Sufficiency in Practice: Theories, Discourses, and Experiments for Sustainable Futures

Practical information

10:15-15:00 Hotel Weitzer, Graz, Austria

Date

Monday May 4, 2026

This two-part session at the Science, Technology and Society (STS) Conference 2026 in Graz, Austria, is co-hosted by the Swiss Sufficiency Lab (external link) and the Urban Energy Systems Laboratory at Empa, Switzerland, with support from the World Sufficiency Lab. (external link)

The session invites contributions that explore sufficiency as both a theoretical lens and a practical orientation for sustainability transitions.

We invited abstracts that engage with sufficiency in its multiple forms, including conceptual, practices, infrastructural, and organizational dimensions, and that help bridge the gap between abstract principles and applied transformation. Contributions examine how sufficiency is theorized within STS and sustainability studies, how it is enacted by individuals and across communities, businesses, and policy contexts, and how sufficiency discourses shape imaginaries of a good life for all and sustainable futures.

The morning session features presentations on sufficiency in energy, urban design, food, IT, and mobility. The afternoon session builds on these themes through an interactive 4D mapping workshop, inviting participants from across disciplines to identify barriers, boldly imagine sufficient futures, and explore systemic levers toward urban futures in which we thrive within planetary boundaries.

You can find more information on the STS conference and the full program here.