Who we are & what we do
Enabling a Social-Ecological Transformation
We’re Degrowth Vienna: a self-organized collective based in Vienna, Austria —and active far beyond.
We open spaces for critical reflection, bridge academia and activism, and co-create visions for a future in which people and the rest of the planet thrive together.
Mission
We bring the degrowth perspective into social, academic, and political arenas—locally in Vienna and globally. Through research, events, and hands-on collaboration, we analyze the roots of today’s crises, challenge entrenched growth paradigms, and co-design socially just and ecologically sustainable alternatives.
Our Vision for 2035...
Imagine a world where…
- Democracy is deep and participatory, with communities having real power over economic and political decisions.
- Enough is enough—resource use aligns with ecological limits, and well-being replaces GDP growth as the measure of success.
- Global solidarity is the norm, not the exception—supply chains are remade around care, not exploitation.
Core Principles
Critical & Questioning
We challenge power structures and re-imagine possibilities.
Democratic & Transformative
We demand democracy in every sphere—starting within our own group.
Global Solidarity
We connect local struggles to global movements for justice.
Caring & Feminist
We place care work and queer-feminist values at our center.
Resistance to oppression
We reject oppression and support solidarity-based alternatives.
Radically Rooted
We tackle problems at their roots, not just their symptoms.
Post-Growth & Sufficiency
We advocate economies of enough—centered on well-being and ecological balance.
What we do
Bridge-Builders
Creating spaces for dialogues between scholars, policymakers, activists, and communities.
Educators
Designing immersive workshops, summer schools, and publications to disseminate degrowth ideas.
Thinkers
Conducting research, drafting policy recommendations, and advancing the local and global degrowth discourse.
Join Us
Activity Reports 2021 & 2022
Cover of our Activity Report 2022
Cover of our Activity Report 2021
Degrowth Vienna was active in different projects and forms in the past years. Therefore, we decided to publish annual activity report with an overview over projects, workshops, finances and a lot more.
Contents
Why an Activity Report?
Our projects
The Degrowth Vienna 2020 Conference
The Degrowth Vienna 2020 Conference’s focus on strategy was unique as was the emphasis on linking bottom-up initiatives with organizations and institutions. This resulted in the creation of a small but expanding Vienna degrowth web, including representatives of nearly all of Vienna’s public universities but also unions, associations and local media (for a full list c.f. here). Our conference intended as an in-person event was adapted to an online format due to COVID-19. The online format had an impressive 100 sessions and over 4000 registered participants, which was a great and unexpected success.
Projects since the conference
Since the conference the Degrowth Vienna team undertook several new projects. Some of them are still going on, others are already completed.
- The Vienna Degrowth Days took place from 20 – 25 November 2020, and include a series of workshops, walks, presentations, and discussions on the topic “Strategies for Degrowth”. Due to the Covid-19 restrictions all the sessions had to be online but the engagement was rich and fulfilling nonetheless. The aim of the event was providing a space to discuss, exchange, and learn.
- The book project Degrowth & Strategy has been initiated in fall 2020. It highlights the role and importance of strategy in the degrowth movement, selects and builds on contributions from the conference, and strives to provide a meaningful addition to the literature in degrowth research on strategy. It will be published in June 2022 with a series of events, podcasts, and eventually a reading group as follow-up activities – you can stay updated here on those activities.
- The workshop project aims to build up alliances with actors based in Vienna on various levels. It intends to broaden the perspectives of societal actors to consider degrowth issues and create spaces for Degrowth Vienna to learn from other perspectives.
- In the project “Solidarische Postwachstumsstadt Wien” we aim at relating the degrowth discourse to spatial and social struggles in Vienna.
Apart from these specific projects we do many other smaller activities and take part in events, discussion rounds, and research projects like the Klimafonds research project TRANSREAL together with the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU ) and the Environmental Agency Austria (Umwelbundesamt). You can find more info on these activities in our Annual Report 2021.
Organisational Structure
Degrowth Vienna is broadly composed of three groups: active members, supporting members and the advisory board.
Active members are the central part of the organization and are mostly involved in different working groups and projects on a voluntary basis. Working groups such as ‘Finance’ or ‘Awareness’ are cross-project activities and play a key role in the overall organization. A team of coordinators brings together the various projects and working groups and keeps track of the development of the entire association.
Supporting members are individuals or organizations that regularly support Degrowth Vienna financially (or in kind) and thus contribute to our overhead costs and further development of the association.
Lastly, an advisory board of researchers and professionals supports us regularly with advice and occasionally resources.
As a dynamic organization, we are open to a diversity of new projects and partnerships .
To find out more about what we do, ways to get involved or to collaborate, contact us at info@degrowthvienna.org!