About the project
The definition of a corridor depends on setting upper limits to consumption, above which the consumption of some hinders the ability of all to live a good life, now and in the future; but also lower limits to consumption, below which people are unable to satisfy their needs.
Within Consumption Corridors, all people should be able to live a good life and experience freedom, through collective measures that ensure sufficiency and justice. Consumption corridors take everyday life as a starting point, to then extend beyond ‘consumption’ in determining new ways of organizing our societies, through changes to systems of provisioning. Central to the concept is the notion that the establishment of upper and lower limits to consumption must emerge from a participatory process.
A reader-friendly and short book (2021) lays down some of the main ideas behind Consumption Corridors, and is available in open-access here.
The concept of Consumption Corridors was developed as part of a research collaboration of German and Swiss scholars, and has since been elaborated and applied by an increasing number of scientific experts and practitioners worldwide. It is a focus of extensive ongoing scholarly work due to its promise as a tool for fostering sustainability transformations. This website has been created to gather in one space the different resources being made available around the concept, to foster dialogue towards the advancement and operationalization of the concept.
The centrality of human wellbeing
How can human needs become more central to how we organize societies?
- If human needs are the goal, they must be separated from the means of satisfying them
- Needs include, for example:
feeling safe or being protected, having a voice and being able to participate, among others - Satisfiers of needs are
things like services, products, infrastructure, rules, etc. - Getting to work can meet several human needs, but whether we do so on a bike or by car depends on how we organize societies
The importance of limits
How can we take limits more seriously when it comes to defining consumption corridors ?
- Defining upper and lower limits to consumption should result from a participatory process
- ‘Consumption’ is a starting point for considering broader systems of production and distribution
- Within limits, needs can be met, people can experience freedom
- Limits can be defined in the present but also for the future
Get in Touch
Please join our community of people interested in sufficiency and consumption corridors
Whether you are a practitioner or an academic, we welcome your participation in this community and look forward to hearing from you.
Please contact us for further information
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