The 2026 international Degrowth School will take place from September 17 to 20, 2026. Its title: New Utopias for the Dystopian World: Land, Limits and Work in the Age of AI.
Welcome to an experiment in the making, a laboratory for rethinking the socially accepted truths and dogmas of the 21st century. The aim of this international multi-stakeholder and interdisciplinary event is to promote solidarity, build bridges, and stimulate the imagination of alternative economic arrangements that reconcile the provision of human needs with ecological goals. Here, surrounded by nature, the school is more than just an educational laboratory – it is a convivial space for vibrant social exchange.
The dominant narrative of AI is deeply utopian. It promises a world beyond scarcity, labour, and material constraints—an escape from the limits of the Earth. Yet this vision stands in stark contradiction to material reality. The expansion of AI is grounded in extractive infrastructures, rising energy demand, intensified geopolitical competition, and new forms of labour exploitation. Rather than transcending the material world, AI is entangled in it more than ever.
This school addresses this central contradiction: how can we imagine a dematerialised future when land, resources, and labour are becoming more contested, more unequal, and more central to political conflict?
