A doughnut for Sheffield

Doughnuts. Soft, sugary, maybe filled with jam. You might be wondering how this sticky delight could make Sheffield fairer...

Around 15 years ago Kate Raworth realised mainstream economics wasn't working. She started playing around with ideas and eventually drew a pair of concentric rings. The inner ring was the social foundation of well-being that no human should fall below. The outer ring was an ecological ceiling beyond which lies planetary degradation that we should not go beyong. The space between these two circles is the safe and just space for all. This was the start of Doughnut Economics.

Since then the Doughnut Economics has spread across the world. The Doughnut Economics Action Lab was created to build a community of practioners and Doughnuts were created for cities and towns around the globe.

There have been some discussions of creating a doughnut for Sheffield, but nothing shared in the public domain so I thought, why not try and create one for Sheffield?

Over the Easter holidays I'll be working with two interns from the University of Sheffield to see if we can start to develop a Doughnut for Sheffield. We'll use Kate Raworth's 7 ways to think like a 21st Century economist to dive into;

Sheffield's social foundation and its indicators of shortfall;

• Food, health, education, income and work, water and sanitation, energy, networks, housing, gender equality, social equity, political voice, peace and justice

Sheffield's ecological ceiling and its indicators of overshoot;

• Climate change, ocean acidification, chemical pollution, nitrogen and phosphorus loading, freshwater withdrawals, land conversion, biodiversity loss, air pollution and ozone layer depletion

The interns will finish the project on the 25th April, which by stroke of luck coincides with Kate Raworth's headline talk at the Festival of Debate. I would really recommend joining, as well as Jason Hickel's event on the 29th April as they are both radical voices pushing for systemic change.

I plan to publish everything we discover and create through this project and if the interns are keen we'll aim to host an event to present our findings and next steps for continuing to develop the Sheffield Doughnut.

Get in touch if you'd like to be involved in the project or want more information!