Series of Discussions
A Different Model of Development 

20 May and 11 June 2026 

With the thematic series A Different Model of Development, comprising the two discussions – Prosperity Without Growth and Our Land – Policy Lab creates a space for reflection on different models and practices of progress. Not as distant utopias, but as real possibilities and alternatives that already exist—in historical experiences, contemporary theories, and concrete social practices.

The world is entering a new era of intensified geopolitical conflicts and competition for control over natural resources, technology, and the future. At the same time, rising military spending and record-high oil prices are driving up the cost of basic goods, especially food. Living costs are increasing, while social inequalities continue to widen. 

In this context, it is becoming increasingly clear that a development model based on continued economic growth, extraction, and global competitiveness, does not solve the key problems of our time—it often makes them worse. It fuels inequality, concentrates wealth and power, destabilises political systems, and accelerates ecological collapse.

Europe—and with it Slovenia—faces a fundamental choice: to follow this dominant logic, or to dare to imagine and build a different model of development, grounded in social well-being within ecological limits.

Through this series, we explore three interconnected dimensions:

• what we can learn from past experiences of living beyond growth,
• how contemporary theories such as post-growth and well-being economics articulate viable alternatives,
• and how these questions already materialise today in concrete struggles—most visibly around access to land, space, and the means of subsistence.

Programme

Prosperity Without Growth
Atrium ZRC SAZU, Ljubljana
Wednesday, 20 May 2026, 19:00 – 20:30

The first discussion revisits the experience of the 1980s crisis in Slovenia, asking whether social well-being can be maintained even in conditions of limited or negative economic growth. It connects this historical perspective with contemporary debates on post-growth and opens up alternatives as a space for social imagination and political possibility.

Register here. 

Our Land
Misija 100 Info Point
Thursday, 11 June 2026, 19:00

The second discussion shifts the focus to one of the most pressing and contested issues today: land. Who has access to it, under what conditions, and for what purposes? The discussion explores how current policies shape land use and social inequality, and why land must be understood as a central political question.

Register here.

With this series, Policy Lab seeks to challenge the assumption that economic growth is the only path to development. Alternatives already exist. The task is to recognize them, politicise them, and create the conditions in which they can be collectively shaped and demanded. 

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“Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) or the Netherlands Helsinki Committee. Neither the European Union nor the EACEA nor the NHC can be held responsible for them.”

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