London Doughnut Coalition update

The London Doughnut Economics Coalition met for the 4th session on Tuesday February 8th. A recording is available here and the slides presented are here . After a short introduction from the host Jemma Jackson we got straight into it, using the journey of knowledge map to get an overview on the collective attendees experience and knowledge of Doughnut Economics.

Vision and Values - Since November subgroups have been meeting to create 2 key documents that will guide the London Doughnut. These are future facing statements. The vision is the London that we want to build together, a declaration of where we could get to by applying doughnut economics. It builds on the discussions in earlier meetings, the doughnut economics framework and established documents like London's Environment Strategy. The statement includes a headline vision, an environmental vision and a social vision to line up with key elements of doughnut economics.

We then split into smaller groups and used Mural to review the proposed vision and offer feedback. There was agreement that the work presented provided a great aspirational vision statement and a solid foundation, and the group offered constructive suggestions to build on this. A key question to be answered is to clarify the purpose of these materials. Whether they are internal to the group or may be external and visible to others will guide how “perfect” the final output needs to be.

Breakout discussions focused on what is exciting or energising in each vision, and asked if anything was missing. After regrouping we had lively discussion about language, choices of words, there were suggestions to move bullets up or down to prioritise concepts. These are all documented on Mural, some key highlights included

Need to add sense of urgency - pace of change and climate emergency
Language - effort to simplify some ‘graduate language’ - eg shift from “envisage” to “picture”
Missing - lack of term for stewardship,
Need to be explicit on basic needs - fairness & justice issues need to be addressed. The sentiments for efficiency, happiness, wellbeing, inclusive are included, but the explicit words are missing
Empathy is not a competition

And finally we reviewed the proposed values. The values to guide our interactions, how we engage with our partners and each other. These are complementary to the principles of doughnut economics and guidance from DEAL.

Governance - Alex

The governance working group presented back their proposals.

The vision for governance takes inspiration from the gardener who feeds the soil so that it is rich and produces healthy plants. The plants that thrive will depend on where we put our energy. As in a real garden, we cannot easily predict which plants will grow. Some initiatives may not flower while others grow tall. Our overall goal is for the garden to flower as we continually experiment and nurture it. The coalition should energise all participants - energy giving, not energy draining.

The recommended structure is for subgroups to meet frequently according to their own schedules, and a monthly checkpoint with the entire group. This would focus on discussing proposals for action, and highlight areas where groups are looking for additional support.

This monthly meeting is proposed for the second Tuesday of every month.

We took our second breakout after this to discuss reactions, asking people to discuss what gives them energy, what drains them, and how can we make our doughnut experience more energising. People are excited to be able to develop new and interesting ideas, pushing the boundaries, and making change happen. The size and scale of London has potential to be draining. We should be wary of getting stuck in analysis, getting too technical or losing our mojo when there is a lack of tangible progress.

To keep our energy high, we should aim for small experiments that continually deliver as well as pushing for larger changes. We will showcase practical ideas on a regular basis and work to build community awareness of Doughnut.

Data - Kathy

At this point we were almost out of time. Kudos to Kathy for shorting the briefing to a lightning review with grace.

The group researched if anyone else in London is working on a Doughnut, and did not find any other groups. Leeds are doing some work with Kate Raworth's DEAL. The group looked at the options for how to define London from a data point of view. Is it at council scale? Street Scale? The London data store & the London plan both have useful data. There is no problem finding data, the challenge is to decide what data we want and why. The team will be sending a follow up survey to get your views on these questions.

Jemma is sending a follow up email with links to sign up for working groups and join the whatsapp channel. If anyone would like to receive a copy of this email please email claire.callan@gmail.com.