What makes a human life worth living? Does such a concern have much currency in view of the Climate Emergency? The Global Flourishing Study, recently published by Gallup, testifies to the interest in how individuals thrive in contemporary societies. Yet genuine human flourishing transcends individual achievement —it emerges fundamentally as a collective endeavour. The pursuit of personal betterment must give way to collaborative efforts towards mutual enhancement. True social flourishing conceives sustained communal advancement as the foundation upon which meaningful lives are built.
Contemporary society remains ensnared within capitalism’s consumption-driven paradigm, where deeply embedded cultural contingencies shape collective behaviour patterns. We all enact the Anthropocene —each individual participating in and perpetuating the systems that define our geological epoch.
Emerging as a powerful counter-narrative, the Degrowth movement seeks to fundamentally reimagine humanity’s relationship with Earth. This perspective gains traction through its systematic critique of neoliberal capitalism’s core assumption: the necessity of perpetual economic expansion. However, the movement faces significant challenges in articulating concrete pathways towards an economy grounded in material sufficiency whilst maintaining prospects for continued social advancement.
The recently published book, Degrowth through Knowledge-Based Development: Social Flourishing in The Anthropocene, confronts the critical imperative to reverse ongoing biospheric degradation. Current patterns of planetary habitation generate existential risks, potentially triggering an irreversible climatic breakdown. Whether through catastrophic breaches of planetary boundaries or deliberate coordinated intervention to align human activity with Earth’s carrying capacity, dramatic reductions in material extraction, production, consumption and waste generation appear inevitable. Human civilisation cannot indefinitely exceed the socio-biophysical parameters of our species‘ metabolic requirements.
The central thesis of this book posits that degrowth principles concerning sufficiency converge meaningfully with unexplored possibilities for qualitative social enhancement through knowledge-based development (KBD). Such development prioritises the cultivation of intangible assets —knowledge commons, effective innovation, creative collaboration, sense of identity and belonging, etc. — over material accumulation. Although degrowth advocates present compelling cases against capitalism’s growth imperative, widespread resistance persists regarding potential reductions in material living standards. Even persuasive demonstrations of how equitable resource distribution could enhance life quality and social justice fail to dispel concerns about diminished prospects for future generations.
KBD offers an alternative paradigm focused on continuous qualitative social improvement within ecological constraints. Its transformative potential derives from knowledge production’s distinctive characteristics —such as non-rivalry and non-excludability— which differentiate it fundamentally from material production systems subjet to rivalry, exclusion and diminishing returns. Knowledge-based properties remain largely unexploited in pursuit of global wellbeing enhancement.
This investigation establishes theoretical and methodological connections between Anthropocene studies, degrowth theory, and KBD frameworks. The analysis clarifies degrowth as economic critique whilst highlighting the necessity for alternative approaches, positioning KBD as a viable integration of material and non-material social value creation.
Historical examination reveals diverse approaches to achieving human flourishing across cultures and epochs. The synthesis of social flourishing through KBD aligns with commons-based resource management —collaborative ownership and stewardship models— representing another significant advance in degrowth implementation. This convergence necessitates critical examination of development ideology, which underlies the environmental devastation characterising industrial capitalism and neocolonial exploitation throughout the period of great acceleration.
Constructing alternatives requires identifying social dimensions and corresponding metrics capable of replacing GDP —the dominant growth-focused measurement endorsed by the Washington consensus. This exploration culminates in KBD, where qualitative social improvement becomes intrinsically valuable and instrumental in balancing material and immaterial value creation, rather than being subordinated to monetary and material prosperity.
The investigation examines fundamental economic concepts, exposing their appropriation by neoliberal frameworks whilst exploring their potential reinterpretation towards net societal-future value creation. Core notions —capital, value, market, exchange— undergo systematic deconstruction and reconstruction. Anthropological analysis, enhanced by social innovation methodologies, particularly peer-to-peer approaches, enables historical and political reclamation of these concepts within communitarian contexts.
Knowledge markets understood as commons, alongside documented taxonomies of established practices, demonstrate numerous proven methods for fostering social flourishing without increased dependence on material and financial inputs. These approaches capitalise instead on intangible resources. The analysis subsequently examines requirements for reimagining urban life —a Holocene creature— to address Anthropocene challenges.
Rather than prescriptive solutions, this work offers navigational tools for traversing multidimensional, transdisciplinary terrain towards viable degrowth pathways. The approach encompasses diverse principles, theories, movements, events, and outcomes, frequently employing direct quotation to preserve original conceptual integrity. This methodology appears particularly in monographic sections alternating with technical analysis —drawing primarily on original research— alongside synthetic essays concluding thematic explorations.
The conclusion emphasises critical urgency in identifying effective strategies to halt the Anthropocene’s existential trajectory before reaching irreversible tipping points, accelerating feedback mechanisms, triggering runaway processes and causing systemic collapse.
Recognition must be given to inevitable substantial human costs, regardless of immediate implementation of comprehensive global measures. Climate-related mortality and suffering already affecting millions —through extreme weather events, habitat destruction, environmental displacement and multiple health impacts— represents morally and politically unacceptable outcomes. Nations claiming ‚developed‘ status bear particular responsibility for leadership in transformative action. No form of disguised supremacism merits justification, given that only coordinated global responses can address this planetary existential threat.
This work seeks to energise the degrowth movement towards effective, timely alternative frameworks for terrestrial habitation through KBD. The severity of our ecological predicament demands comprehensive reimagining of how human societies might achieve genuine flourishing within planetary constraints.
Degrowth through Knowledge-Based Development: Social Flourishing in the Anthropocene (SBN 9781032765839, 278 Pages; Published May 16, 2025 by Routledge). https://www.routledge.com/Degrowth-through-Knowledge-Based-Development-Social-Flourishing-in-the-Anthropocene/Carrillo/p/book/9781032765839.
