The Routledge Handbook of Degrowth
Released late July 2025 open access and in hardcover
This handbook takes stock of ‘degrowth’, a concept and movement that has gained increasing visibility in the 2020s. Contributors explain the social and ecological contexts for degrowth’s significance. They elaborate its diverse history and detail its unique approaches and practices. The final section explores degrowth’s challenges and opportunities for the future. See Routledge page and European tour.
“The pluriverse of degrowth is beautifully synthesized in this book. A must-have.”
Kohei Saito, Professor of Philosophy, University of Tokyo, author of bestseller Slow Down: How Degrowth Communism Can Save the Earth (2024)
“We stand at a crossroads. Or to be honest, a little farther, on the path to chaos. But we still have choice. Embracing strategy and practice, this handbook on degrowth comes just in time to open horizons. I can’t wait for it to be translated into French!”
Corinne Morel Darleux, essayist – Être heureux avec moins (2023)
“The Routledge Handbook of Degrowth is an essential and inspiring resource for anyone seeking to understand the history, diversity, and transformative potential of the degrowth movement. Anitra Nelson and Vincent Liegey have assembled a groundbreaking collection that will guide researchers, activists, and policymakers alike..”
Giorgos Kallis, ICREA professor at ICTA, Autonomous University of Barcelona, author of degrowth classics, such as In Defence of Degrowth (2017) Degrowth (2018), Limits (2019)
“As glaciers are melting and Los Angeles is destroyed by raging fires, struggling for a world beyond capitalist development and growth has never been more urgent. The Routledge Handbook of Degrowth is a rich, enlightening, comprehensive guide towards it. Definitely a must read.”
Silvia Federici, Hofstra University (New York), author of classic Caliban and the Witch (2004)
“The Routledge Handbook of Degrowth deftly diagnoses the disease of global growthism, and brims with a plenitude of inspiring living examples, challenges, complexities and possibilities for a future of convivial, relational joy that we know is possible.”
Helena Norberg-Hodge, esteemed author, filmmaker and founding director of Local Futures
“The Routledge Handbook of Degrowth is an essential resource for anyone beginning to engage with degrowth theories and practices, as well as for readers who remain skeptical of the concept’s validity and relevance (with Chap. 26 on poverty reduction offering particularly valuable responses to common critiques). It also serves as an accessible resource for undergraduate and graduate courses, with several chapters in Part I working well as standalone class readings. The volume is equally useful for readers already familiar with degrowth who wish to delve deeper into its nuances and explore its applications across various fields. Taken together, these chapters provide a comprehensive view of how degrowth manifests in practice and how its ideas connect across sectors and geographies to envision and articulate cohesive, alternative futures.”
Giulia Belotti and Holly Caggiano 9 Dec 2025 ‘The Routledge Handbook of Degrowth’, book review in Urban Research & Practice, DOI: 10.1080/17535069.2025.2602026
“In a world where growth has become a prison rather than a promise, the Routledge Handbook of Degrowth offers something increasingly rare: hope grounded in analysis, vision tempered by realism, and a roadmap drawn by those already walking the path. Whether that path leads to transformation or remains a marginal alternative depends not on this handbook alone, but on the movements, communities and individuals willing to ask: What if enough is actually enough?”
An illuminem book review, 11 December 2025
“The strengths of the Handbook lie in its breadth, diversity, and commitment to interdisciplinarity. It provides students, researchers, and activists with a definitive reference that captures degrowth’s plural voices. Its limitations stem from uneven representation across global South contexts, occasional conceptual fragmentation, and the challenge of accessibility for non-specialist readers. The technical density of some chapters may deter activists or policymakers who require more pragmatic entry points.
“Nevertheless, the Routledge Handbook of Degrowth is a landmark publication. It not only consolidates degrowth’s status as a serious intellectual and political project but also expands its horizons by engaging with decolonial, feminist, and ecological justice perspectives. For pedagogy, the book offers rich material for courses in environmental studies, political economy, and sustainability transitions. For policymakers, it provides conceptual tools to rethink well-being beyond GDP. For researchers, it opens avenues for comparative studies of degrowth practices and imaginaries. Most importantly, it challenges readers to reimagine futures rooted not in accumulation but in sufficiency, solidarity, and conviviality.
