‘Creating City Portraits’ is the methodology for downscaling the Doughnut of social and planetary boundaries to the city. The tool provides a holistic snapshot of the city and its impact through four lenses–both social and ecological, local and global–which together provide a new perspective on what it means for a city to thrive. It appreciates what makes a city unique, while understanding its global influence and responsibility.
The Creating City Portraits guide is based on experience of applying the methodology with pilot cities in the Thriving Cities Initiative - Philadelphia, Portland and Amsterdam. Having received a huge level of interest in the City Portrait methodology to ‘downscale the Doughnut’ since the publication of the Amsterdam City Doughnut, the Thriving Cities Initiative is publishing this guide with the intention to make it as simple as possible for others to use and adapt.
Would you like to create a City Portrait for your city? Use our City Portrait Canvas, a tool to assess city strategies, policies, and programmes in a holistic way, integrating environmental and social, local and global considerations.
Learn more about how the Doughnut can be turned into a tool for transformative action in this 12 minute introductory with Kate Raworth.
TCI is a collaboration between Circle Economy, C40 Cities, Doughnut Economics Action Lab and Biomimicry 3.8. It takes cities on a journey to become thriving places, while respecting the wellbeing of all people and the whole planet.
Educators, researchers, people from cities and places, business and enterprise are invited to join Doughnut Economics Action Lab's collaborative platform, which brings together like-minded changemakers who are putting Doughnut Economics into practice.