Second homes and degrowth (P4) This paper uses the Norwegian second home phenomenon as a case for discussing the overconsumption of housing from a degrowth perspective. Second home development in Norway is a growing threat to environmental sustainability as well as it contributes to individual loan taking which in turn has social consequences for the individual that relates to their life satisfaction. The phenomenon is often considered as a spatial transaction between the urban and the rural. The Norwegian second home phenomenon trades local and global environments with individual exploitation of natural amenities, while it also trades individual loan taking and following social instability with local rural economic development. This paper aims at discussing the Norwegian second home phenomenon as an integrated part of the growth society, and criticizing it by virtue of different theories of degrowth and critical sustainability. The paper likewise takes a relational perspective, arguing that certain structures of the current growth society relate to individual actions that subsequently reinforce these structures. Thereby the paper concludes that the Norwegian second home phenomenon should undergo a substantial transition in order to meet the demands of a degrowth transition/society. Such a transition should however not deny the cultural and historical ties that relate to the phenomenon and which many Norwegians still have.

This media entry was a contribution to the special session „Norwegian second homes: cultural heritage or growth machine?“ at the 5th International Degrowth Conference in Budapest in 2016.