In this series of blog posts I will discuss some of the assigned readings for the Sustainable Planning Seminar (Urban Planning/Geography/Landscape Architecture 446) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).
This week’s readings were:
- Herman Daly’s Beyond Growth
- Kate Raworth’s Donut Economics (summarized)
- A critical review of Donut Economics by Erik Schokkaert
- A video documentary about Donut Economics
What is “Donut Economics?” It’s a reconceptualization of human progress, moving away from a “growth at any cost” mindset to one of sustainability.
The middle of the donut includes basic human rights that, in an ideal economy, all people would have access to. Raworth calls this the “social foundation.” The outside of the donut is bounded by another region that Raworth calls the “ecological ceiling” – past which the economy has overshot the regenerative capacity of natural systems. The space between these two boundaries is the “safe and just” space for humanity. This model is a good qualitative measure of economic sustainability. It’s also a good mental tool for tracking the many interdependent issues humanity is facing. Donut economics forces us to consider equity as an important part of the equation.
The idea of centering ecology and human rights in economic conversations is not a brand new idea. Herman Daly spelled out several of the same concepts in Beyond Growth. Daly’s work is in some ways better because he sought to move concepts of sustainable development from “pious generalities” into specific policy actions. This was Schokkaert’s main criticism of Raworth’s work – Donut Economics had very little rigor and simply replaced one set of beliefs with another. It would have been better and more interesting, Schokkaert argued, if Raworth made concrete suggestions for policy and implemntation rather than pointing to anecdotes of a “circular economy.” As a scientist, I share Schokkaert’s concern about challenges in implementation, and the distinct lack of discussion about this topic.
Fortunately, Daly made some very cogent arguments on implementation. Daly believes the best method for achieving a sustainable economy is to internalize economic externalities. Externalities like damage to communities that do not benefit from the use of a particular resource, or from chemical pollution. Daly also uniquely advocated for “nationalist” economic policies. Whereby developing countries would emphasize domestic production and rely on global trade only when it is a more efficient choice. Rather than the general advice to integrate developing nations into the “free market” economy.
My only criticism of Daly is that he seems too optimistic about the political possibilities for the internalization of “externalities” (e.g. a price on carbon). Beyond Growth was written in 1996 and aggravatingly little progress has been made on that front, relative to the scale of the problem.