Abstract

This chapter focuses on the necessary and possible metamorphosis from the welfare state of the 20th century into a social-ecological state freed from growth and aiming at full health calibrated for the 21st century. The chapter first retraces the genealogy of the social-ecological state (first section) to then clarify its philosophy (second section), its perceived need of economic growth (third section), its functions (fourth section4) and, as an illustration of its necessary generalization to all levels of governance, its application to urban policy (final section).