Growth Versus Sustainability

Society is transitioning from a grand narrative that favored growth-at-any-cost and fulfilling individual and institutional aspirations to a grand narrative that favors sustainability, acknowledging limits and smart applications of technology. The old grand narrative started to fall out of favor when the ecological and individual damage it created made its growth mantra turn sour and when it could no longer fulfill the aspirations of the many. The economy had turned to fulfilling aspirations for the few at the cost of the many. The current period of transition between grand narratives has examples of lingering values of wealth and growth of the old narrative, and at the same time, it displays aspects of the new narrative, with its focus on sustainability, altered living spaces and changed concepts of food, among other things. Such new ideas are altering the way land is used. Land prices, land use, diets and architectural practices are changing.