I’ve been involved in setting up the Norwich Doughnut Economics Group. Inspired by Possitopian imagination practice, this has been renamed as Reimagine Norwich and the launch was on Friday 8th November 2024.

There are close links between this group and the Norwich Unity Hub that is a consortium of eco, social & creative organisations moving into Carrow House – formerly used for Council functions and originally built by Jeremiah James Colman as their family mansion near the Colman’s factory complex in Carrow.

I facilitated a possitopian workshop (on 6th November) to explore new ways to approach local eco-social challenges by drawing on the Norwich’s radical past and re-imagining its future. This was part of the wider Global Donut Day festival, celebrating local action and global connection.

This time in history is challenging all our expectations so it is also the perfect moment to reimagine what Norwich can be, and the economic system that is the forked highway to either more injustice or inclusive wellbeing. We started with some inspiration from the radical history of Norwich, then used the Doughnut model to map this moment in time and place. Our lenses for mapping were the Local, the Global, the Social and the Environmental. We finished by travelling 30 years into the future and imagining how people will describe this moment of change. Together, we explored the Doughnut model and imagine innovative solutions to create a more sustainable and equitable city.

I’ve developed a format, inspired by Live Action Role Play and time travel, drawing on my Walking in the Shoes walkshops, whereby each participant is invited to take the perspective of a radical change agent from Norwich’s past. These included Amelia Opie, Jeremiah James Colman, Emma Turner and Elizabeth Fry. They provided some perspective and motivation for individuals as they consider getting more involved in collective action. We will first look at the social foundation of the Doughnut and the ecological ceiling of the planetary boundaries, asking what are the main impacts and risks for Norwich of overshoot and shortfall? Then we moved onto planning the action we need to take, building on existing initiatives and the longer-standing heritage of our place. We discussed: how will we create change for the best outcomes for people here and life on the planet?

Here is the summary of the ideas of the three groups of participants:

Group one focused on climate impacts in general

Impacts and risks of ecological overshoot and social shortfall:

• Drought and flooding
• More extreme weather
• Heavy rainfall
• Heat stress and drought
• Flooded and polluted rivers.
• Need to protect refugees arriving from the Global South
• Loss of livelihoods

Norwich risks relate to its three rivers, its dependence on global economic production and its background inequality, creating vulnerable communities when impacts hit harder.

Group two focused on food

• Food prices
• Nutrition insecurity
• Poor health
• Poverty
• More inequality
• Discontent

Norwich has a long history of tackling inequality and the losses of freedoms. We are in a fertile area and shouldn’t be the most malnourished county in the UK.

Group three focused on the sense of Detachment

• End of democracy
• Lack of green spaces
• “Not being able to bring our whole selves to things“
• Nihilism
• Malaise

The inequality in Norwich increases the separation caused by consumerism, technology and lack of democracy. Norwich has a history of communities gathering for radical change.

What local action can we build on to create change?

Group one: Change the story of money.

• Share stories of a gift economy.
• Enable people to share.
• Have a local measure of progress that is for the quality of life.
• Provide tools for people to normalise having enough and being kind.
• Influence by stealth.

Group two: Focus change around food and people

• Support Sustainable Food Norwich
• Develop social eating Husb
• A space to think, talk and share skills.
• Affordable, pay as you can.
• Food growing hubs.
• Community pubs with gardens for food growing

Group three: Citizen’s Assemblies

• Creating a movement for change.
• Populous power.
• Let kids set the agenda.
• A living vision for the city.
• Develop people skills to facilitate community visions.

Together we shared ideas that the purpose of Reimagine Norwich is to bring people together to imagine, connect, learn, be resilient and get tools to spread a new reality.

We ended up by travelling into the future, imagining that we are historians and writing very brief stories of the change that was sparked in this place in 2024, which made ripples of inspiration beyond our City. Here is what the participants wrote:

• I was able to influence people who in turn influenced other people who in turn influenced other people so we ended up with the whole populace of Norwich, nay the world, had to change their way of thinking and had created a regenerative world based on doughnut principles.

• On this day of 2024, a brilliant coalition was created. The seeds of the legendary reimagined Norwich network was born. It would go on to create an example the world over of peer-to-peer practice and action for social practice in the face of climate change. Wiseman said “it was obvious all along.”

• In 2024 Reimagine Norwich a meeting was held in Carrow House, which highlighted what we need to know to be true.

• The roots of our gift economy based on a food plenty system can be traced back to one of the very first reimagine workshops. Without that pivotal meeting, we may still be living in a world where money is more valuable than food. 

• Norwich is now a green oasis encapsulating sustainable food production for a city of children, families, communities, and ecosystems that is healthy in mind and body.

• We began the very fall of capitalism and the rise of democracy 

• He thought. He acted. He helped. Where he could.

• Reimagine Norwich encouraged people to be people over food. One million social facilitators bloomed. 

• “Together”. How wonderful that Norwich started gatherings for sharing food nutrition for all. This was such a nurturing enabling activity. 

• Looking back on the transition years in Norwich, those local citizens who decided to come together to create new ways of growing food, creating action and empowerment, for the city to know how and be able to cope for themselves with plants, medicines and food. Norwich quickly became a green city with fewer cars. 

• Enablers and empowerers. We began weekly meet ups in local pubs, shared food, and held talking circles from which issues fed to a central hub in Norwich to the benefit of all. 

• More people were enjoying sustainable actions within their community: Buying domestic and local products, secondhand clothes and reducing energy consumption.