Capitalism is just a collection of human decisions. We can change it if we want to.

In the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, government leaders would love a crystal ball to help them manage the future of their homes’ economic health. Magic can’t help—but maybe a doughnut can.

The city of Amsterdam this week officially decided to embrace what has come to be known as “The Doughnut Model,” a framework for sustainable development created by Oxford University economist Kate Raworth. In adopting this model, which attempts to balance the needs of people without harming the environment, the city hopes to emerge from the cloud of Covid-19 elbows out, with new purpose. The Dutch capital is the first city in the world to commit to the model, making it an economic experiment of a sort.

In an interview with The Guardian that took place before the decision was announced, Amsterdam’s deputy mayor Marieke van Doorninck said she thinks the model will help her city overcome the devastating effects of the novel coronavirus. If her government hopes to rebuild its economy and adequately address local socioeconomic and environmental shortcomings, she said, the government cannot revert to the status quo.