source hardware or swarming, is the most problematic for integrating an economic system which is rather focused on ownership, individualism and confidentiality. It is actually a paradigm shift that is induced by the movement, for which we offer some potential studies.
... As this paper illustrates below, technology is a connective tissue that may bridge the two perspectives into one unified framework for social change aligned with degrowth. While several degrowth scholars engage with the role of technology in our society (see only Kerschner et al. 2018;March 2018;Pansera and Owen 2018;Vetter 2018), there is no common perspective on technology within the degrowth community (Grunwald 2018). Instead, technology has brought up divergent views between enthusiasts and sceptics (Vetter 2018). ...
... While several degrowth scholars engage with the role of technology in our society (see only Kerschner et al. 2018;March 2018;Pansera and Owen 2018;Vetter 2018), there is no common perspective on technology within the degrowth community (Grunwald 2018). Instead, technology has brought up divergent views between enthusiasts and sceptics (Vetter 2018). A core theme among these debates is the concept of conviviality, dating back to Illich (1973). ...
A reconceptualisation of technology, as a vital component of modern society cutting across all its other aspects, is required to achieve social and environmental sustainability. This paper presents a convivial technology development framework using the concept of “cosmolocal” production. The latter captures the dynamic of dispersed technology initiatives, which exhibit conceptualisations of living, working and making around the commons. It is a structural framework for organising production by prioritising socio-ecological well-being over corporate profits, over-production and excess consumption. From the vantage point of Tzoumakers, a cosmolocal initiative in which the authors participate, this paper offers an empirical account of its conception and evolution. We further examine its relation and cooperation with various similar interconnected places in urban and rural settings.
... Such statements are prescient in anticipating our current environmental crisis and the increased focus on ecological aspects when designing our tools and systems. Indeed, recent work (Vetter, 2018) has adopted Illich's work as a blueprint for degrowth, celebrating open-source cargo bikes and compostable toilets as new forms of convivial technologies. ...
... While we can only point to broad tendencies and values, these nevertheless have concrete impacts on the kinds of technologies that are produced. For instance, it makes sense that convivial technologies which reject the industrial imperative of maximum growth would instead focus on degrowth or post-growth (Vetter, 2018;Kerschner et al, 2018) as paths toward sustainability. Such technologies move beyond the modernist paradigm of control and instead seek to foster mutualistic autonomy and decolonial self-realisation (Arora et al., 2020). ...
Digitalisation has the capacity to radically transform the nature of work, redefining tasks, requirements and remuneration. Yet technologies have often been used to reduce worker autonomy, exacerbate racial and gendered inequality and intensify labour precarity. How can digitalisation instead support emancipatory labour conditions? This article introduces the concept of ‘tika technology’, drawing together scholarship on convivial tools, appropriate technology and calm computing to theorise its purposes and principles. To illustrate what these look like in practice, the article provides two real-world examples of tika technology. It concludes by exploring potential benefits at the individual, societal and environmental levels.
... The alignment of sustainable interventions with degrowth principles, such as convivial technologies and urban renaturation, can significantly enhance urban sustainability transformations [63]. Convivial technologies can be described by five core dimensions, which include relatedness, accessibility, adaptability, bio-interaction, and appropriateness [64]. ...
The spatial configuration of urban areas impacts environmental sustainability, social equity, and economic and social resilience. This study examines the intricate relationship between spatial arrangements and the planning and design of BREEAM Outstanding projects in London, UK. It analyses the relationship between urban morphology and the effectiveness of sustainable building practices and contributes to the broader objectives of urban sustainability. This research focuses on London, UK—a city renowned for its complex urban fabric and architectural heterogeneity—using a multi-case study approach to dissect the elements that facilitate the development of BREEAM Outstanding projects. This study analyses key spatial characteristics such as land use diversity, subway network analysis, and street network analysis using betweenness centrality of edges and node degrees. These factors are considered due to their impact on energy performance, carbon emissions, and social sustainability metrics. Furthermore, this research explores how urban design strategies, such as enhanced walkability and mixed-use development, reinforce the success of BREEAM-certified Outstanding-rated projects. The findings of this investigation reveal a correlation between urban environments and the development of BREEAM Outstanding-rated projects in London. By aligning the spatial organisation of urban form with BREEAM principles, urban planners, policymakers, and architects can facilitate the creation of cities that are environmentally sustainable, socially inclusive, and economically prosperous. The research offers substantive insights and actionable recommendations for future urban development, advocating for a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach to sustainable city planning and design. The spatial arrangement of urban form impacts the planning and design of BREEAM Outstanding projects. Findings from current and future research will be used to investigate the connections between spatial arrangement and various categories in BREEAM and how they can influence future sustainable urban environments to set a benchmark for sustainability for contributing to a more equitable urban future.
... For the theologian and philosopher Ivan Illich, the relationship between humans and technologies is importantly defined by established institutions and power structures that shape socio-technological development. In line with other earlier technology-and growth-critical approaches of the 1970s (Lang, 2012;Vetter, 2017), Illich (2011, p. 56) considers the industrial system "organized for indefinite expansion and the concurrent unlimited creation of new needs" as particularly problematic for "the structure built into tools and institutions" (Illich, 2011, p. 91). Accordingly, the dominance of "institutional purposes, which hallow industrial productivity [ . . . ...
In the humanities and social sciences, there is a long tradition of discourses on the relationship between automats and human autonomy. Socio-technological transformation processes of the past decades have revitalized related discussions. At the same time, based on ideas of either human exceptionalism or hybridity, current debates tend to focus on ontological questions and comparisons between humans and machines. This paper aims to widen recent discursive foci by introducing Ivan Illich’s work which highlights institutions, power structures, and the social shaping of technology as key factors of humanartifact relations and autonomous action. It will be argued that Illich’s approach contributes to rethinking autonomy in the digital age by integrating issues of technology design and regulation and by providing a normative framework that allows for assessing autonomy as conviviality in sociotechnical constellations.
... Las soluciones y artefactos técnicos nacen y se definen en contextos y problemas específicos vinculados a la crisis climática, y tienen una naturaleza convivial, pues hay un énfasis en la autonomía que adquieren los individuos y grupos al resolver sus problemas concretos (Illich, 1973). Se puede pensar, por tanto, que las tecnologías locales son herramientas transformadoras para enfrentar la crisis climática: conectadas con conocimientos locales, valores y cosmovisiones, articulan una vinculación con el medioambiente donde prima la interdependencia entre personas, artefactos y otras entidades (Vetter, 2018). ¿Qué entendemos por tecnologías locales? ...
El "Glosario tecno-climático" es una obra colaborativa que recopila entradas abordando conceptos fundamentales para explorar la intersección entre tecnología y crisis climática. Cada entrada se presenta de manera concisa, estableciendo puntos clave sobre los siguientes términos: "Activismo Digital", "Alteración Climática", "Antropoceno", "Atmósfera", "Dinámicas de inflexión social", "Gaia", "Geosimbiosis", "Progreso", "Sostenibilidad", "Tecnologías locales", "Transferencia del riesgo" y "Transición socio-ecológica justa". Este glosario no solo clarifica conceptos, sino que también cuestiona los significados convencionales, proponiendo nuevas interpretaciones. Se enmarca como un esfuerzo por comprender cómo la tecnología moldea y es moldeada por la crisis climática, siendo una herramienta esencial para introducirse en debates contemporáneos sobre esta intersección.
