Downscaling The Doughnut

The City Portrait invites every city to ask itself this very 21st century question:

And this overarching question — which combines local aspirations with global responsibility — can be unpacked and explored further through four questions, or lenses, which together create the city portrait.

If you are interested in diving deeper into this approach, here’s a 12 minute introductory video to downscaling the Doughnut to the city, exploring how it can be turned into a tool for transformative action.

Since the publication of Amsterdam’s City Portrait, we have been contacted by people in cities, towns, villages, nations and regions, in the global North and global South, who — inspired by Amsterdam’s example — want to create downscale the Doughnut locally, as part of transforming the future of the places they live.

This first version of the methodology was developed with a focus on cities in the global North, due to their responsibility to act first and fastest in transforming their social and ecological impacts. Future iterations of the methodology will be created with a focus on the context and priorities of cities in the global South, and will likewise be adapted to other scales — from neighbourhoods to nations and beyond.

We welcome comments, suggestions and lessons learned from changemakers applying the City Portrait methodology in other places, so that we can co-create and continually improve its design and usefulness.

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