“What if we started economics not with its long-established theories but with humanity’s long-term goals, and then sought out the economic thinking that would enable us to achieve them?”
—Kate Raworth
Following on from a deep dive into Doughnut Economics in 2022 with over 100 peers from across the UK and world who have downscaled the ‘Doughnut’ into the homes, streets, neighbourhoods and work, we continue the momentum with an open online reading group for anyone, in any neighbourhood across the globe to explore the principles shared in Doughnut Economics.
Through the work of the Neighbourhood Doughnut portfolio at CIVIC SQUARE we are working to dive into a challenge of new possibilities and opportunity head on; crafting, convening and co-creating a new story together of new ways and new pathways forward.
What does it mean for our neighbourhoods to thrive? What kind of place, planet and neighbourhood do we want to leave to future generations? What is the role of business, corporations and governments in how we build this future?
If these questions matter to you, then this might be the reading group for you.
From exploring books and literature together to practical prototyping in our places we are crafting intentional spaces to learn together through neighbourhood learning infrastructure. In 2021, we hosted a neighbourhood reading circle exploring Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass - this was a precursor to the Doughnut Economics Peer to Peer Learning Journey which commenced at the start of 2022.
The Doughnut Economics Peer to Peer Learning Journey was a deep dive into the book by 11 cohorts of peers from across the neighbourhood, the UK and the world. These cohorts intimately explored Doughnut Economics as a collective to imagine and explore what could be possible when households, streets and neighbourhoods unite together to give tangible form to new economic possibilities in the here and now.
The interplay of the ideas and possibilities of Braiding Sweetgrass and Doughnut Economics has been so inspiring for us to explore intersecting themes such as the market story, balance, society, reimagining our relationship with nature, the land, each other and ourselves.
How we learn, share, practice, deliberate, dream, imagine and grow collectively is at the heart of how we are designing the work of the Regenerative Neighbourhood Economics Lab at CIVIC SQUARE. Getting to the heart of new economic possibilities will be crucial to how we thrive and flourish together in our increasingly divided and challenging future(s) ahead.
Learning together as peers allows for more horizontal structures, with everyone having skills, wisdom, knowledges, histories, ideas and more to bring into the round. Everyone has something to learn and something to contribute. We want to nurture relationships and exchange between participants rather than simply teacher and pupil dynamics, as well as recognising the plurality of ways in which we all learn, and what it means to learn together.