Creating City Portraits: A methodological guide from The Thriving Cities Initiative
Creating City Portraits is a methodological guide for downscaling the Doughnut, and Doughnut Economics (based on the book and model of the same name), to the city and turning it into a tool for transformative action. This guide describes the methodology and introduces principles to consider at the city level as well as the interconnections between different scales, from household to global, to transform a city to a thriving and also ecologically and socially responsible one. The guide focuses on Amsterdam as an example and covers how the model translates into targets and performance indicators.
Creating City Portraits is a useful guide for anyone interested in applying the popular concept of ‘The Doughnut’ on a city level rather than a global level. It contains methods and reflections on how to paint a holistic City Portrait’ by looking at the city through four distinct lenses: The Local-social, local-ecological, global ecological, and global-social. The guide is an interesting read for anyone interested in Doughnut Economics and how-to future-proof our cities, but it is particularly relevant for practitioners (e.g., municipal project teams). Making the ‘City Portrait’ requires some work but everything is described in a very accessible way. It is worth emphasising that the methodology really flourishes with a diverse and multi-disciplinary team.