Biel, R; (2014) Visioning a Sustainable Energy Future: The Case of Urban Food-Growing. Theory Culture & Society , 31 (5) 183 - 202. 10.1177/0263276414536624.

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Abstract

We outline a future where society re-energises itself, in the sense both of recapturing creative dynamism, and of applying creativity to meeting physical energy needs. Both require us to embrace self-organising properties, whether in nature or society. We critically appraise backcasting as a methodology for visioning, arguing that backcasting’s potential for radical, outside-the-box thinking is restricted unless it contemplates a break with class society, connects with existing grassroots struggles (notably over land) and dialogues with utopian socialist tradition. We develop a case study of food, starting from the physical parameters of combatting the entropy expressed in the loss of soil structure, and apply this to urban food-growing. Drawing upon ‘real utopias’ of existing practice, the paper proposes a threefold categorisation: subsistence plots, an urban forest, and an ultra-high productivity sector. We emphasise the emergent properties of such a complex system characterised by the ‘free energy’ of societal self-organisation.

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