... However, some key principles that seem to have a broad consensus in this literature have emerged: democratic as well as inclusive decisionmaking and governance; material sufficiency; conviviality; 8 and local 9 as well as cir- We refer here to Ivan Illich's (2001) conceptualisation of conviviality widely used in and adapted to degrowth scholarship (see e.g. Pansera and Fressoli, 2021;Vetter, 2018). We use 'local' here as it is often referred to in degrowth scholarship as a partial means to achieving local sufficiency and autonomy. ...
Degrowth seeks to achieve a sustainable society in the future. It implies overcoming capitalist norms and structures. Economic organizations have found little attention in degrowth scholarship. The existing literature focuses on degrowth compatibility without the wider structural and societal consideration that degrowth implies. Further, it is riddled with incoherences, such as a supposed compatibility of degrowth values with capitalist norms. We unpack these persisting tensions and incoherences by employing Gramsci's concepts of hegemony and counter-hegemony. We make the case for two key systemic principles for economic organizations that hitherto have found little attention: not-for-profit and non-accumulation. These principles are complementary to, and enabling factors for, other organizational principles commonly focused on in degrowth scholarship, such as inclusive decision-making and material sufficiency. Combined, these principles describe the kinds of economic organizations that have to emerge along with wider societal structures to make a degrowth transformation possible. As economic organizations are at the core of the economy, they must be active agents for a degrowth transformation. Our analysis contributes to organizational and degrowth scholarship alike by not only clarifying how economic organizations can be compatible with a de-growth society, but also explaining their central role in enabling transformations towards such a society.
... On the other hand, degrowth has also been integrated with 'allied concepts,' such as the notions of commons, care, and simplicity (D'Alisa et al., 2015), to help make connections to realworld practices. In both cases, a balancing act must be achieved between an abstract and pluralistic orientation and the already-existing world, leading some scholars to rely on descriptors like 'degrowth-oriented' (Vetter, 2018) or 'degrowth-minded' (Lloveras et al., 2018;. Despite the increasing prevalence of efforts to link empirical phenomena with degrowth, to date little consideration has been given to the process of utilizing 'degrowth' in research practices. ...
... The first category includes approaches based on concepts such as convivial technologies (Vetter 2018) and low technologies (Bihouix 2014). They explore the possibilities of hardware and software based on short supply chains, low environmental impact, collaborative development, and open-source access. ...
... The first category includes approaches based on concepts such as convivial technologies (Vetter 2018) and low technologies (Bihouix 2014). They explore the possibilities of hardware and software based on short supply chains, low environmental impact, collaborative development, and open-source access. ...
... Despite this, it is primarily focused on its concept and few on product features and their uses. Degrowth-oriented technologies are what we need to discover (Vetter, 2018). ...
Considering the growing change towards material simplicity of consumers which consists in rejecting the consumer society by decreasing material needs and their consumption we interrogate in this research the possibility of products to support its transition of consumers. We address in a matrix product characteristics adaptation to pathways of consumers stemming from non-voluntary to radical disadopters. The main question of this work interrogates how products can address the disadoption/material simplicity phenomenon.
... By contrast with core capitalist assumptions, degrowth implies finite horizons for overall species-wide resource metabolization and dramatic curtailment for those presently consuming most. Degrowth promises convivial forms of abundance, yes (Vetter 2018). But it also means wanting less. ...
... GIs, being bottom-up and value-driven, necessitate a similar approach to their assessment of sustainability. Such an approach is adopted for example by the Matrix of Convivial Technology (MCT) (Vetter, 2018), a self-assessment tool that has been designed for assessing grassroots technologies. The MCT enables practitioners to assess technological artefacts across their life cycle by considering sustainability criteria derived from five overarching values (namely relatedness, access, adaptability, bio-interaction, and appropriateness). ...
Diverse discourses converge into the importance of broadening the focus of sustainability innovations from merely cleaner technologies to more radical, paradigmatic innovations. Here, we focus on grassroots innovation (GI) as a radical innovation paradigm whose agents, goals and practices are fundamentally different from conventional innovation. Researchers typically attribute GIs the potential to influence the transition toward more sustainable production and consumption. Through a systematic literature review, we find that a research gap in the systematic analysis of GIs’ sustainability persists. We thus propose a meta-theoretical framework to systematise the sustainability assessment of GIs across three system levels: product, organisational model and socio-technical system. Our framework delineates how the theory and tools from sustainability assessment and sustainable business models may enrich sustainability transitions studies in the analysis of grassroots, and more broadly, radical innovation, providing a systems thinking view and increasing the credibility and reflexivity of sustainability arguments in transition studies.
... More topical is an entire issue focusing on "planned degrowth" in the Monthly Review in July/August 2023, in which various ecosocialist and degrowth authors advance critical research frontiers in terms of planning, focusing in particular on the overall goals and of a planning framework (Foster, 2023), but also on specific aspects related to technological innovations and planning the development of productive forces (Hickel, 2023; see also Vetter, 2018), on global climate justice and redistribution (Hickel, 2023), the spatial division of labor (Graham, 2023), or on key areas for degrowth planning (Schmelzer and Hofferberth, 2023). Recent contributions have explicitly argued for economic policies aimed at deaccumulation and decommodification, including radical and participatory democratic planning from below to dismantle socially undesirable sectors (from fossil fuels production to planned obsolescence to the military), to decentralize the economy to favor local cooperatives, to drastically reduce working hours, and to break up monopolies and abolish rents (Pedregal and Juan Bordera, 2022;Schmelzer et al., 2022, 215-228), That this involves changes to ownership structures and related institutional settings is also highlighted: "Seeing economic decisions as political problems requires overcoming the idea of a universal yardstick to measure all activities (whether that is GDP, money, or any other indicator), or the hope of delegating efficient production to algorithms (even though they might be extremely useful as tools). ...
... autonomous and creative solutions as opposed to industrial production, see e.g. Alexander/Yacoumis 2018;Vetter 2018;Illich 1973). The epithet 'potentially' next to the green and mixed jobs therefore stands for a situation where the economy would already be decarbonised. ...
In finding alternatives for workers currently employed in the fossil fuel industry, just transition policies can ultimately undermine environmental concerns and efforts to redress inequalities. For example, it is suggested to create jobs in other extractive industries to meet the material requirements of renewable energy technologies. We focus on this ambiguous role of job preservation as a key demand of just transition and review selected national transformation strategies from the Global North and the Global South. Comparing qualification requirements of coal mining jobs with other alternatives, we propose to complement current strategies with jobs outside the extractive sector value chains. Fostering these can work towards realising social and environmental goals in synergy, rather than pitting one against the other. We conclude that finding work opportunities that minimise extraction requirements and benefit local communities can help level global and regional inequalities by allowing mining regions to escape from their current positions in global value chains.
