In our critique of the dominant approach to prosperity in the city we have emphasised alternative economic perspectives – especially ecological economics (whence the ‘steady  state economy’) and degrowth (decentreing from the pursuit of growth as the central question).  In this we also call for a re-emphasis on other dimensions of human prosperity, other ways of understanding and prioritising well-being.  The idea of lived culture is of central importance here.  We are therefore linking to a short paper written by Mark Burton and Nigel Rose for the Irwell Group which applies thinking on cultural life to the question of a low carbon Manchester as envisaged in the policy document A Certain Future.  This paper drew attention to the lack of consideration of culture in that report.  While the culture paper made little impact at the time, it keeps cropping up in conversation and some people find it useful in helping think through some of these issues, so we thought it worth a little more promotion.    Read More.

Mark Burton