“In conclusion, Nelson and Liegey’s volume is more than a handbook; it is a manifesto of intellectual courage in times of planetary crisis. Its significance lies not only in documenting the past twenty years of degrowth scholarship and activism but also in envisioning pathways for the next twenty. As glaciers melt and social inequities deepen, the Handbook‘s central message resonates urgently: degrowth is not a retreat but an invitation to craft more just, convivial, and sustainable futures (p. vii).”
R. Sarkar and E. Goyal (2025) Review of Anitra Nelson, with editorial adviser Vincent Liegey. 2025. Routledge Handbook of Degrowth, Journal of Political Ecology 32(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.2458/jpe.10133
For a quick read cheat sheet on the handbook, see Progress in Political Economy 16 September 2025.
Contents
List of figures, tables and boxes
Contributors
Acknowledgements
List of acronyms, symbols and abbreviations
Part I The current growth conjuncture
1 Degrowth has come of age
Anitra Nelson and Vincent Liegey
2 Fossilised metabolism: the social ecology of capitalist growth
Éric Pineault
3 Unequal uses of earth
Timothée Parrique
4 Capitalist crisis and affective alternatives
Marina Sitrin
Part II Degrowth: origins and steppingstones
5 The French origins and pillars of degrowth
François Jarrige and Vincent Liegey
6 Degrowth in Italy: early beginnings, political disputes and a plural social movement
Karl Krӓhmer, Margherita Forgione, Michel Cardito and Mauro Bonaiuti
7 Postwachstum: German roots and currents of degrowth
Matthias Schmelzer, and Barbara Muraca
8 A Catalan way towards degrowth
Borja Nogué-Algueró and Giacomo D’Alisa
9 Accidental degrowth practices: illustrations from Czechia
Slavomíra Ferenčuhová, Eva Fraňková, Tomáš Hoření Samec, and Jan Malý Blažek
10 Greece: real-existing degrowth and its challenges
Marula Tsagkari, Chris Vrettos, and Agisilaos Koulouris
11 ‘Degrowth’ and the implications of English language hegemony
Nick Fitzpatrick
12 Latin American indigenous perspectives meet degrowth
David Barkin
13 Degrowth in an African periphery: from necrocapitalism to a pluriverse of nowtopias
Roland Ngam
Part III Degrowth practices: concepts in action
14 Conviviality and commoning
Andrea Vetter and Matthias Fersterer
15 Autonomy and freedom in individual to societal transformation
Clive L. Spash
16 The degrowth doughnut
Mladen Domazet
17 Frugal abundance: meaning in practice in an Icelandic village
Adrien Plomteux
18 Defining de-Fashion: a manifesto for degrowth
Sandra Niessen
19 Degrowth: health and healthcare
Martin Hensher and Jean-Louis Aillon
20 Holistic care economies: degrowth ways of provisioning and the Global East
Lilian Pungas and Jana Gebauer
21 The pedagogy of degrowth and the political ecology of technology
Luis I. Prádanos
22 Mapping the spectrum of degrowth work
Eeva Houtbeckers
23 Reimagining collaboration: degrowth practitioners, scholars and activists
Orsolya Lazányi, Vincent Liegey, François Schneider and Logan Strenchock
Part IV Degrowth futures: perspectives and strategies
24 Twenty years of degrowth: what has been achieved?
Serge Latouche with Vincent Liegey
25 Roles of utopian thought in a degrowth transformation
Alexandra Köves
26 Growth, degrowth and poverty reduction
Olivier De Schutter
27 Imperial and solidary modes of living: alternatives to eco-imperialism
Ulrich Brand and Markus Wissen
28 Prefigurative degrowth politics: decolonisation and the non-aligned movement
Paul Stubbs
29 Ecofeminist and decolonial feminist degrowth futures
Susan Paulson, Anna Saave and Sourayan Mookerjea
30 Fostering degrowth in men: beyond masculinity and the gender binary
Bob Pease
31 Degrowth, urbanisation and spatial planning
Federico Savini
32 Degrowth-aligned commoning organisations
Ben Robra, Sabrina Chakori and Chris Giotitsas
33 Ecosocialism and degrowth
Gareth Dale
34 Beyond growth: beyond divisions
Anuna De Wever (Van Der Heyden) and Lena Hartog
35 Degrowth: future research directions
Anitra Nelson and Vincent Liegey
Index