... Therefore a need for our educational leaders to be cognisant of and promote forms of digital leadership and digital transformation that are best suited for a resource-constrained planet and a need to plan with a 'finiteness' in mind. Vetter (2018) talks about how might schools and other educational institutions adopt and adapt 'convivial technologies' which are designed towards de-growth, and to more equitable, participatory, democratic, interrelated societies. ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the educational sector as a whole reflecting on traditional models of education, particularly in the context of inclusive and flexible approaches that can enable the sector to become more resilient to crisis. One of the main enablers to supporting resilience is digital learning. Aligned with this, educational leaders must lead in the digital transformation of their environment, have the necessary awareness of the infrastructure and associated digital competencies. Traditional models of leadership are concerned with leading conventional educational systems and models that are concerned with physical learning environments and governance. Few studies consider how to support educational leaders to become digital leaders. As a result this paper explores digital educational leadership and presents the theoretical and the critical importance of learning culture and transformational learning. By situating the concept of digital leadership in theory the paper presents a conceptual model for educational leaders to apply within their educational contexts in order to support digital transformation. The ontology is one based in structural realism with three interweaving components at an individual level, educational/organisational level and at a cross-sectoral/ inter-institutional level. The paper’s central contribution presents and formulates a theoretical framework enabling a fundamental reconceptualization for digital educational leaders’ professional development and enactment of policy.
... One shared conceptual and practical component common to both OL and HL is an interest in convivial technologies, inspired by the work of Ivan Illich (1973). This refers to adaptable, human-scale and ecological technologies conducive to democratic use, accessibility and repairability by the user (Gorz, 1982;Kerschner et al., 2018;Vetter, 2018). A classic example would be the bicycle as a convivial tool, in contrast to the anti-social and harmful consequences of the automobile and its associated infrastructure. ...
In recent years, scholarly attention has turned to the fracturing of global supply chains and the costs and benefits of reorienting economies to the local scale. While its real extent is debated, the term 'deglobalisation' has been broadly used to refer to this break from the expansionist neoliberal common-sense of previous decades. This paper conducts narrative reviews of six approaches which have emerged in this context: Hyper-localism, Open Localism, Cosmo-localism, Foundational Economy, Developmental Nationalism and Strategic Autonomy. It examines these emerging proposals for more local production, consumption and trade, and hints at relevant research directions for the uncertain era ahead. Its conceptual contribution shows that we are now faced with complex and differing processes of (de)globalisation-sometimes overlapping and sometimes competing. Grounded in a post-growth perspective, the paper concludes with an invitation for dialogue and future research around local production where capitalist political economy and organisation are not taken for granted.
... Alternatively, one could use simple pinned and flitch joints for small-scale buildings that allow easy assembly and disassembly. Low-tech is designed to be as simple as possible and, thus, tends to be cheap, easy to deploy, maintain, and adjust (Vetter, 2018;Bihouix, 2020). ...
Technological imaginaries have been increasingly shaping the future perceptions of cities. From artificial intelligence and distributed ledger technology to three-dimensional printing, high-tech artifacts are very often the premises of such imaginaries. However, technology does not only refer to artifacts. Technology also encompasses the processes around the artifacts: how the artifacts are designed, manufactured, used, maintained, and disposed. From this perspective, high-tech visions often disregard problems that pertain to resource extraction, labor exploitation, energy use, and material flows. On the contrary, low-tech and localized alternatives incite lower impact and higher resilience visions. However, they fail to offer solutions of the desired scale and intensity. To address this tension, we provide an alternative vision for mid-tech: a balance between the opposite extreme qualities of low-tech and high-tech. Through a case of open-source prosthetics, we illustrate how to synergistically combine the efficiency and versatility of high-tech solutions with the potential for autonomy and resilience that low-tech offers. Then we discuss a mid-tech approach for distributed ledger technology from a city as a license lens. We provide connections with existing or conceptual applications to show how distributed ledger technology could support more socially and ecologically responsible data practices for city governance.
... To aid this transformation, the concept of convivial technology has been developed based on Ivan Illich's work, which consists of five core values: connectedness, accessibility, adaptability, bio-interaction, and appropriateness. 29 These dimensions, we argue, could be central for determining democratically and then plan accordingly the future development of productive forces. ...
Degrowth promises to liberate society from the imperative of capital accumulation. "So how," Matthas Schmelzer and Elena Hofferberth wonder, "might planning beyond growth look?" It is not, they write, only a proposal for a postcapitalist society, but for a radical transformation of our institutions and social relations to create a more sustainable and just world.
... The stance of degrowth on technology is ambivalent with some researchers identifying the technologies of industrialism as the source of the ecological crisis while others argue that digital technologies and especially AI could be important tools in a post-growth economy. However, the dominant stance in the degrowth literature is one of techno-pessimism (Vetter, 2018). ...
... This critical approach sheds light on the non-instrumental realities that abound in tourism experiences, where people are looking for authentic, friendly, and respectful social bonding with others. Future directions could entail research on development of "convivial tools" (Illich, 1973) -that is, tools that have the capacity to deal with the interconnectedness and mutual dependency between human beings and our planet -, "convivial technology" (Vetter, 2018), or "spaces of convivial open pluralities" (Noble, 2013) in the context of touristic experiences and atmospheres. These perspectives would allow tourism research to expand on the "ethics of conviviality", widely recognized in the context of degrowth, anti-utilitarian, and anti-capitalist ideological movements (Caillé, 1989). ...
This article examines the dynamics of affective atmospheres in explaining compelling
touristic service experiences. Extending affect-theoretical research, we theorize and examine
the role of affective bodily encounters through which convivial atmospheres are
(re)produced. Based on multi-sited ethnographic research in iconic Club Med resorts, our
findings emphasize the spontaneity and fragility of convivial affective atmospheres, meaning
they are difficult to control, but also how their ongoing “bubbling” is shaped by materiality,
ritual activities, and temporality. We contribute by (1) developing the concept of convivial
affective atmosphere, and by (2) offering a theoretical framework that helps advance research
into the affective entanglement and dynamics of atmospheres in tourism. Finally, we
critically discuss what service providers can do to facilitate and re-produce convivial
atmospheres.
... Policies and practices that encourage open-source and transparent sharing of information and technologies as well as free quality public education, from pre-school to university, can help circulate knowledge in more sustainable and inclusive manners [76,77]. Transdisciplinary teaching and research approaches such as participatory action research can also help democratise knowledge flows by empowering marginalised and vulnerable people in the creation, ownership, and dissemination of knowledge [78][79][80]. ...
