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About the book:
The persistence of global recessionary conditions coupled to increasingly serious environmental challenges has given rise to the notion that we currently face an unprecedented polycrisis. Mark Swilling and Eve Annecke argue that this polycrisis marks the end of the now unsustainable oil-based industrial epoch as well as the end of the post-World War II long-term development cycle. This fusion of long-term ecological and economic cycles is the underlying explanation for the rise to prominence in the global policy community of the notion of a transition to a ‘green economy’. The challenge, however, is to conceptualise the forthcoming transition driven by actions and efforts to overcome current constraints. To explore this, key aspects of the transition are discussed, including the urban transition, soil degradation and the agro-ecological alternative, and how to ‘green’ the developmental state. Alternatives are also discussed, including changes that have been introduced in Cape Town and the Lynedoch EcoVillage.
Contents:
Introduction: On becoming visible
Part I: Complexity, Sustainability and Transition
Chapter 1: Complexity and Sustainability
Chapter 2: What is so unsustainable?
Chapter 3: Crisis, Transitions and Sustainability
Part II: Rethinking Development
Chapter 4: Greening the Developmental State
Chapter 5: Rethinking Urbanism
Chapter 6: Soils, Land and Food Security
Part III: From Resource Wars to Sustainable Living
Chapter 7: Resource Wars, Failed States and Blood Consumption: Insights from Sudan
Chapter 8: Transcending Resource- and Energy-Intensive Growth: Lessons from South Africa
Chapter 9: Decoupling, Urbanism and Transition in Cape Town
Chapter 10: Pioneering Liveable Urbanism: Reflections on an Invisible Way
Conclusion