Degrowth is a movement and body of thought arguing that wealthy economies should deliberately and equitably reduce their material and energy throughput rather than pursue endless economic growth. The first international degrowth conference, held in Paris in 2008, gave the idea academic footing and a recurring scholarly network. It developed an urban strand focused on sufficiency, shorter working hours, commons and de-commodified housing. Proponents frame this as a planned, democratic contraction rather than recession.
It offered a radical counter-frame to growth-led urbanism and its assumption that cities must continually expand. The movement fed debates on post-growth planning, housing as a right and ecological limits to land development.