How much do we really need for a good life? Which services and infrastructures enable a sufficient standard of living, consumption, or nutrition?
The concept of sufficiency stands for prosperity and quality of life without constant growth in resource consumption. Instead of “ever more”, it is about “enough” or the right measure. Unlike efficiency, which saves resources per product, sufficiency reduces overall energy and resource consumption in order to enable a good life within ecological limits.
Rising consumption of energy and materials, wasteful use of products and a high dependence on fossil fuels are hallmarks of non-sufficient ways of living. They contribute to the depletion of natural resources and exacerbate global crises such as climate change and biodiversity loss.
“Improving efficiency reduces the costs of products and services, often leading to increased consumption. Due to these rebound effects, sufficiency strategies are a crucial element on the way to sustainability.”
Dr. Immanuel Stieß, Head of the Practices and Infrastructures Hub
Sufficient action means both changing individual behaviour and creating innovative offers, for example by redesigning production methods and infrastructure that make sufficient behaviour possible in the first place. This concerns everyday life, municipal services of general interest (Daseinsvorsorge) and business activities.
We develop concepts for resource-saving housing, consumption and nutrition – for example for sufficiency practices in urban neighbourhoods and needs-based use of living space. In our research we design learning and experience spaces in real-world labs and show how institutional and organisational conditions can be created that make sufficient action possible and easier. An important question is how social participation of vulnerable groups in basic areas of services of general interest, such as housing, mobility or food, can be enabled.
Homeowners are key players in the implementation of municipal heat planning. The project investigate sustainable heating solutions and exploring new participation formats.