While the conceptual underpinnings of the circular economy (CE) date back to the 1970s, the concept has recently become a major discourse in contemporary sustainability debates. The idea of CE, as it is now understood, is thus rather new and remains in conceptual development. Moreover, it is a contested concept with many different circular visions competing in the discursive sphere. Many researchers have evidenced that dominant CE propositions focus on technocentric solutions and do not address crucial social, political, and ecological implications. This opinion paper seeks to help address this gap by going to the root of the CE metaphor and asking: What do circles, cycles, and flows mean for an economy and a society? To answer this question, this article unpacks the idea of cycles, loops, and flows by analysing what socio-ecological cycles are most relevant for sustainability and circularity. It thus finds a set of seven cycles that are key to better understanding CE and its relation to human and planetary well-being (biogeochemical, ecosystem, resource, power, wealth, knowledge, and care cycles). This article then analyses how and whether dominant CE discourses currently address these cycles. This paper proposes the idea of a circular society as an umbrella concept that can help us better address the critical ecological, social, and political implications of a circularity transition. Moreover, this article develops a set of interrelated strategies to operationalise the circular society concept. This paper thus hopes to contribute to expanding the imaginary regarding the concept of circularity that can help the cross-pollination of ideas, solutions, and approaches to face the manyfold socio-ecological challenges of the twenty-first century.
... More topical is an entire issue focusing on "planned degrowth" in the Monthly Review in July/August 2023, in which various ecosocialist and degrowth authors advance critical research frontiers in terms of planning, focusing in particular on the overall goals and of a planning framework (Foster, 2023), but also on specific aspects related to technological innovations and planning the development of productive forces (Hickel, 2023; see also Vetter, 2018), on global climate justice and redistribution (Hickel, 2023), the spatial division of labor (Graham, 2023), or on key areas for degrowth planning (Schmelzer and Hofferberth, 2023). Recent contributions have explicitly argued for economic policies aimed at deaccumulation and decommodification, including radical and participatory democratic planning from below to dismantle socially undesirable sectors (from fossil fuels production to planned obsolescence to the military), to decentralize the economy to favor local cooperatives, to drastically reduce working hours, and to break up monopolies and abolish rents (Pedregal and Juan Bordera, 2022;Schmelzer et al., 2022, 215-228), That this involves changes to ownership structures and related institutional settings is also highlighted: "Seeing economic decisions as political problems requires overcoming the idea of a universal yardstick to measure all activities (whether that is GDP, money, or any other indicator), or the hope of delegating efficient production to algorithms (even though they might be extremely useful as tools). ...
Corporate messaging around generative artificial intelligence (AI) in the communications and culture domain focuses upon the reduced labour and democratization of creativity that supposedly comes with the adoption of these systems. From this emerges a dominant narrative that glorifies the productivity benefits of AI adoption, such as how copywriters can facilitate the creation of more copy by querying ChatGPT and proofing its output rather than writing everything from scratch. This article focuses on an underreported element of this narrative, which is how AI companies are changing the underlying structures of these types of creative tasks and remoulding them in the image of modern bureaucracy. This argument follows the work of David Graeber on meaningless labour, where increasingly the system of the world is founded upon the propagation of busy work. Similarly, I draw upon the work of Ivan Illich on ‘radical monopoly’, where he proposes that the most dangerous monopoly is not the economic one that companies such as OpenAI overtly seek but instead identifies the monopoly over how things are done as the more significant hazard. Together, these conceptual frames plot out a unique institutional critique of AI as it is currently sold. This article demonstrates how this is already affecting practice in communications professions and culture industries while also theorizing upon possible ways forward using Graeber and Illich’s counterstrategies to modern institutional monopoly.
The aim of this extended review essay is to discuss the potential relevance of degrowth-aligned social-ecological transformation for the specific context of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). We frame this discussion around three recent books which we consider especially useful for this debate: The Future is Degrowth by Schmelzer et al. (2022, in Czech 2023) for an up-to-date and comprehensive overview of the concept of degrowth; Marx in the Anthropocene by Saito (2023) for an ecologically grounded debate on anticapitalist strategies stemming from writings of late Marx; and The Political Economy of Middle Class Politics and the Global Crisis in Eastern Europe by Gagyi (2021) that empirically analyses the specific position of the CEE semiperiphery and its implications for a radical social-ecological transformation. We introduce and interlink the main ideas of these books and discuss their implications for the degrowth movement in the CEE context. We argue that to deeply transform our socio-metabolic relation with nature, it is crucial to cultivate and expand spaces of reproductive autonomy, and link them to struggles of labour and social movements. We conclude by emphasising the role of internationalism from below.
Der Beitrag Inselgarten und Komposttoilette: Prototyping von nachhaltigen Zukunftsvisionen und die ökologischen und sozialen Folgen baut auf Merle Ibachs Feldforschung zu öko-sozialen Maker Labs auf, in der sie sich mit dem Entwerfen nachhaltiger Konzepte auseinandersetzt. Dabei wird einerseits deutlich, dass sich entsprechende Entwurfsprozesse gegenwärtig in einem Spannungsverhältnis zwischen Postwachstumsvision und spätmoderner Konsumlogik befinden und einen problematischen Umgang mit Ressourcen auch reproduzieren können. Andererseits zeigen sich im Kontext der öko-sozialen Maker Labs aus Ibachs Sicht Potenziale, bisherige Sichtweisen und Überzeugungen zu hinterfragen, um sich schrittweise unterschiedlichen Zukunftsentwürfen ‚tastend‘ anzunähern.
Marx's interpretation of ‘praxis’ as a primary expression of what we are, of self-realisation and what we might achieve as social beings, frames his revolutionary thought. This article connects Marx's unique approach to certain forms of contemporary grassroots resistance and community-based postcapitalist responses to global heating and the totalitarianism of capital. In particular, his appreciation of humans as at one with nature supports a postcapitalist imaginary abolishing the contradiction between humans and more-than-human nature intrinsic to capitalist practices. By reference to critical theorists such as Jasper Bernes and autonomist Marxist authors Harry Cleaver and P.M. (Hans Widmer), the article identifies key principles of a nonmarket socialist form of postcapitalism, i.e. beyond both state and money. Work as waged labour under the rule of capitalists gives way to ecologically and socially constructive activities fulfilling collective sufficiency cogoverned and coproduced by all. Work is freed up as semi-voluntary activity, negotiated within a community mode of production where the product is both predetermined (co-planned) and, later, shared on the basis of satisfying basic needs. In contrast to strictly defined capitalist waged work, now standard across various geographies and cultures, the postcapitalist community mode of production proposed establishes convivial and ecologically appropriate work within local geographies of community sufficiency. Even as universal (global) principles typify the community mode of production, symbiotically respectful relations between humans and nature give rise to unique localised geographies of ecological diversity and pluralism.
