DOUGHNUT ECONOMICS – A ROADMAP FOR A THRIVING SUSTAINABLE CITY Dr. Azmizam Abdul Rashid
“… Malaysia, being an exceptionally open economy, has benefited greatly from globalisation. However, this also leaves us exposed, with external shocks contributing to previous economic crises. As an outcome, negative social impacts have
been sorely felt, with more than 600,000 people reported to be unemployed. Paradoxically, those that benefit
least from the global economy, such as daily wage earners, farmers and informal workers, are some of the
most impacted. Added to the above, failure to prevent environmental damage will increase the risk of
communities that are most vulnerable to its impacts. Does this mean we need to move towards a model to
degrow and deglobalise the economy? No, as a small and open developing economy, we need to continue
to trade with other nations and grow economically. Nonetheless, firstly, we need to reset our development
goal. … Secondly, there is a need to focus on building the resilience of local economies — both rural and urban. … Thirdly, strong and adaptive institutions are required to address crises. … In times of crisis, alternative models such as doughnut economics have emerged as a solution to the conventional model. While they offer useful ideas, Malaysia needs to develop in its own mould and based on its own characteristics. In the quest for resilience, the common characteristic required is the ability to adapt to change. As John Maynard Keynes, who spearheaded a revolution in economic thinking during the Great
Depression, professed, “the difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones”.
Keywords: COVID-19, moving control order, urban activities, new normal, water quality, pollution, urban
drainage, local government
Doughnut Economics by Dr AZMIZAM ABDUL RASHID read or download here
comments – for live comments visit academia.edu here
Jane O’Sullivan
19 hrs ago
Thank you for a lovely summary of the Doughnut thesis, and some creative thinking on applying it locally. One thing that Doughnut Economics ignores is population growth, and the capacity for overpopulation to cause the “social foundation” to overtake the “ecological ceiling”, leaving no “safe and just space”, locally or globally. It frequently does so locally. Not everywhere has the economic leverage of Amsterdam to make up the shortfall through imported resources, and there would not be enough … Read More
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Bridget Rose Gopaul
1 day ago
(a) My city can become a home to thriving people in a thriving place by becoming more energy efficient, moving towards greater access to transportation and by extension, greater investment in infrastructure. Not to mention, a shift in systems towards a sharing economy.
(b) If the people of my city were to thrive based on their own values and visions, it would be a cultural revolution, for the lack of a better term. It would transform consumption patterns as it may initiate some semblance of imp… Read More
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Stephen J Hinton
2 days ago
Excellent initiative – and as cities are the driving force of development, concentration on them makes sense even if the hinterland is exploited.
One thing that worries me – GDP is a metric. Doughnut is not a metric. Here there is a bit of apples vs oranges. Having said that, it IS possible to create a doughnut metric based on ceilings and floors. To what % are the social floors breached and the extent of exceeding ceilings. To do THAT you need to develop normative metrics that say what these c… Read More
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Mogamat Faadiel Arnold Ph.D (HC)
5 days ago
Assalaamu Alaykum Rashid, why are you looking for sustainable and progressive, positive development away for The Holy Qur’an and Sunnah, which offers a complete Holistic integrational socio-economic-educational-environmental solution? What is “modern” has been ravaged by Covid 19, which proved the uselessness, in every respect, of “modernisation” with the shocking reality that the “honoured “educated” medical, scientific and capitalistic state institutions” worldwide, were unprepared for. … my question will perhaps activate a clearer, truthful discussion of what is real progress of a nation – something we could have learnt from the indigenous tribes that could sustain themselves in the Malaysian Jungles, but are now dying of starvation in Longhouses set up by “modern governments”, educated by “modern, western educational philosophies” but could not keep their promises to the people whose forests they cleared. Covid 19 was a wake-up call to the illusion of “Globalisation and progress”. Forget about “Policies” – it feeds the Academia and wastes time in parliaments, but has produced nothing but word-games, while people are dying and unemployed constantly rises. To run a country justlty is not rocket science. It is simple, if rulers are honest and transparent.
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Kersti Nebelsiek
4 days ago
… and there are people which replace The Holy Qur’an and Sunnah with Bible and Jesus Christ and say essentially the same. But if I look around for people who believe in Bible or Qur’an and who really believe that they are following these rules, you will notice, that these people live many completely different lives in many completely different cultures and this is true not only for these two religions but for every religion I ever looked at.
In fact no book you could find can tell you in detail how to live your life. You will always need to think your own thoughts and to plan all the details yourself to find concrete solutions.
People value the Bible or the Qur’an because they learned some central ideas from them, which helped them to change their way of living for the better, but one book is not a complete plan for every step in your live and for every detail in your culture.
In fact such a plan given by God would not be good, as it would would prevent humankind from becoming adult. Cultural learning, changing the world to make it a better place for all of us, means becomig a responsible adult humankind. I think that God wants us to become adults who learn to make decisions for themselves which are good for everybody and that he doesn’t want us to stay underage children.
