Imagining sufficiency through collective changes as satisfiers

How can people imagine ways of achieving desirable energy futures in cities, oriented towards sufficiency? Building on the notion of sufficiency understood as avoiding demand while meeting human needs, this paper discusses the results of seven participatory workshops (n = 154 participants) held in Switzerland where new imaginaries around the future in cities were discussed. The results demonstrate that people can reflect on how living, consuming and working in cities could achieve the double dividend of meeting needs while using less energy. Based on the notion of practices-as-satisfiers, the participants collectively discussed synergic satisfiers or changes to practices were found to lead to energy savings and the satisfaction of multiple needs. However, for this to be possible, practices need to be thought of as part of systems: several changes would need to take place at once. Certain practices, such as reducing work time, are prefigurative of others. Participants reflected on how desirable imaginaries could be planned for, moving from individual change to proposed collective changes, considering their interrelated and prefigurative nature. The findings show how similar forms of public participation can lead to policy-relevant insights for planning, adopting and implementing sufficiency measures in cities. Policy relevance While efficiency and renewable energy measures are central in many national energy strategies, sufficiency policies—involving reductions in energy demand together with wellbeing—are emerging as a key component in the energy transition. The results of participatory workshops conducted with Swiss citizens provide insights into how to organize towards sufficiency in the future. First, policy development must consider sufficiency as part of the goal, and reflect on the means of reaching this goal. Second, people should be included in the debate, in that they can reflect on collective changes that must take place today to achieve desirable sufficiency futures. The results presented around synergic, interrelated and prefigurative nature of systems of practices and on changes needed are useful to inform debates on what could come out of such collective discussions, namely interrelated measures imagined at the collective level towards sufficiency.