Cities & Regions

Local and regional governments working with Doughnut Economics in their policies, strategies, processes and ways of thinking

Welcome to DEAL's cities & regions page

If you work in or with local governments, or work to influence or study the work of local governments - this page is for you, regardless of whether you're completely new to the ideas or not. 

Here you will be able to find:

  • Key guide to help you get started (in English, Spanish, French and Brazilian Portuguese), and a selection of tools to help with the work 
  • Case studies and stories of action from many places 
  • A map of cities & regions already working with Doughnut Economics, and an overview and insights from the practice of over 50 places 
  • Information about how DEAL convenes and supports this community of practitioners, and the type of support you could get from DEAL
     

 

Map of places working with the Doughnut

This map shows over 50 local and regional governments that have worked or are still working with the concepts and tools of Doughnut Economics. You can click on each place to read their stories of action, and read an article mapping these 50 places and providing insights from these early adopters here. 

Many more continue to internally exploring the potential of the Doughnut and we will be updating this map as their work evolves. If you believe your place should also be on this map, do get in touch.

Guide for getting started

DEAL has developed this guide for all those working with or within local and regional government. It lays out nine pathways for getting started with Doughnut Economics, each with a series of potential actions, examples, and key tools and resources. It also has 12 deeper dive case-studies provided by practitioners. 


The guide is not a step-by-step approach, but rather a catalogue of possibilities based on current practice, allowing each mayor, councillor or civil servant to identify the possibilities and opportunities in their own place.  It is intended as a starting point for those who are new to Doughnut Economics, as well as those who are already familiar and engaging with the concepts. 

The guide is available in English, Spanish, French and Brazilian Portuguese.    

Click here to view the guide
Click here to view the guide

Case studies and stories of action

Top tools for learning, planning, strategy and municipal workshops

Top tools for citizen participation

How the DEAL Team can support you

If you are a local government, or an organisation working with local governments and are already working with Doughnut Economics or interested in getting started, do contact us, and Leonora, our Cities and Regions Lead, will get in touch.

We can support your work (for free) by: 

  • having 1-1 conversations and offering insights, advice, connections, presentations
  • inviting you to join our evolving community of practice - for which we hold online and offline exchanges and learning sessions 
  • connecting you to other practitioners, resources, case studies 


In return, we ask all practitioners to follow DEAL's Principles and Guidelines, and share back their stories and photos of action and learning, to inspire and help others.


DEAL's Cities & Regions gathering in Tomelilla, 2025 

Dos and Don'ts for local governments

  • Engage with all four lenses of the Doughnut Unrolled

  • Feel free to bring complementary tools that are conceptually aligned with Doughnut Economics

  • Follow DEAL's Policy for organisations & networks, and submit a Public Declaration Form, if you are using these tools as a consultant.

  • Don't refer to your city or place as 'Doughnut City', instead communicate your work and commitments (e.g. 'We set our long-term vision based on Doughnut Economics', 'We are using the Doughnut as a guiding framework', 'We're using Doughnut Economics to change our decision making processes').

  • Don't use the Doughnut simply for branding

  • Don't use the Doughnut as an add-on to traditional growth-focused strategies.

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