The engine of contemporary architectural production, and the basis of societies around the world, is economic growth. Global political orthodoxy declares GDP growth is always good; that more is more. Throughout the last two centuries increased economic growth brought with it many measures of prosperity, but for many decades now the limits to growth have been visible on the horizon. Social equity, health and wellbeing, quality of life, happiness and other non-monetary measures of success are faltering while resource extraction, greenhouse gas emissions, waste and toxicity, temperatures, sea levels, extreme weather, and many such indicators of climate breakdown make clear daily that the time of this worldview is running out.
The next Oslo Architecture Triennale will challenge the supremacy of economic growth and investigate the architecture of alternatives. The festival will explore the buildings, spaces and institutions of a new culture in which economic growth is no longer the basis of societies. The curators have launched this open call inviting architects, urban practitioners, activists, novelists, artists, researchers and citizens to explore the architecture of a new economy in which human and ecological flourishing matter most – the architecture of degrowth.