A wide-ranging conversation on critical approaches to edtech, technology, digital education. A free-to-read version of the article is here: https://rdcu.be/dwbxm. A short blog reflection on the conversation here: https://www.civicsoftechnology.org/blog/critique-needs-community-on-a-humanities-approach-to-a-civics-of-technology
The World Yearbook of Education 2024 contends with the digitalisation and datafication of education associated with the arrival of big data, algorithms, AI and automated digital technologies. Contemporary digitalisation and datafication in education have emerged from five intertwined trends: the production of shared imaginaries of a digital future, the emergence of educational data science as a model of knowledge production, a political turn to data-driven policy and governance, transformations in the digital data economy, and the rapid growth of the edtech industry. The chapters foreground four analytical approaches as an agenda for research on digitalisation and datafication in education. Focusing on sociotechnical foundations, research interrogates the social, scientific and historical factors involved in the development and deployment of new technologies and practices. Research on the political economy of digitalisation foregrounds the complex relations between locally enacted forms of digitalisation and global economic trends in the technology industry. The dynamics of digitalisation and datafication underpin the ways contemporary education systems can be monitored, controlled and governed, such as through digital surveillance techniques and automated data-driven decision-making. In turn, research investigates consequences like bias and discrimination, inequality and environmental impact, and explores alternative models like technical democracy and design justice approaches.
This preview of the introductory chapter of the collection is also available from https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9781003359722/world-yearbook-education-2024-ben-williamson-janja-komljenovic-kalervo-gulson
Wie kann ein Umbau technischer Geräte, von Prozessen und Infrastrukturen aus einer Postwachstumsperspektive aussehen? Mit dem Ansatz der konvivialen Technik stellt Andrea Vetter eine empirische Technikethik vor, die sie durch ethnographische Erkundungen in der Technikproduktion sowie die Sichtung historischer Quellen zu »alternativer« Technik entwickelt hat. Anhand der Beispiele Komposttoilette und Lastenfahrrad arbeitet sie die zentralen Kriterien für eine postwachstumstaugliche Technikbewertung aus: Verbundenheit, Zugänglichkeit, Anpassungsfähigkeit, Bio-Interaktivität und Angemessenheit.
This article discusses the governance of a smart-green transition in an urban region. The focus is on how the modes of public governance relate to relationality, spatiality, and digitality, which are of vital importance in determining the success of the transition in question. The empirical inquiry is based on observations of the case of the Tampere urban region in Finland, which exemplifies such governance efforts in the Nordic welfare society context. The discussion shows that the relationality in the given context is fragmentary, dominated by persuasive network governance and soft means of exerting pressure. Municipalities assume many roles in CE governance, which matches their urge to utilize different institutional logics from hierarchies to markets and networks. Rather than a genuine authority, municipalities emerge as facilitators and enablers. Spatiality is highlighted in the formation of designated areas that serve circularity and also provide brand benefits, as shown by the eco-industrial park in the city of Nokia. Digitalization is an underdeveloped area in the circular economy agenda vis-à-vis its assumed potential. Its relevance has been identified by institutional players in the urban-regional governance field, but its realization seems to require both nationally coordinated actions and local solutions that compensate for the lack of a critical mass of developers and users in the circular economy ecosystem. Lastly, regarding urban governance, the parallel utilization of different modes of governance forms a complex setting, in which increasingly sophisticated forms of hybrid governance are emerging. Most notably, in the case of the Tampere urban region, the promotion of a circular economy by intermediaries is supplemented by novel dynamic assemblages that utilize different institutional logics within loosely governed processes that aim at integrating a circular economy into business models and urban development.
From an economic perspective, innovation and growth constitute a very close relationship with the former being a prerequisite for, and at the same time relying on, the latter. However, continued growth requires increasing amounts of natural resources and by doing so leads to the transgression of the boundaries for a safe operation of the system earth. In order to avoid this drawback, a halt (steady state) or even reversal of growth (de- or postgrowth) is proposed. What does this mean for innovation? This chapter shows that innovation is a far more diverse and complex phenomenon as the common notion of growth-related techno-economic innovation suggests. Not only are there different types of innovation, but also the relationship between these diverse innovation types, their intended impacts, nonintended side effects, and contributions to universally accepted societal goals such as well-being or sustainability is heterogeneous and far from linear. Although economic growth might remain a more or less relevant intermediate factor in some contexts, it generally seems by no means indispensable, neither as a prerequisite for innovation nor as a means to reach well-being nor as an end in itself.
Das »Konvivialistische Manifest« (2014 auf Deutsch erschienen) hat die globale Debatte um die Frage neu formatiert, wie wir das Zusammenleben angesichts von Klimakatastrophe und Finanzkrisen gestalten wollen und müssen. Die Beiträge dieses Bandes eröffnen nun die Diskussion um die Möglichkeiten und Grenzen des Manifests im deutschsprachigen Raum: Wo liegen seine Stärken, wo die Schwächen? Was hieße es, eine konviviale Gesellschaft anzustreben - in Politik, Kultur, Zivilgesellschaft und Wirtschaft? Welche neuen Formen des Zusammenlebens sind wünschenswert und welche Chancen bestehen, sie durchzusetzen? Ein Buch nicht nur für Sozial- und Kulturwissenschaftler_innen, sondern auch für zivilgesellschaftliche Akteure und die interessierte Öffentlichkeit. Mit Beiträgen u.a. von Micha Brumlik, Christian Felber, Naika Foroutan, Silke Helfrich, Claus Leggewie, Stephan Lessenich, Steffen Mau, Franz Walter und Gesa Ziemer.
Economic activities play a key role in human societies by providing goods and services through production, distribution, and exchange. At the same time, economic activities through common focus on short-term profitability may cause global crisis at all levels. The inclusion of three dimensions-environment, economy, and society-when measuring progress towards sustainable development has accordingly reached consensus. In this context, the Life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) framework has been developed for assessing the sustainability performance of products through Life cycle assessment (LCA), Life cycle costing (LCC), and Social life cycle assessment (SLCA). Yet, the focus of common economic assessments, by means of LCC, is still on financial costs. However, as economic activities may have a wide range of positive and negative consequences, it seems particularly important to extend the scope of economic assessments. Foremost, as the limitation to monetary values triggers inconsistent implementation practice. Further aspects like missing assessment targets, uncertainty, common goods, or even missing ownership remain unconsidered. Therefore, we propose economic life cycle assessment (EcLCA) for representing the economic pillar within the LCSA framework, following the requirements of ISO 14044, and introducing an economic impact pathway including midpoint and endpoint categories towards defined areas of protection (AoPs). We identify important target ratios by means of economic AoPs, which drive economic activities on the macro- and microeconomic level. Furthermore, we provide suggestions for midpoint and endpoint indicators representing the defined categories. With the presented EcLCA framework, a first step towards the inclusion of economic impacts within LCSA has been made. Relations between economic activities and resulting consequences are displayed, going beyond the cost-driven view of classical LCC. Further research and fine-tuning of the identified midpoint and endpoint categories and related indicators is, however, needed to enable a valid and consistent assessment basis for fostering the practical implementation of EcLCA and LCSA.
Literature about the relationship between innovation and sustainability has skyrocketed in the last two decades and new terms have appeared. However, only very few bibliometric analyses have reviewed some of these terms (eco-innovation, environmental innovation, green innovation, and sustainable innovation), and they concluded that such terms are mostly interchangeable. These findings surprise in light of the different positions shown in the innovation for sustainability debate. Our bibliometric analysis tracks meanings and communities associated with these four terms and indicates some overlaps, especially between eco-innovation and environmental innovation. However, we found relevant differences of meanings and communities that reflect the different positions in the innovation for sustainability debate.
