Create a pathway for the city of Amsterdam to become a home for thriving people in a thriving place, while respecting the wellbeing of all people and the health of the whole planet.

The B3.8 team studied the local ecosystem, focusing on key ecosystem dynamics that keep its native habitats healthy. Next, we identified key metric categories supporting ecosystem and human health. This process included identifying how Amsterdam is currently measuring existing metrics and what local targets already exist, then linking city goals and progress to the key metric categories. 

The B3.8 team collaborated with the Doughnut Economics Action Lab, Circle Economy, and C40 Cities to create a holistic view of city resilience and health that included these lessons from nature at a system level. We tied local ecological health to city residents’ well-being and the project’s global ecological and social goals.

The B3.8 team developed a Local Ecological Lens within the Amsterdam City Portrait to foster an understanding of how a thriving local ecosystem would perform and support local well-being to bring the benefits and lessons from a healthy local ecosystem to the city transformation tool.

The project linked our Local Ecological Lens to the Local Social, Global Ecological, and Global Social Lenses. The four lenses compose the Thriving City Compass “City Portrait,” paving the way for Amsterdam to thrive across all scales. This project laid the framework for combining doughnut economics and ecological performance standards to create an actionable tool for cities to reimagine and work towards a holistic future. View the report here.