Cities Don't Know How Not To Grow

Abstract

The tendency of continuous expansion in urban systems persists as a central issue in the urban planning research field, even though the solutions adopted have scarcely succeeded in containing it. At the same time, there is also an image of progress, often associated with the dynamics of life in urban centers and the rhythm of changes observed in these spaces, which confers a contradictory meaning to the value of urban vitality, since strictly speaking only part of the scenarios pursued or achieved may be regarded as desirable. This article takes up the theme of urban growth in a broad sense, revisiting it from the critical aspects on sustainability and post-development. Would our cities, if they wished, have the means to prosper without growth? We review different cases and the treatments conferred to the theme in the literature. The results reinforce the understanding of continuous growth as a by-product of blocking social participation in decision-making processes.