A shift in the entrepreneurial landscape is taking place brought about by grassroots innovators with little formal education and technological knowhow, living and working in penurious environments. This research represents an emerging third wave of literature on Bottom of the Pyramid innovation, where products are offered for and by the underserved. Using primary and secondary data derived from four cases of grassroots entrepreneurs in the Indian Subcontinent, the study explores the phenomenon where resource scarce entrepreneurs craft solutions that are environmental friendly, with low overall ownership costs, and use locally available material. We argue that the grassroots phenomenon can be fruitfully exploited to achieve the new Sustainable Development Goals proposed by the UN as a post-2015 strategy for the future of global governance. These innovations might have a tremendous impact not only in terms of serving unmet and ignored consumer needs, but also longer term impacts through enhanced productivity, sustainability, poverty reduction and inclusion promotion.
lS IW fie 1d al ds n-ve le s. at 1-1-:o \-!1, Jl e e J February 1996 ECONOMIC GROWTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY 23 fl l'l"J:I<-UI Appln atums 6(I). 1996, pp 23-24 ,. I 496 ~y the Eco log • cal Soc1e1y of Amenca We have the greatest respect for the authors of the Science article (Arrow et al. I 995) and we agree with their argum ents . However, we would like to offer some points of clarification and to broaden the base of the discussion. The Science article focused on the inverted U relationship between environmental quality and gross domestic product (GDP). But this empirical re-lationship adopts a trivial definition of environmental quality: emissions of specific pollutants, compared across vast differences in culture, resources, and scales. A subset of pollutants in a limited number of places cannot be accepted as surrogates for the complex in-teractions between economic growth and the environ-ment on which that growth depends. Policy discussions and scientific debates often focus on a simplified concept of environmental interactions. Accepting these simple concepts places advocates of growth in a s trong position to argue for continued de-velopment. At one extreme, the environment is reduced to extractable resources. The environmentalist argues that economic growth will exhaust extractable re-sources, such as, oil and iron ore. This argument faces a forceful counterargument: most extractable resources are substitutable. Substitutes may be other extractables, human capital, or human-made capital. Don 't worry about running out of coal-there is fission, fusion, or biomass fuel crops. The point can be argued, of course. because substitutability varies widely across extracta-' Manuscnpt received I 0 July 1995. t For reprints of this Forum, see footnote I, p. 12. ' The Oak Ridge National Laboratory is managed by Lock-heed Martin Energy Systems, Inc. , under subcontract number DE-AC05-840R21400 for the U.S. Department of Energy. Environmental Sc1ences Division Publication Number 4454. ble resources and experience has shown that substi-tutes, such as nuclear power, may create as many prob-lems as they solve. But if one accepts that the envi-ronmental problem can be reduced to extractable re-sources, the advocates of growth s tart the debate from a strong position. At another extreme, environmental issues are re-duced to amenities-nice places to have a pic nic. In thi s case, the environment has aesthetic value but no direct involvement in the economic process. You are unlikely to win the argument if you maintain that aes-thetics are more important than jobs. If you want to preserve Spotted Owls s imply because they are pretty. you are likely to be hit in the back of the head with an axe handle. In other cases, analysis focuses on direct physical and health effects of pollution. For example, the as-sessment of acid precipitation considered direct dam -age to buildings, agricultural crops, visibility, and trout populations. But eliminating direct impacts of pollut-ants w ill not prevent gradual, indirect effects such as climate change or loss of the ozone layer. Underlying all of these simplifications are basic eco-system services: cleaning the water. purifying the air. decomposing wastes, maintaining CO, balance. per-mitting recovery from natural disturbances, filtering ultraviolet radiation , and providing sources of nev. medicines. These ecosystem functions are not s ub'>li -tutable and not just amenities that can be traded for short-term economic gains. Discussions of economic growth often ASSUME stable, resilient ecosystems that will continue to provide these life-support services. But economic development will impose in creasing stress on ecosystems. even if wealthy nations can be expected
In order to reach the Millennium Development Goals for significantly reducing the number of people without access to adequate sanitation, new holistic concepts are needed focusing on economically feasible closed-loop ecological sanitation systems rather than on expensive end-of-pipe technologies. An analysis of a former civilization in the Amazon (nowadays Brazil) highlights the possibility to close the loop with a more sustainable lifestyle integrating soil fertility, food security, waste management, water protection and sanitation, renewable energy. Terra Preta do Indio is the anthropogenic black soil produced by ancient cultures through the conversion of bio-waste, fecal matter and charcoal into long-term fertile soils. These soils have maintained high amounts of organic carbon several thousand years after they were abandoned. Deriving from these concepts, Terra Preta Sanitation (TPS) has been re-developed and adopted. TPS includes urine diversion, addition of a charcoal mixture and is based on lactic-acid-fermentation with subsequent vermicomposting. Lacto-fermentation is a biological anaerobic process that generates a pre-stabilization of the mixture. The main advantage of lacto-fermentation is that no gas and no odor is produced. What makes it particularly interesting for in-house systems even in urban areas. Instead, vermicomposting is an aerobic decomposition process of the pre-digested materials by the combined action of earthworms and microorganisms. It transforms the carbon and nutrients into the deep black, fertile and stable soil that can be utilized in agriculture. No water, ventilation or external energy is OPEN ACCESS Sustainability 2014, 6 1329 required. Starting from ancient Amazonian civilizations traditional knowledge, the aim of this work is to present TPS systems adopted nowadays.
Degrowth is the literal translation of 'décroissance', a French word meaning reduction. Launched by activists in 2001 as a challenge to growth, it became a missile word that sparks a contentious debate on the diagnosis and prognosis of our society. 'Degrowth' became an interpretative frame for a new (and old) social movement where numerous streams of critical ideas and political actions converge. It is an attempt to re-politicise debates about desired socio-environmental futures and an example of an activist-led science now consolidating into a concept in academic literature. This article discusses the definition, origins, evolution, practices and construction of degrowth. The main objective is to explain degrowth's multiple sources and strategies in order to improve its basic definition and avoid reductionist criticisms and misconceptions. To this end, the article presents degrowth's main intellectual sources as well as its diverse strategies (oppositional activism, building of alternatives and political proposals) and actors (practitioners, activists and scientists). Finally, the article argues that the movement's diversity does not detract from the existence of a common path.
Nowadays, eco-friendly technologies are considered a strategic objective in industrialised countries. Rising demand for more sustainable products and services from civil society has become a major challenge for policy makers. The present article aims to provide a historical perspective on the concept of eco-innovation, its different meanings and its position in the modern debate around sustainability. The first part of the article explores the origins of the notion of eco-innovation, drawing on the Sustainable Development debate. The second part attempts to shed light on the purpose of eco-innovation and its implications for a desirable sustainable transition in modern industrial societies. This part illustrates the essential differences between mainstream economics and the School of Ecological Economics. Finally, the third part attempts to describe the social and institutional changes necessary to foster eco-innovation.
