The Portrait of Zabrze -A City in the Doughnut

Toward Sustainable Development through the Lens of Doughnut Economics

Zabrze - a city with industrial roots and a strong working-class identity - now faces a new challenge. How can it reconcile its industrial heritage with a vision of a future city that is healthy, green, and socially just?

This is the question young people are trying to answer. Drawing on Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics framework, they have created a social and ecological portrait of Zabrze.

Zabrze in the Doughnut

The Doughnut Economy concept assumes that a good city lives between two boundaries:

• The social foundation - what every resident needs for a dignified life (health, education, transport, energy, water),
• The ecological ceiling - the limits of our planet that we must not exceed (emissions, pollution, natural resources).

A sustainable city cares for people without destroying the environment.
Zabrze is slowly entering this path - powered by youth, technology, and community as the key drivers of change.

Mobility -The Right to Move

Young residents point out that transport in Zabrze is unfriendly: bike paths are discontinuous, buses are poorly synchronised, and many stops lack even basic facilities.
There are also a few solutions for people with disabilities.

The Doughnut vision:
Mobility should be equal and ecological.

Young people’s proposals:

• one app integrating tram, bus, bike, scooter, and car sharing,
• AI-controlled smart traffic lights,
• electric buses and pilot projects of autonomous vehicles,
• more bike paths and pedestrian zones,
• campaigns promoting active travel.

Result: fewer traffic jams, less smog, more movement and health.

Health - The Right to Care

Although Zabrze has good hospitals, young people notice issues with access to specialists, staff shortages, and insufficient psychological support.

The Doughnut vision:
Health is not a luxury - it is a right.

Proposals:

• a city-wide online health platform for appointments and preventive programs,
• development of telemedicine (especially for seniors and chronically ill patients),
• “Youth for Health” campaigns in schools,
• cooperation with universities and private clinics,
• patronage classes in medical professions.

This is the direction where health becomes a common good, not a commodity.

Education -The Right to Growth

Schools in Zabrze struggle with an overloaded curriculum, a lack of individualised teaching, and insufficient guidance.
Young people demand schools that teach life, not just exams.

The Doughnut vision:
Education as a shared good and a space for co-creation.

Ideas from youth:

• introduce project-based learning,
• municipal grants for student initiatives,
• psychological support in every school,
• creation of a Youth Education Council advising the Mayor,
• patronage classes in partnership with local businesses and universities.

Zabrze can become a city where education nurtures passion, not stress.

Energy - The Right to Safety and a Clean Environment

Zabrze still depends on central energy suppliers. The lack of local cooperatives and the monopoly hinder the civic energy transition.

The Doughnut vision:
Energy that is communal, clean, and democratic.

Proposals:

• establish a Municipal Agency for Civic Energy,
• pilot clusters and energy cooperatives in apartment blocks,
• microgeneration of renewables in disadvantaged districts (“Sunny Estates”),
• Integrate energy policy with circular economy and social programs.

Here, energy becomes not just electricity, but a tool for rebuilding community.

Water -The Right to Natural Resources

Climate change is also affecting Zabrze - water levels are dropping, and the water network is leaky.
This is both an ecological and a social challenge.

The Doughnut vision:
A city that is resourceful, water-retentive, and green.

Solutions:

• using abandoned mines as underground water retention basins,
• rain gardens and green roofs,
• modernising the water system with smart monitoring,
• cooperation with the Silesian University of Technology on greywater recycling,
• public education and reward programs for water saving.

Such a city teaches respect for resources and for nature itself.

Zabrze Between Foundation and Ceiling

Zabrze stands today between its industrial past and a green future.
Doughnut Economics enables us to view the city not as a collection of problems, but as a living system where every element - transport, health, education, energy, and water - is interconnected.

The social foundation must ensure safety, health, education, and equality.
The ecological ceiling must protect the climate, water, soil, and air.

A city within the doughnut develops within planetary boundaries - with care for people.

The Youth’s Vision for the Future of Zabrze

“We want a city that listens to its residents.  A city that is accessible, healthy, green, and digital - but above all, human.”  - excerpt from the youth team creating the Portrait of Zabrze

This City portrait was created as part of the Coeur Courage Project (Erasmus+ KA220-YOU), implemented in an international partnership of MasterPeace (NL), Multigenerational Community (PL), MasterPeace Romania (RO) & Edu4U (SK)