Presentation short abstract

Ikaria offers a real example of degrowth, showing how decent social wellbeing can be sustained with minimal resources. This study traces the island’s historical, cultural, and geographic foundations to reveal durable egalitarian, feminist, and frugal territorial arrangements.

Presentation long abstract

Identifying territorial constellations that achieve high levels of social wellbeing with minimal resource and energy use is essential for advancing degrowth research and practice. Ikaria, a small Aegean island, has long served as a key reference point for the development of the Real-Existing Degrowth (RED) agenda. Recent studies show that Ikariots sustain decent and fulfilling lives while consuming only a fraction of the resources typically associated with comparable levels of wellbeing. This article advances this line of inquiry by examining the historical processes through which Ikaria's distinctive socio-spatial arrangements were produced. By being the first article that fully operationalises the RED methodology, combining 25 biographical interviews, extensive archival research, and long-term ethnography, it traces how a rugged and remote geography, a succession of historically specific social innovations, and the cultivation of cultural values centred on simplicity, sharing, and festivity have collectively generated durable forms of social organisation. These arrangements consistently exhibit frugality, inclusivity, egalitarianism, and feminist orientations. The article concludes by assessing Ikaria's capacity to continue reshaping itself in response to external pressures for homogenisation and by distilling lessons relevant to broader post-growth transformations. Together, the findings illuminate how alternative territorial trajectories can emerge and persist, offering concrete insights for envisioning and enacting degrowth transformations.