The paper contributes to the current discussion on the role of participatory methods in the context of technology assessment (TA) and science and technology (S&T) governance. It is argued that TA has to be understood as a form of democratic policy consulting in the sense of the Habermasian model of a "pragmatist" relation of science and politics. This notion implies that public participation is an indispensable element of TA in the context of policy advice. Against this background, participatory TA (pTA) is defended against recent criticism of procedures of lay participation which states that pTA is lacking impact on S&T decision making, that pTA instead of opening S&T policies to new perspectives is used as a means to support mainstream S&T policy and that in pTA procedure the authentic lay perspective is systematically contorted by dominant expert knowledge.
Sustainability is nowadays accepted by all stakeholders as a guiding principle for both public policy making and corporate strategies. However, the biggest challenge for most organizations remains in the real and substantial implementation of the sustainability concept. The core of the implementation challenge is the question, how sustainability performance can be measured, especially for products and processes. This paper explores the current status of Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) for products and processes. For the environmental dimension well established tools like Life Cycle Assessment are available. For the economic and social dimension, there is still need for consistent and robust indicators and methods. In addition to measuring the individual sustainability dimensions, another challenge is a comprehensive, yet understandable presentation of the results. The “Life Cycle Sustainability Dashboard” and the “Life Cycle Sustainability Triangle” are presented as examples for communication tools for both experts and non expert stakeholders.
A trend analysis of Eurobarometer data shows that attitudes towards science and technology are diversifying in the EU, with enthusiasm clearly losing out to more ambivalent stances. In the past any diversion from unquestioned optimism was interpreted as a bad sign and attributed to the public's ignorance. Today it is often welcomed as a sign of an increasingly emancipated public. In the sustainability sciences, including Ecological Economics, attitudes towards technology also cover a wide spectrum, the formalisation and exploration of which are the goals of this paper. Drawing on social and philosophical studies of technology and insights from Ecological Economics and related fields, we develop a framework of attitudes towards technology consisting of four main categories: Enthusiasm, Determinism, Romanticism and Scepticism. We illustrate the empirical relevance of our framework with a qualitative content analysis of Ecological Economics lecture material. The analysis uncovered and mapped a diversity of views, which co-exist without an open debate. It suggests difficulties of scholars to consistently articulate their techno-attitudes, except for enthusiasm. Our framework could help to amplify underlying vocabularies and visions of research and teaching in Ecological Economics and beyond. It could be applied in both deeper qualitative and broader quantitative analysis.
Cultural Analysis requires thinking in terms of relations, it starts from the basic assumption that the meaning of cultural phenomena can only be decoded by examining the network of relationships to which they owe their specific shape. The foci of cultural analysis are historical conjunctures, 'circumstances' of social, cultural and biographical nature. The purpose of field analysis is to render them visible and explain their logics. This demands a new heuristic approach, an interconnected understanding of sources and data.
Eco-innovation will be a key driver of industry efforts to tackle climate change and realise "green growth" in the post-Kyoto era. Eco-innovation calls for faster introduction of breakthrough technologies and for more systemic application of available solutions, including non-technological ones. It also offers opportunities to involve new players, develop new industries and increase competitiveness. Structural change in economies will be imperative in coming decades.
This book presents the research and analysis carried out during the first phase of the OECD Project on Sustainable Manufacturing and Eco-innovation. Its aim is to provide benchmarking tools on sustainable manufacturing and to spur eco-innovation through better understanding of innovation mechanisms. It reviews the concepts and forms an analytical framework; analyses the nature and processes of eco-innovation; discusses existing sustainable manufacturing indicators; examines methodologies for measuring eco-innovation; and takes stock of national strategies and policy initiatives for eco-innovation.
Research on the rebound effect has so far mainly considered ‘micro-economic rebound effects’ at the level of consumers and households, as well as ‘macro-economic rebound effects’ in the sense of energy efficiency-induced economic growth effects. This article focuses on an area of rebound research that has not yet received sufficient attention, namely on ‘meso-economic rebound effects’ as production-side and sector-level rebounds. The article summarizes and systematizes reasons why companies generate rebounds, distinguishes market- and sector-level rebounds from macro-economic growth effects, identifies a number of ‘feedback loops’ by which production-side and sector-level rebounds multiply or nullify consumer-side rebound effects, and finally discusses some conclusions on the potential quantitative dimension of production-side rebound effects.
DIVIn Two Bits, Christopher M. Kelty investigates the history and cultural significance of Free Software, revealing the people and practices that have transformed not only software but also music, film, science, and education. Free Software is a set of practices devoted to the collaborative creation of software source code that is made openly and freely available through an unconventional use of copyright law. Kelty explains how these specific practices have reoriented the relations of power around the creation, dissemination, and authorization of all kinds of knowledge. He also makes an important contribution to discussions of public spheres and social imaginaries by demonstrating how Free Software is a “recursive public”—a public organized around the ability to build, modify, and maintain the very infrastructure that gives it life in the first place.Drawing on ethnographic research that took him from an Internet healthcare start-up company in Boston to media labs in Berlin to young entrepreneurs in Bangalore, Kelty describes the technologies and the moral vision that bind together hackers, geeks, lawyers, and other Free Software advocates. In each case, he shows how their practices and way of life include not only the sharing of software source code but also ways of conceptualizing openness, writing copyright licenses, coordinating collaboration, and proselytizing. By exploring in detail how these practices came together as the Free Software movement from the 1970s to the 1990s, Kelty also considers how it is possible to understand the new movements emerging from Free Software: projects such as Creative Commons, a nonprofit organization that creates copyright licenses, and Connexions, a project to create an online scholarly textbook commons./div
http://peerproduction.net/issues/issue-2/invited-comments/build-your-own-lab/
Journal of Peer Production - ISSN: 2213-5316 All the contents of this journal are in the public domain.
The term "Technology Assessment" (TA) is the most common collective designation of the systematic methods used to scientifically investigate the conditions for and the consequences of technology and technicising and to denote their societal evaluation. At first sight, entirely heterogeneous activities are subsumed under this name, such as the predicting of the consequences of technology, the communicating of risk, promoting innovation, improving the legitimacy of decisions on technology through increased participation, mediating in technological conflicts, and observing sustainability. The problem met in defining TA consists in the fact that it is not a priori clear what the common denominator of such heterogeneous efforts should be. No consensual, unambiguous and selective definition of TA has yet been provided. As the emergence and development of TA are closely connected with specific situations arising at the interface between technology and society, these same situations form the central background to the introducing and clarifying of TA.
Resumé Finie la croissance, qui servait jusque-là d’exutoire à la violence sociale. Dans un état économique stationnaire, le despotisme et la guerre rôdent. Une seule issue : la conversion par millions à l’inventivité démocratique. Au convivialisme.
