ABSTRACT
If the world needs cities to combat CC and cities continue to become bigger and denser, it’s critical that cities are all-embracing and tolerant. Cities cultivate social tolerance among diverse groups, but periodically they can be the locus of severe conflict and violence. Public space is a sine qua non if the city is to tolerate difference and resolve conflict. Some observers of contemporary life might argue that social media have undermined the physical public realm. A whole new language has suddenly emerged to describe a shared and sharing culture: peer economy, collaborative economy, crowdsourcing, collaborative consumption, the maker movement, co-creation, co-housing, co-living, Twitter, wiki, etc. It’s critical, even essential to our survival, because without it, we will overconsume the planet’s resources and overheat it. It is of paramount importance that we find ways to increase prosperity without economic growth, or better yet, to achieve degrowth. Three macro-economic interventions are needed to achieve ecological and economic stability in a new economy:
more serviced-based activities and jobs and less industry;
investment in ecological assets, activities and jobs;
workday and workweek policies and practices to spread and lower over-productivity.
