Exploring the Edges of the Doughnut

Picture this. A group of +20 changemakers from across sectors gathered for what they thought would be another sustainability workshop. Instead, they discovered something profound: the most transformative opportunities don't exist within the traditional boundaries of social or environmental work, but at the edges where these worlds meet.

What emerged was a recognition that nature's greatest abundance happens at edges, and the same principle applies to our human systems.

The Goal

We aimed to shift away from working in isolated silos and instead explore how the Doughnut Economics framework could help us discover interconnected solutions. Using the "Doughnut Unrolled" approach with its four lenses AND the Edges of the Doughnut we wanted to map not just the lenses themselves, but the transformative edges where they intersect.

One participant, from a local transition city group, captured it this way: "We often trying to address items such as housing, food security, and climate action as separate problems. What if they're actually one integrated challenge?"

Tools

The tool at heart (as mentioned) is the "Edges of the Doughnut", which is building on the Doughnut Economics Action Lab's "Doughnut Unrolled" framework. We used large format canvas to create visual maps of the four critical edges:

• The Local Edge: Where community social needs meet ecological restoration
• The Global Edge: Where planetary justice meets environmental boundaries
• The Social Edge: Where local community connects to global solidarity
• The Ecological Edge: Where local ecosystem health scales to planetary impact

Participants worked with sticky notes to map current initiatives, identify gaps, and explore new possibilities at each edge (both: witnin the 4 lenses and the traditional Doughnut sections within Ecological Ceiling and Social Foundation. )

We also used prompting questions such as:

• What's already happening at this edge that we're not seeing?
• Where are the missed opportunities for integrated action?
• Who else needs to be at this edge with us?
• What would it look like if we designed from the edge rather than the centre?

Format

We began with a 30-minute introduction to the concept that edges are where abundance flourishes in nature—from the richest biodiversity at forest margins to the most productive agricultural systems at field boundaries. Participants immediately resonated with this concept.

The main activity used a modified World Cafe format where groups rotated through four stations, each focusing on one edge. At each station, they spent 25 minutes.
Some highlights:

• Local Edge Station: The group discovered that community food growing projects were already creating jobs for people experiencing homelessness while 'rewilding' urban spaces. 
• Global Edge Station: Participants outlined a "Solidarity Supply Chain" connecting local procurement with land restoration projects worldwide.

We created a backlog of actions, for the attendees to take those to the next steps.
Ideas alone do not solve problems.

A Stepping Stone

What made this different from typical sustainability workshops was the focus on intersections rather than individual issues. As Anma, a procurement professional, reflected: "Working at the edges helped us see how one intervention can address multiple challenges simultaneously."

The session revealed that many participants were already working at edges without realising it. The framework gave them a lens, language and intentionality for what they can be doing—You do not have to ask for permission.

What particularly excited the group was discovering that working at edges often requires fewer resources than tackling issues in isolation, because you're leveraging the natural synergies that already exist at these intersections.

Let us continue to build upon the momentum we have created, one edge and sinergy at a time. Stronger Together.

It's up to us.