When it comes to Doughnut Economics, I’m always thinking about ways we can make it irresistible to participate in.

The City Portrait for Greater Melbourne platform, which has been a radically collaborative effort three years in the making, is exactly that: irresistible. It’s a beautiful combination of an artistic framing for a regenerative city, underpinned by hardcore data.

I invite all Melburnians to not only look at the end goal of where we want to get to, but to look at the dynamics of how we’re getting there.

The City Portrait framework sets the aspiration for all cities – one that goes beyond talking about the success of our cities in terms of economic output. We need to go from degenerative economies that run down the living world to regenerative economies, and from divisive economies to distributive ones. And the City Portrait can help Melbourne achieve that.

To actually move into the Doughnut, Melbourne is going to have to be leading in regenerative design. What does regenerative transport look like? What does a regenerative energy sector look like? How’s the city going to build and retrofit its housing? How’s it going to do that in a way that repairs and restores the living world instead of running it down? These are all questions Regen Melbourne has been asking in the development of the City Portrait.

And now, thanks to three years of deep collaboration between Regen Melbourne and a multitude of partners, Melbournians have a portrait, a vision, of a future they can create in their city. And it’s a vision that’s never been achieved before. No city or country has yet aimed, let alone succeeded, in meeting the needs of all of their people within the means of Earth’s life-supporting systems. Now we can put this in motion. We’re going to have to change the dynamics of our economies. We have to do things we weren’t doing before. This is what makes it such an exciting opportunity for transformation.

Imagine being a 15-year-old in Melbourne today, with the City Portrait as a resource and a way into understanding their city. Imagine that 15-year-old becoming an adult and a changemaker, and the enterprises the city will invite them into – it’s a completely different invitation to a future vision.

I invite all Melburnians to not only look at the end goal of where we want to get to, but to look at the dynamics of how we’re getting there.

The portrait is the big vision of the end goal, and it’s so powerful to have. But now we need to see the dynamics getting into practice. A big vision needs to be followed through with ambitious commitments and action if we’re actually going to get there. Every new product, every new housing initiative, every new transport decision, every annual budget, every new government, Melbournians need to ask themselves: is this becoming more regenerative in how we meet people’s needs? Is it bringing us back within the means of the planet? Is this taking us in a more distributive direction, so that we ensure everybody’s needs can be met? Is this using our share of the Earth’s resources more equitably? And does it respect the rights of people worldwide?

Based on this, what are we going to absolutely commit to by 2030? And what are we doing right now to make that 100% reality in 2030?

With Regen Melbourne’s wildly ambitious projects – of which the City Portrait for Greater Melbourne is just one – Melbourne has all the elements it needs to pursue ambitious transformation. It’s time now for citizens, industries and government to use these tools to create the change we need to see in the world. I can’t wait to see where Melbourne goes from here.