Creative Construction

“This is the book that forms the starting point for anyone wishing to engage in contemporary debates on planning in/outside of contemporary capitalism. It brings to life what might be imagined in terms of how we use new technologies to re-engage the question, and actuality, of what a planned alternative to capitalism might look like.” David J. Bailey, University of Birmingham

“Modern capitalism is a system of such concentrated economic and political power that its opponents often feel helpless when they consider how it might be replaced. Creative Construction helps to address this issue by exploring varied approaches to the democratization of critical social institutions – and the challenges involved in this process of democratization – to empower those seeking to challenge capitalism while developing creative solutions to the multiple, overlapping crises capitalist systems have created.”

Grace Blakeley, author of Vulture Capitalism

“This is a brilliant and inspiring book about visions and the urge to imagine and create a socially and ecologically just and viable future. A refreshing exercise at a time of despair that pushes us to rethink democratic planning and how it can transform security and freedom into collective values. A must-read even – especially – for those that cannot avoid but thinking that planning is either authoritarian or doomed to failure.”

Cecilia Rikap, University College London

“In the face of the climate emergency, war and financial crisis, a democratically planned economy is the only way to a more just and sustainable future. This book is an essential contribution to that project from some of its leading thinkers. Ranging from concrete models for organising production and reproduction, to pieces that address the challenges facing democratic planning, this is a must-read for activists, students and scholars alike.”

Nick Srnicek, King’s College London

Jan Groos is Researcher at the Centre for Sociological Theory, Kiel University.

Christoph Sorg is Researcher at Humboldt University Berlin.

Foreword by Kohei Saito

Introduction - Jan Groos and Christoph Sorg

Part I: Blueprints of Desire

1. A Brief Sketch of Four Models of Democratic Economic Planning - Audrey Laurin-Lamothe, Frédéric Legault and Simon Tremblay-Pepin

2. Basic Problems of a Democratically Planned Economy - Jakob Heyer

3. Social Dividend Socialism: Labour Autonomy in a Participatory Planned Economy - James Muldoon and Dougie Booth

4. Distributed Commonist Planning - Stefan Meretz and Simon Sutterlütti

5. Counter-Planning the Polycrisis: For Biocommunism - Nick Dyer-Witheford

6. Planning as an Art of Government - Jan Groos

7. Discovery Beyond Competition - Evgeny Morozov in conversation with Jan Groos

Part II: Building Bridges

8. (Re)-Imagining Housing as an Infrastructure for Social Reproduction - Rabea Berfelde and Philipp Möller

9. Democratic Planning in One Country? From the Anarchy of Public Planning to Negotiated Globalization - Christoph Sorg

10. The Question of Transformation: Approaches to Economic Planning in Existing Policy Proposals - Samuel Decker

11. Care Revolution: A Transformation Strategy for a Solidary Society - Gabriele Winker and Matthias Neumann

12. Relational Revolutions - Eva von Redecker in conversation with Jan Groos

Part III: Non-Boundaries

13. Planned Degrowth: Macroeconomic Coordination for Sustainable Degrowth - Elena Hofferberth, Cédric Durand and Matthias Schmelzer

14. Post-Sovereign Planning? Nature, Culture and Care in the New Socialist Calculation Debate - Samia Zahra Mohammed

15. Democratizing the Forces of Re/Production: AI Planning as a Sensing Device for a Degrowth Economy - Simon Schaupp

16. Embracing the Small Stuff: Caring for Children in a Liberated Society - Heide Lutosch

17. Socialism, Planning and the Relativity of Dirt - Nancy Fraser in conversation with Christoph Sorg

Conclusion - Jan Groos and Christoph Sorg