And – ruling a country really good is rocket science. What we – as humankind – did up to now lead to many wars, changed forests to deserts, lead to the extinction to many species of animals and plants. We know that we solved many health issues that plaguet mankind for long times. We seem to solve the war-problem step by step. But we don’t have found solutions for many problems humankind made up itself and which may lead to the extinction of humans if we don’t solve them.
I think that the way of thinking described here helps to solve these man-made problems.
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Mogamat Faadiel Arnold Ph.D (HC)
4 days ago
Thank you for your comment. Appreciated and understood. When we approach The Divine Scriptures, Tuarah, Bible, Psalms of David, The Qur’an and other Divinely inspired Books of Revelation, we will find it Gives Guidance not rules. It is clear that all addresses adults and offer a choice between destructive thinking and progressive thinking, but it is the way we approach our Texts that determines what we get out of it. If we are humble and allow The Text to Guide us, it will. If we have preconceived ideas we will find statements that we think support that idea and then miss the Guidance. We actually create our own progress / punishment and both are in the Mercy of God, so that we become humble and grateful to Him through our happiness or suffering. The Statement in the Bible Give unto God what is God’s and Give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, misinterpreted for rulers’ gain, lead to the separation of Religion from Education, Politics, Economics etc., creating the capitalism, communism and other isms. – where man became, not adult, but arrogant ,believing that natural resources are his to manipulate and exploit, at will – now we suffer and are looking for Guidance – it is there, but we are blinded by self-glory and separatism. The Qur’an Requests the People of the Book [Jews and Christians], The Muslims and Believers in God and The Last Day, to UNITE against the Disbeliever [Kaafiruun -the Ungrateful, Coverers of Truths and Fear Mongers] who focus on control and destruction. So here we are: What is The Economics or Rather the Holistic Development of a Nation according to God’s Advice[ Commonly understood by reflective people]
1. Those who are charged with leading a nation/people – are not their bosses/rulers/ but the Servants of God, Who must serve the people. Their aim must be to enrich the lives or the people through creating every comfort each person needs to be free from any worry, so that they can be Grateful to God and prosper even further. This means rulers must see to themselves last – the last Prophet Mughammad Pbuh, a businessman at the beginning and died owning nothing, reported the Guidance – Supply people with their needs and God will provide you with your needs.
2. All natural resources belong to God, not the rulers – therefore all benefits from it, must be equally shared amongst the people – and its services derived from it eg. Electricity and water etc.,must be Free.
3. Poor tax of 2.5% of all unused profits ,stagnant for 1 year ,must be paid to release people from poverty.
4. Rulers must ensure that the people are freed from all forms of slavery [physical. economic, educational, etc]
5. Children must be comforted, fed, supported and granted access to growth first… that is some of the “real politics of faith”.
The above proves that Running a country is not rockets science .. because the above 5 points will solve most of our man-made problems – God Willing – But rest assured – the majority of people will not accept The Truth – they want their own truths – that is often why belief and practice differ.
See my Article on My Blog Bo-Kaap Helper:”The Economics of Disbelief”.
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David G Lloyd
4 days ago
Agree – a shift in perspective from me, to us, to all of us which includes as a necessary priority the natural systems of the world in which we live and which enable a livable future.
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David G Lloyd
5 days ago
Strongly agree with the argument – my heart sings when with the birds and trees around my house but is saddened by the excessive consumption in my community of humans.
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David G Lloyd
5 days ago
Yes a key question – both local and global needs must now be considered – we must work as one world rater than individual states
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David Christie
6 days ago
I fully agree with you that the Raworth donut is an excellent model for showing the need for balance between the needs of our habitat so that it can regenerate and support the human race sustainably (this includes flora and fauna that also share this habitat), and the needs of our society (phrased in terms of our economic systems for now, but this probably needs to be questioned, since our system is also part of the problem!).
My key thought on skipping through your document (due to my lack of … Read More
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Jan Juffermans
6 days ago
David Christie makes a good point: all imports should be added and exports can be deducted. That is the way our global ecological footprint is calculated. It might be interesting to hear that, with the Dutch Platform Fair and Green Economomy, we are active with Footprint Justice and the statement ‘A Fair Earth Share is a Human Right’, for present and future generations, calculated with the footprint model. This will be in line with the Doughnut principles. It might become a case at the Internati… Read More
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Evan Hadkins
6 days ago
Wonderful to see Kate’s stuff being applied; wishing you every possible success.
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Chris Weitz
6 days ago
Very interesting to see the doughnut applied!
caw of https://gaiageld.com/
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Lisa B Humble
6 days ago
Your work on doughnut economics is well thought out I must say. Being a student I’m learning a lot
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terries chembo
6 days ago
my city can only become a home of thriving people based on the following
number one a city should enable every person to have an opportunity to realise who they are.
must enough resources to be used
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Dr. AZMIZAM ABDUL RASHID
6 days ago
a. How can your city become a home to thriving people in a thriving place? While respecting the well-being of all people and the health of the whole planet and we can take that question and dive into its four lenses that make up the city portrait.
b. What would it mean for the people of your city to thrive based on their own values and vision?
c. What does a good life look like in terms of community housing health care education transport political voice and social equality?
d. How far is you… Read More
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