Buildings & Cities (Oct 2024)
Provide or prevent? Exploring sufficiency imaginaries within Danish systems of provision
Abstract
The concept of sufficiency, recognised in the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, denotes a reduction in production and consumption in the Global North, aiming to limit energy demand and resource use while promoting wellbeing for all within planetary boundaries. Although sufficiency-oriented policies and businesses exist, they are currently outliers, and the concept remains fluid among practitioners and researchers. This paper investigates the role of sufficiency and its potential in achieving sustainable production and consumption by studying professional stakeholders across different systems of provision in Denmark. Drawing on data from seven focus groups, including a backcasting exercise, stakeholders’ sociotechnical imaginaries are explored, which reveal diverse engagement and visions across organisations. Participants (n = 52) are drawn from domains of food, mobility and housing. Unique insights are provided into the interactions between systems of provision, production and regulation that pose current challenges to sustainability. Varying forms of agency are at play among different types of organisations in envisioning sufficiency, and the paper discusses the implications for the realisation of a sufficiency-oriented future. The articulation of shared sufficiency imaginaries across systems of provision is highlighted as a potential guiding step towards sustainable ways of producing and consuming in the future. Policy relevance Mitigating climate change necessitates comprehensive interventions, extending beyond technological solutions to encompass a restructuring of production and consumption patterns. The focus should shift from individual consumer behaviours to changes in systems of provision, particularly in resource- and emission-intense sectors, e.g. food, mobility and housing. Policy opportunities include promoting clear and shared sufficiency goals, i.e. drastic reductions in production and consumption and reorienting values towards community-oriented lifestyles. Relevant sufficiency goals for the Danish context are reducing animal production, preventing private car usage and reducing living space per person. Sufficiency principles offer pathways for sustainable cities and infrastructures which can be supported by the inclusive involvement of perspectives from industry, regulation, national and municipal authorities, as well as grassroots organisations and small-scale sustainability frontrunners. Policymakers should acknowledge this multifaceted nature of the landscape of provision, including the grassroots level and intermediary entities, and secure funding for visionary sufficiency projects to be upscaled.
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