On April 7, 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, the Municipal Executive of Amsterdam decided to adopt British economist Kate Raworth’s Doughnut economic model for sustainable development, making Amsterdam the first city in the world to do so. The Doughnut works at finding the balance between a necessary “social foundation” for all and the “environmental ceiling” in a modern society. This balance is what Raworth calls “the sweet spot for humanity”.
The international team that has been working on this project for a year never expected to launch this initiative during a crisis, but believes that the need for such a “transformative tool could hardly be greater than right now”, according to Raworth. Whilst neighboring countries are still focused on the present, the Dutch capital looks to the future for a viable solution. This decision comes at a time where there is a lot of uncertainty regarding the future: particularly the economy and how it will recover from the current corona-crisis. Raworth mentions on her website that she “never expected [they] would be launching in a context of crisis such as this” and she is enthusiastic to see that “Amsterdam has the chance to inspire many more places”.