On the island: “Cities Beyond Growth” and the Green Academy 2026 Participant testimonial

The “Green Academy” in Vis was held from 21 to 26 August 2026, and with this title, “Life in The Time of Monsters: Building Counter-Power”, reached its tenth edition. The Erasmus+ Training program in which I participated, "Debora Dellago ", was also included in the academy. Many aspects, themes, ideas have interested and stimulated me!

The first thing that struck me was the big participation by decision-makers and civil servants and the organizations’ ability to involve and invite them. The first evening, and the first collective session, “Do Monsters Smell Flowers?”, was opened by greetings from the deputy mayor of Komiža. In general, during the Erasmus+ sessions, it was enriching to be able to listen to and then debate and collectively talk to decision-makers who are trying to effectively improve their cities.

We talked a lot about democracy and economy with the researchers that presented us with case studies: the organization of our economic system and the financial markets, at a global level, are emptying our democratic systems ever faster and in an ever more evident way. If citizens do not have the possibility of choice in the economic sphere, the one that most impacts the lives of every human being, in a historical moment in which the gap between the poor and the very poor on the one hand, the rich and the very rich on the other, has started to grow again, how should we act in our European countries?

Throughout the week, meeting and chatting with many new people, coming from very different backgrounds (nationality, experiences of commitment, age, methods of activism and participation), listening to experiences of commitment and attempts at change in Colombia, Great Britain, Spain, Croatia, Serbia, the Netherlands, from the bottom or at an institutional level, we realized that many of the policies and changes that we studied are not explicitly described as degrowthist, but they embody very well the realization of the rights - particularly social, as well as civil - of citizens. Some of the policies that were proposed as possible elements of a degrowthist government of cities were, for example, the pedestrianization of some large streets in Budapest, citizen assemblies to collectively govern the territory and free public transport in Pazin, the use of the roofs of public buildings for the installation of solar panels in Zagreb, neighborhood fridges in Girona to offer concrete responses to food poverty.

We also reflected on how to communicate, in different fields - political, educational, informational - the degrowth and structural changes that we wish to see implemented in our cities and in our countries. How can we realize, make visible, demonstrate how attractive degrowth is in cities? “Pessimism is a luxury that we cannot afford”: we began and concluded the week's reflections like this, and now that the “Cities Beyond Growth” experience has ended, I will continue to be active in my city and country, and share my new knowledge with my organisations and fellow activists.