‘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.
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Circularity presents opportunities for local labour markets. To tap into this potential, it is vital to understand how many and which jobs are already contributing to the circular economy locally. To obtain a baseline analysis of employment in the local circular economy in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (CIoS), Tevi and Circle Economy collaborated on the Circular Jobs Monitor. The Circular Jobs Monitor is an online tool that gathers and displays the amount and type of jobs that are part of the circular economy. This report summarises the results that are displayed on the monitor and outlines next steps that can be taken to build on these results and further tap into the opportunities the circular economy presents the local labour market.
Tevi is an ERDF-funded programme helping Cornish SMEs to grow whilst supporting Cornwall's transition to a circular economy. Tevi currently supports over 300 enterprises through bespoke consultancy services, challenge networks and a grant scheme. Tevi is delivered by the University of Exeter in partnership with Cornwall Wildlife Trust, Cornwall Council and Cornwall Development Company.
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The Netherlands is a global frontrunner in the race to circularity with a Circularity Metric of 24.5%. However, the government has ambitious goals: an economy that is 50% circular by 2030 and 100% circular by 2050. The Circularity Gap Report, the Netherlands, recommends wide-ranging ways in which the economy can pivot away from its linear habits across four key sectors: agriculture, construction, manufacturing and energy. The suggested strategies could triple the Dutch metric from 24.5% to 70%.
More and more countries are recognising the circular economy as a means to make their economies more competitive, improve living conditions for growing populations, help meet emissions targets and avoid deforestation. But how countries reach an ecologically safe and socially just development space for their people varies greatly. The Circularity Gap Report for Countries provides insight into the best interventions to boost circularity on a national level and the tools to monitor progress.
The Circularity Gap Initiative aims to highlight the urgency of the transition to a circular economy and inspire key decision makers in both government and business to coordinate action to accelerate that transition. We do this by bringing together stakeholders from academia, businesses, NGOs and governments to input, evaluate and endorse annual reports on the state of the transition based on the latest scientific evidence.
How can your business forge a successful, circular partnership?
Collaboration is key to transition to a resilient, circular economy. Whereas the need for collaboration in the circular economy is largely understood, in practice, it often poses challenges.
This guide supports businesses to collaborate for a circular economy. Using the example of circular food packaging, it shows how businesses can identify and establish successful collaborations and together realise circular products. Based on interviews with 17 stakeholders, the guide introduces four collaboration types, outlines nine steps to successful collaborations, and identifies 14 roles and nine characteristics to identify attractive and suitable partners.
With the European Textile Regulation(1007/2011) entering into force in 2011, requirements on labelling and marking of the fibre composition of textile products were harmonized throughout the EuropeanUnion. However, in 2018, doubts were raised on the accuracy of these composition claims on labels on the Dutch market. With the introduction of the Fibersort, a technology able to categorise textiles based on their composition, deviations between the fibre categorisations given by the Fibersort and the composition claims on labels became apparent to sorters. The Ministry of Infrastructure & Waterways has commissioned Circle Economy to investigate the assumption that labels on garments are inaccurate, to map the consequences of inaccurate composition claims on labels, and to identify the measures required to tackle the challenge of misleading labels. This report summarises the outcomes and conclusions of this research.
During 2019, Circle Economy conducted a scoping study commissioned by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, on the “Global environmental and socio-economic effects of pursuing a circular economy in the Netherlands and the EU”. The scope of the study had a focus on exploring impacts in low-income countries. The study provides a deep dive into two exemplary products (denim jeans and mobile phones) with globalised value chains (both upstream and downstream) and significant potential for circular economy initiatives. From resource extraction to end-of-life, the study visualises and highlights the most important countries involved in these value chains. It also describes the potential impacts of Dutch and EU circular economy policies on countries outside the EU by looking at indicators such as land use, pollution of water and soil, work and income, CO2 emissions and health and safety.
The Amsterdam City Doughnut takes the global concept of the Doughnut, developed by Kate Raworth, and turns it into a tool for transformative action in the city of Amsterdam.
It marks the first public presentation of the holistic approach to ‘downscaling the Doughnut’, combining local aspiration with global responsibility. How can our city be a thriving home to thriving people, while respecting the planetary boundaries?
The Amsterdam City Doughnut has been developed in collaboration between Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL), Circle Economy, Biomimicry 3.8 and C40 over the course of one year. It is at the core of the City of Amsterdam’s broader ambitions for becoming a circular city, the Amsterdam Circular Strategy 2020-2025.
(The full Amsterdam Circular Strategy 2020/2025 is available for download on the website of the City of Amsterdam.)
This report explores the key barriers and critical success factors for an effective market uptake of post-consumer recycled textiles and automated sorting technologies, such as the Fibersort, in the long term in North-West Europe. This report is the final publication of the Fibersort Interreg NWE project. These barriers and success factors are portrayed through case studies of organisations across the textiles value chain active in implementing solutions to enable a thriving end-of-use for textiles.
The Circular Jobs Initiative is working towards a positive transition to circularity for work and workers. The initiative is a knowledge centre that combines academic knowledge with practical piloting, working in collaboration with a network of stakeholders.
Through the lens of the initiative's three core pillars—skilling, quality of jobs and inclusivity—Jobs & Skills in the Circular Economy: State Of Play And Future Pathways provides an overview of how current labour market issues apply to the circular economy transition, the opportunities that circularity presents for the labour market and the challenges that need to be overcome to achieve a future labour market that enables people and the planet to thrive.
Learn more about the Circular Jobs Initiative.
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