Online Masterclass: Inclusive Growth & the “Doughnut Model” for Economic Recovery

Health Education England West Midlands Public Health Masterclass supported by the WM-Air, University of Birmingham.

Booking available here:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/inclusive-growth-the-doughnut-model-for-economic-recovery-tickets-116859428697

Masterclass Overview

Economic crises often challenge existing paradigms and question the legitimacy of economic systems. The changes we’ve all made to our lives during the COVID-19 pandemic are considered by many as a unique opportunity to imagine a different future, to change how we live our lives and experience our cities.

Indeed, the desire to imagine a different future has been building momentum for years, the pandemic perhaps just the tipping point. The latest crisis is but one of many in recent history to have placed pressure upon our existing economic and political systems. In 2008 after decades of squeezed incomes, rising inequality and pressure on public services, the financial crisis led many to believe this would be the catalyst towards a new mode of economic thinking. More recently the environmental advocacy agenda has moved from the fringes of political debate to mainstream policy dialogue.

Published in 2017 “Doughnut economics” by Dr Kate Raworth, Senior Research Associate at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute, called for a review of mainstream economic practices in the context these crises. Hers was a call to stop pursuing growth at all costs and begin thinking about how to meet our core needs in balance with planetary health. In order to do so restrictive evaluative structures must be set aside. Accordingly, perhaps the doughnut model is best understood as an analytical tool by which we can consider and evaluate policy in a different way.

Derived from the UN Sustainable Development goals, the inner ring of her doughnut constitutes the very minimum we need to lead a good life e.g. clean water, housing, sanitation, healthcare, equality, and a decent income. The outer ring reflects the ecological ceiling, the limits which we should not breach to protect our climate, oceans, and biodiversity. Living within the two rings is where the needs of the population and the planet are met, whilst failing to achieve these minimum conditions is life in the doughnut hole.

In this half-day Masterclass led by Dr James Hall and Dr Suzanne Bartington (Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Birmingham) we begin by considering the critiques of traditional economic approaches, before introducing in detail components of the doughnut model. We feature an invited talk by Professor John Bryson, Chair in Enterprise and Economic Geography, entitled “Covid-19 and the Economy: Forms of life and the tensions between the biological, the biographical and the environmental”. We will then consider a case study, exploring how the municipality of Amsterdam is using the model as the starting point for policy decisions, including navigating the recovery phase of the Covid-19 pandemic. Finally, we conclude with a group discussion regarding applicability of the model in the West Midlands.

This masterclass will be of interest to public health, air quality and environmental science professionals and practitioners who are seeking an improved understanding of health and economic equity, inclusivity in the context of regional Covid-19 recovery. No prior knowledge of economic theory or air quality public policy is assumed. 

Masterclass Agenda

10.00	Introduction and Overview Re-thinking Economics	Dr James Hall
10.30	Introduction to The Doughnut model	Dr James Hall
11.00	‘Covid-19 and the Economy: Forms of life and the tensions between the biological, the biographical and the environmental’	Professor John Bryson
11.30	Break
11.45	Sustainable development in the UK:  Climate change and air quality policy	Dr Suzanne Bartington
12.00	Embracing the doughnut model to guide post-coronavirus recovery: Amsterdam case-study	Dr James Hall
12.30	Group discussion and exercise: Local applicability of the model	All
13:00	Final word and close	Dr James Hall and Dr Suzanne Bartington