Doughnut Data Portraits: A Methodological Guide
Guidelines and approaches to 'downscale' the Doughnut by creating a Data Portrait (or City Portrait) for your place
Version 2.3 (April 2025)
📢 Now translated into French, Spanish, German and Brazilian Portuguese
* Cet outil est également disponible en français comme Google Doc ou comme PDF (et avec une feuille de calcul supplémentaire) *
* Esta herramienta también está disponible en español como Google Doc o como PDF (y con hoja de cálculo complementaria). *
* Dieses Tool ist auch auf Deutsch als Google Doc oder als PDF (und mit unterstĂĽtzender Tabelle) verfĂĽgbar. *
* Esta ferramenta tambĂ©m está disponĂvel em portuguĂŞs como Google Doc ou como PDF (e com planilha suplementar). *
Overview
Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL) has created a set of Doughnut Unrolled tools that unroll the Doughnut into four 'lenses' that consider the interplay between local aspirations and global responsibilities in your place – both socially and ecologically – and identify possible entry-points for transformative action.
This tool - Data Portrait of Place - is a handbook of approaches and useful resources for collecting locally relevant, data-led targets and indicators to create a holistic snapshot or a 'portrait' of your place's performance across each of the four lenses. For a collection of useful examples and results from the growing number of places that have already begun using the Data Portrait as an input to transformative action, see the accompanying Downscaling the Doughnut: Data Portraits in Action tool.
For an overview, watch the 18-min video with Andrew Fanning, DEAL's Research & Data Analysis Lead, introducing the Data Portrait methodological guide (recorded in July 2023 as part of this series of videos presenting Doughnut Economics concepts and practice). You can also access his presentation slides online using Google slides, or download the PowerPoint presentation.
The Data Portrait of Place handbook is available as a Google Doc or as a PDF (also available to download below, with accompanying Supplementary spreadsheet).
Why use this tool?
The Data Portrait of Place handbook provides guidance and useful resources for you to create a holistic data-led snapshot of what it means for your place to thrive while helping to bring humanity into the Doughnut.
It invites you to collect and compare desired outcomes versus current performance of your place using available data, offering a 'portrait' to discuss complex issues, which can keep evolving as more data is made available over time.
DEAL encourages you to use this data-led tool together with the Community Portrait of Place tool, which provides a complementary set of participatory workshop materials that can be used to invite the people of your place to share their knowledge, ideas, lived-experience and aspirations. Together, these tools draw upon both data and other diverse contributions to build a rich, multi-layered and holistic portrait of your place.
Important note: If you wish to use these tools as part of your consultancy or professional advisory services for others, then we require that you follow DEAL's policy for consultancies and professional advisors.
Feedback
Healthy living systems rely on good feedback loops and we invite your comments, reflections and suggestion from using this tool to help us iterate and evolve for future versions.
You can do this in three ways:
- Leave a comment in the section below called Join the conversation. The benefit of this approach is that everyone can see and benefit from what you share.
- Share detailed comments and suggestions in this dedicated Data Portrait of Place online collaborative feedback document.
- Contact the DEAL Team directly via the contact form, choosing the category 'Tools and Stories'.
Acknowledgements
The Doughnut Unrolled methodology was conceptualised by Kate Raworth of Doughnut Economics Action Lab and Janine Benyus of Biomimicry 3.8, and this methodological handbook was written by Andrew Fanning, Kate Raworth, Olya Krestyaninova, and Fredrik Eriksson, with valuable contributions from Rob Shorter, Leonora Grcheva, and Ruurd Priester from Doughnut Economics Action Lab. We are so very grateful to the many, diverse contributors to this tool and earlier versions. Please see the extended acknowledgements section within the handbook for additional details.
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Attachments
Doughnut Unrolled - Data Portrait of Place_v2.pdf
Creating-City-Portraits-SuppInfo.xlsx
Doughnut Unrolled - Data Portrait of Place_v2 (translated)-en-de.pdf
Doughnut Unrolled - Data Portrait of Place_v2 (translated)-en-fr.pdf
Creating-City-Portraits-SuppInfo.xlsx (translated)-en-fr-T-C.xlsx
Doughnut Unrolled - Data Portrait of Place_v2 (translated)-en-es.pdf
Creating-City-Portraits-SuppInfo.xlsx (translated)-en-es-.xlsx
Creating-City-Portraits-SuppInfo.xlsx (translated)-en-de.xlsx
Doughnut Unrolled - Data Portrait of Place_v2 (translated)-en-pt_br.pdf
Creating-City-Portraits-SuppInfo.xlsx (translated)-en-pt_br.xlsx
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This tool is licensed under a Creative Commons BY SA 4.0 license. For full details visit our Licensing Rules. 
