My daughter is home from Amsterdam as the COVID crisis comes into its 3rd month in Europe. Perhaps she may be able to return soon, and her time there has certainly given me a new awareness and respect for what the Dutch are up to!
So, it was with interest that I read that the city of Amsterdam is adopting a model of economic renewal to bring them back out of impacts of COVID.
The model is called “doughnut economics.”
Amsterdam will be the first city in the world to adopt this doughnut economics model to guide its public policy and planning decisions, so will also be an experiment to watch and possibly to expect our city to adopt!
Doughnut economics is a concept created by Oxford University economist Kate Raworth, based on her 2017 book of the same name (Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist). It is an economic model that attempts to balance the needs of people without harming the environment.
“When suddenly we have to care about climate, health, and jobs and housing and care and communities, is there a framework around that can help us with all of that?” Raworth says. “Yes there is” she says and “it is ready to go.”
Raworth has created a model to provide Amsterdam with a “city portrait” showing where basic needs are not being met and “planetary boundaries” overshot. It’s pretty exciting stuff, as critics of mainstream economics have been around for a long time (eg. Hazel Henderson, Marilyn Waring). Raworth is starting to make inroads into the mainstream though and that’s exciting!
Check out more about Raworth, Amsterdam and doughnut economics here.