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Doughnut Economics for transformative change in Amsterdam

In this PhD project I explore the application of Doughnut Economics (DE) - a particular model or design - that marks a shift of perspective on “the economy” away from market- and growth-focused metrics and towards planetary health and wellbeing.

My research focuses on understanding the local implementation and translation of DE in the city of Amsterdam, which, in 2020 became the first city to apply DE on a city scale. I conducted my ethnographic fieldwork from September 2022 - June 2023 within the city government and among civil-led initiatives in the neighborhoods of Amsterdam.

The questions sparking my curiosity and guiding my inquiry are as follows:
What happens in practice when implementing the visions outlined in DE and attempting to radically transform e.g. a municipal organization or a neighborhood? Additionally, what possibilities and barriers arise when attempting to put these DE visions or principles into practice?

Lastly, while models like DE can ‘model people’ and organizations, people do also ‘model models’ in their various interpretations, negotiations and (conflictual) engagement with models. My PhD project seek to illuminate these dynamics that emerge when attempting to mobilize different actors around alternative economic visions.

The PhD is part of the RE-ANIMATE research group where four projects explore how designs for more life-enhancing economies are enacted, challenged, reworked, or obfuscated in the effort to reform or replace dominant capitalist understandings and activities. 

Supervisor: Kasper Tang Vangkilde, Associate Professor at Department of Anthropology
Co-supervisor: Christian Bason, Ph.D. and Co-founder of Transition Collective

Funded by: Independent Research Fund Denmark