Can you make a Doughnut Snapshot in just 3 weeks?

Over just three weeks, myself, Sean Bowdin and Yan En Pang from the University of Sheffield created a Doughnut Snapshot for Sheffield, UK. 

The Doughnut concept depicts the social foundation in the inner ring of the circle; setting the minimum standards for a decent life; and the outer ring of planetary boundaries which shows whether we are living within planetary limits. The space between the inner and outer circles is the safe and just space for humanity. This is where we need to be to ensure we are meeting human needs whilst remaining within planetary boundaries.

This snapshot is a starting point; created by just three people in three short weeks we know it doesn't tell the full story of Sheffield. We created it to spark conversations, invite debate and hopefully raise awareness (and funding) for further development of the Doughnut in Sheffield and other cities in the UK... and beyond!

We used the 12 social indicators and 9 planetary boundaries suggested in Doughnut Economics as a starting point and then began our research. We looked at Doughnut examples from across the world, researched what data and statistics were available at the Local Authority level and had to make decisions about which metrics best represented each of the indicators. 

Alongside the usual challenges of finding accurate and representative data and reputable sources, we also needed to consider what were the acceptable social foundations and planetary boundaries we wanted to set? Should these be at the local level, country or worldwide level? Did we have the data to support these boundaries?

This is part of what made the Doughnut a really fantastic student internship project; Sean and Yan really had to push their data and research skills, as well as their critical thinking.

A further challenge was how to represent the data in the doughnut chart; what were the upper and lower bounds for each indicator and how should these be scaled to make sense on the overall Doughnut illustration?

The final illustration was created at breakneck speed within a few hours; we had a hard deadline to produce and print our Doughnut Snapshot as Kate Raworth was giving a talk at Sheffield's Festival of Debate. It was too good an opportunity to miss out sharing our work with her. We also wanted to use the event to raise awareness of the power of Doughnut Economics in broadening out the discussion of what the economy is and what it should do. 

With this in mind, it isn't perfect. It takes some design liberties and lacks some clarity in conveying what the indicators mean, but it does demonstrate what can be done in just 3 short weeks.

Future versions of the Sheffield snapshot would benefit from greater alignment with the original doughnut illustration BUT it's worth acknowledging that it was definitely worth creating and printing the posters as it meant we could share our work with Kate Raworth herself who show cased it at the Festival of Debate in front of hundreds of people. We are truly grateful to Kate for using this platform to raise awareness of our work.

What next? We'd love to further develop the Sheffield Doughnut Snapshot but we need funding to support our work. If you know of any funders that would be willing to support us or if you would like to develop your own super speedy snapshot please get in touch!

There's more information, background and a link to the data and metrics we selected here; https://www.flourisheconomics.com/sheffield-doughnut-snapshot

Data; https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bpBm4jRrPmrjQm98Oy-CjGM2K7J0BYyA4fVQ98DR85k/edit?gid=173199964#gid=173199964

If you'd like to know more about how we created the Doughnut you can email me; emma@flourisheconomics.com