ABSTRACT
In Vanuatu, an independent nation spread across an 83-island archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, there is no consciously labelled degrowth movement but the typical self-sufficient way of life in agricultural-based economies is very compatible with grassroots concepts of degrowth. When Tropical Cyclone Pam (a Category 5 cyclone on both Australian and Saffir-Simpson scales, with winds exceeding 280 km per hour) devastated many parts of Vanuatu on 13 March 2015, the resilience of communities was demonstrated in the rebuilding phase, which was overwhelmingly autonomous and independent of centralised services. Housing for sufficiency in Vanuatu presents a modality of housing that is resilient, self-reliant and, in many instances, environmentally sustainable. House building actively engages communities during construction processes and creates convivial community environments through vernacular spatial configurations. In this chapter, the reader takes a narrative journey through to Vanuatu’s capital city Port Vila; different housing typologies are identified, leading to a broad discussion that includes the rebuilding response to Tropical Cyclone Pam and the way in which it unconsciously paralleled degrowth concepts.
