Postgrowth S.A.: Pontevedra

Postgrowth S.A.: Pontevedra was the first project in the Postgrowth S.A. series and a social-science citizen science study. It set out to generate knowledge about the role of innovation in the ecological transition of Pontevedra and its surrounding area, starting from a demanding idea, that major ecological challenges need expert knowledge and technology but also an understanding of how people live with these problems, what they prioritise and what changes they consider fair and feasible. It was coordinated by the Post-Growth Innovation Lab at the Universidade de Vigo, with funding from FECYT and the collaboration of Pontevedra City Council, between July 2023 and November 2024.

Students and teachers from five schools in the city were part of the research team. In all, 230 lower and upper secondary students, more than 20 teachers and a network of some twenty organisations took part, working in eleven groups and fifty-five in-person sessions. In a first phase, the students identified 467 local challenges and sorted them into areas of action. From these they chose, by vote, four case studies, clean water, greener cities, a living countryside and greener jobs, shared out among the schools. To study them they were trained in qualitative research and carried out 90 semi-structured interviews with residents, public administration, professionals and local experts, which they later analysed and discussed collectively.

The fieldwork led to a multi-sector focus group of 19 people that, on 18 June 2024, turned the four cases into ten cross-cutting proposals for the municipality, gathered into a policy agenda and a social recommendations guide combining technological and social measures. Both were sent to 21 municipal governments in the Pontevedra area. Students also presented their work in 28 talks at the international conference ESEE2024 and in a youth space open to the public. The project also produced a website, teaching materials and a documentary, and it opened the Postgrowth S.A. series, whose lessons were carried over to the Vigo and Alimentación editions.