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Glasgow Engaging Multi-Sector Stakeholders
Glasgow City Portrait workshop with multi-sector stakeholders
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Neighbourhood Doughnut Portrait Launch
We're excited to introduce you to the first Neighbourhood Doughnut Portrait, painted by many people together in Ladywood
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Launching our Data Portrait as an exhibition
A platform for lots of conversations with people and expanding our network in Minato Ward.
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Doughnut Data Portraits in global South contexts
A co-creative process to reflect global South priorities and interests
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Glasgow and Barcelona share their Data Portraits
As part of a peer-to-peer gathering organised by DEAL, two research teams shared their evolving Data Portraits
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Prosperity indicators & the Doughnut portrait
Research question "How does the Doughnut portrait differ from previous prosperity indicator initiatives (if at all)?"
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Transforming places with the Doughnut - webinar 2
Watch the recording of two local governments working with Doughnut Economics in Brussels, Belgium and Nanaimo, Canada
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Transforming places with DE - webinar 1
Hearing from community-led initiatives in Leeds, UK and Melbourne, Australia
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Member
Inge Vandijck
Belgium
I am an economist, impact entrepreneur, and consultant with over 20 years of experience working with large organizations in both the public and private sectors. My expertise lies in Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC), where I have provided consulting and training to help organizations navigate complex challenges and achieve their goals. I see sustainability as the core of risk management, where both threats (negative risks) and opportunities (positive risks) are integral to creating long-term value. As John Adams once said, "Every problem is an opportunity in disguise," and this perspective is central to my approach—transforming challenges into opportunities for sustainable growth and resilience. I named my company Bright Phoenix because the phoenix symbolizes resilience and transformation—qualities I help my clients cultivate as they rise to meet today’s challenges. Learning about the doughnut economic model was a true eureka moment for me. As I delved deeper, I realized I’m not alone—several others in the DEAL community have also expressed similar revelations. The model encapsulates my mission: to guide my clients to operate in the sweet middle of the doughnut—within planetary boundaries while respecting societal needs—ensuring their businesses thrive sustainably. What brings me to the DEAL community is this shared vision. I am excited to contribute my experience as a strategist, systems thinker, and storyteller, while learning from others in this inspiring network.
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Member
Nathanael Card
Westhampton, Massachusetts, United States
BFA Theatre Arts MSc Ecological Design I learned the benefits of designing for circularity as a scenic designer-builder for small non-profit theaters (a previous career). My masters education taught me how to plan and design landscape in partnership with Nature. Now I'm here, ready to grow these principles into abundance for my community.
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Member
Joel Petterson
Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom
Hi, I've have recently completed my MSc Ecological Economics in Leeds. Since then I have been the Oxfordshire Doughnut Project Data Lead across the Four Lenses for the Preliminary Data Portrait: • Global Ecological Lens: based on planetary boundaries model, downscaling data to county or regional levels and applying and improving on best practice methodologies. • Global Social: designed a data methodology applying material footprinting data to Global Social dimensions (aligned with Sustainable Development Goals) to build a coherent narrative around local consumption and global social impact. • Local Social and Ecological: supervising and producing calculations across all dimensions and their visualisations. Looking forward to see where this doughnut goes and what opportunities for engagement arise from it!Â
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Member
Lilian Marino
London, Greater London, England, United Kingdom
Bow - East London            Â
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Member
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Ed Jarvis
St Albans, Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom
After 20 years as a senior programme manager at PwC, most recently leading PwC's Social Value Transformation, and in the context of a Climate and Nature Crisis that is unfurling right now, I want to help build a regenerative world. A world where human connection and experiences are valued more than consumption and materialism, and where our species can live in a regenerative way with nature and the environment. I see Donut Economics as a fundamental part of how we do this as a species.
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Member
Natasha Williams
N15, Haringey, London, Greater London, England, United Kingdom
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Member
Karin De Poortere Rivera
Bogotá D.C., Bogotá, 110131, Colombia
Architect and Urban Planner working on Territorial strategiesÂ
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Member
Kyungmin Lee
Suji-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
Kyungmin Lee is the Co-Founder of Y-Donut (Yongin Doughnut Economics Coalition) and an active member of Neutinamu Makers and the Supunro Cooperative based at Neutinamu Library. She holds a PhD in Public Administration and currently serves as a Research Associate Professor at Ajou University in South Korea. Her research focuses on integrating Doughnut Economics into grassroots policymaking, aiming to build regenerative and redistributive communities through participatory governance and locally grounded innovation.
