DEAL’s first webinar on ‘Downscaling the Doughnut’

On 25 November, 2020, the DEAL Team hosted a webinar, entitled ‘Downscaling the Doughnut: what’s cooking in Brussels, Cambridge and Berlin?’. It was a big moment for us because it was the first DEAL-hosted webinar, and we were excited (and nervous!). We were also amazed and humbled to be joined by more than 500 people from all over the world.

The webinar put into practice one of DEAL’s core visions of how change happens: we believe that people are often most inspired by people like themselves who are already doing things that they hadn’t considered or thought were possible. 

It was the first webinar in an ongoing series that DEAL will be hosting to bring together people with a shared interest in translating the global Doughnut to many smaller scales, from neighbourhoods to nations, in both the global North and global South. 

Our aim was to host a space for members of the DEAL Community to learn from the work of changemakers in three global North cities, Berlin, Cambridge, and Brussels, to take inspiration from their diverse approaches, and to feel even better equipped to put Doughnut-thinking into practice in their own contexts.

We were delighted to welcome Georg Wagener-Lohse and Sebastian Wolf Siebzehnrübl (Berlin), Councillor Katie Thornburrow and Clara Todd (Cambridge), and Laure Malchair and Tristan Dissaux (Brussels) to share their distinct experiences bringing the Doughnut ‘City Portrait’ tool to life in the context of their own cities.

Watch the 2-hour recording of the session below. If you want to jump to sections of the session:

• Introduction to Downscaling the Doughnut by DEAL (first 15 minutes)
• Presentation from Berlin initiative (starts at 15 minutes)
• Presentation from Cambridge initiative (starts at 38 minutes)
• Presentation from Brussels initiative (starts at 1 hour)
• General Q&A with all panelists (starts at 1 hour and 21 minutes) 

Future webinars in DEAL’s series on Downscaling the Doughnut will feature changemakers putting the Doughnut into practice in the global South, as well as those working at the neighbourhood, district, regional or national level. 

We welcome you to join us and take inspiration from the wide range of countries and contexts in which this work is happening. Or maybe you have ideas for future sessions or feedback? If so, please do share them in the ‘comments’ below.