About 80% of the chemical products are still based on crude oil. Bio-based materials will increasingly gain importance. As the fraction of oxygen is normally higher in biomass than in crude oil as well as in the derived conventional products, this implies a need to develop new synthesis pathways. Depending on the types of new synthesis pathways, the effects of a complete raw-material change on land and exergy use differ. Here, different synthesis pathways starting from glucose and plant oil to different kinds of end products are evaluated utilizing material and exergy balances. These evaluations are carried out under today's and future conditions and constraints, like yield, demand of organic chemicals and world population. The analysis in this paper shows that the land and energy use can be significantly reduced, if the products are adapted to the chemical structure of their bio-based feedstock.
Décroissance has established itself in Southern Europe as a significant and heterogeneous societal movement, which fosters a renaissance of traditional streams of thought in social and political philosophy while opening a field for new actualisations. While the term Décroissance can be traced back to an authorised translation of Georgescu-Roegen's 'declining state', the idea of Décroissance — as it is widely employed by social movements — encompasses more than the critique of GDP as a measure for well-being. It embodies a radical questioning of the way social reproduction is intended and frames a multifaceted vision for a post-growth society. The aim of this paper is the reconstruction and critical examination — from the point of view of social and political philosophy — of the main conceptual roots of Décroissance and its visions for a radical transformation of society.
The aim of this paper is to make the case that peer production offers a unique chance to transcend capitalism, and that peer-to-peer movements represent the succession of industrial-society based socialisms. The paper describes the salient characteristics of peer production before going on to explore whether it is ‘transcendent’ or ‘immanent’ to the market system, concluding that it is both in that it creates a new form of capitalism and also points out how that new form might be overcome. Following a review of the hybrid economic forms emerging today, I formulate the hypothesis that peer production is actually a hyperproductive mode, forcing for-profit entities to adapt to its characteristics, thereby further integrating it into the existing political economy, but not without the transformative effects of its market transcending aspects. After examining the possible expansion of peer-production modalities to physical manufacturing, I also examine the class aspects of commons and sharing-based platforms and hypothesise the emergence of a new section of capital, netarchical capitalists, who enable and empower participation, but also monetise it and attempt to control it.
Defecation has received limited attention within the social sciences and humanities. Toilets not a great deal. Urination even less. However, examining the practice of composting faeces and ‘pee[ing] on any tree’ by white, West Coast US ‘hippies’ and ‘drop-outs’ living in Hawai’i suggests that the disposal of excreta is never simple disposal. Rather, it entails engagement with the state, one’s own body and sense of placedness. Through looking at the everyday defecatory practices of hippies and drop-outs in Hawai’i, this article seeks to examine the interplay of the acts of defecation and urination with the materiality of toilets themselves. Each depends on the other, and both exist in relation to various others: other toilet designs, other communities, other people. As such, it becomes possible to extend beyond Douglas’s argument that ‘dirt is matter out of place’ to explore the notion that — at least in relation to toilets — ‘dirt is relations out of place’. By placing relationships at the heart of this analysis of defecation and urination, this article provides fertile ground for the exploration of embodiment at its most base level, as site of generative action and social critique.
Is more economic growth the solution? Will it deliver prosperity and well-being for a global population projected to reach nine billion? In this explosive book, Tim Jackson a top sustainability adviser to the UK government makes a compelling case against continued economic growth in developed nations. No one denies that development is essential for poorer nations. But in the advanced economies there is mounting evidence that ever-increasing consumption adds little to human happiness and may even impede it. More urgently, it is now clear that the ecosystems that sustain our economies are collapsing under the impacts of rising consumption. Unless we can radically lower the environmental impact of economic activity and there is no evidence to suggest that we can we will have to devise a path to prosperity that does not rely on continued growth. Economic heresy? Or an opportunity to improve the sources of well-being, creativity and lasting prosperity that lie outside the realm of the market? Tim Jackson provides a credible vision of how human society can flourish within the ecological limits of a finite planet. Fulfilling this vision is simply the most urgent task of our times. This book is a substantially revised and updated version of Jackson's controversial study for the Sustainable Development Commission, an advisory body to the UK Government. The study rapidly became the most downloaded report in the Commission's nine year history when it was launched earlier this year. In 2017, PWG was published in a second, substantially revised and re-written edition that updates the arguments and considerably expands upon them. https://www.cusp.ac.uk/pwg/
Schumpeter first reviews the basic economic concepts that describe the recurring economic processes of a commercially organized state in which private property, division of labor, and free competition prevail. These constitute what Schumpeter calls "the circular flow of economic life," such as consumption, factors and means of production, labor, value, prices, cost, exchange, money as a circulating medium, and exchange value of money. The principal focus of the book is advancing the idea that change (economic development) is the key to explaining the features of a modern economy. Schumpeter emphasizes that his work deals with economic dynamics or economic development, not with theories of equilibrium or "circular flow" of a static economy, which have formed the basis of traditional economics. Interest, profit, productive interest, and business fluctuations, capital, credit, and entrepreneurs can better be explained by reference to processes of development. A static economy would know no productive interest, which has its source in the profits that arise from the process of development (successful execution of new combinations). The principal changes in a dynamic economy are due to technical innovations in the production process. Schumpeter elaborates on the role of credit in economic development; credit expansion affects the distribution of income and capital formation. Bank credit detaches productive resources from their place in circular flow to new productive combinations and innovations. Capitalism inherently depends upon economic progress, development, innovation, and expansive activity, which would be suppressed by inflexible monetary policy. The essence of development consists in the introduction of innovations into the system of production. This period of incorporation or adsorption is a period of readjustment, which is the essence of depression. Both profits of booms and losses from depression are part of the process of development. There is a distinction between the processes of creating a new productive apparatus and the process of merely operating it once it is created. Development is effected by the entrepreneur, who guides the diversion of the factors of production into new combinations for better use; by recasting the productive process, including the introduction of new machinery, and producing products at less expense, the entrepreneur creates a surplus, which he claims as profit. The entrepreneur requires capital, which is found in the money market, and for which the entrepreneur pays interest. The entrepreneur creates a model for others to follow, and the appearance of numerous new entrepreneurs causes depressions as the system struggles to achieve a new equilibrium. The entrepreneurial profit then vanishes in the vortex of competition; the stage is set for new combinations. Risk is not part of the entrepreneurial function; risk falls on the provider of capital. (TNM)
With the radical changes in information production that the Internet has introduced, we stand at an important moment of transition, says Yochai Benkler in this thought-provoking book. The phenomenon he describes as social production is reshaping markets, while at the same time offering new opportunities to enhance individual freedom, cultural diversity, political discourse, and justice. But these results are by no means inevitable: a systematic campaign to protect the entrenched industrial information economy of the last century threatens the promise of today's emerging networked information environment. In this comprehensive social theory of the Internet and the networked information economy, Benkler describes how patterns of information, knowledge, and cultural production are changing-and shows that the way information and knowledge are made available can either limit or enlarge the ways people can create and express themselves. He describes the range of legal and policy choices that confront us and maintains that there is much to be gained-or lost-by the decisions we make today.
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