What is a Circular City?
In today’s globalised, urbanised and digitalised world, most people live in cities. In fact, by 2050, cities will be home to two-thirds of the world’s population, as well as a staggering amount and variety of assets and resources. This puts them at the forefront of our future and the future of the planet. Global circularity is dependent on how well our urban centres take up the mantle in the coming years. For this reason, the concept of a Circular City has seen a huge uplift. But what are its definitions, lived realities and future implications?
What is the definition of a Circular City?
A circular city is one that has adopted the principles of the circular economy across the whole urban area and created a sustainable network of systems that maximises the potential of resources and designs out waste.
Circular cities build a thriving local economy that allows for the long life, optimal reuse, refurbishment, remanufacturing and recycling of products, materials and human potential within the city area. To achieve this, a circular city has to have moved from a linear to a circular model across the entire urban space through collaboration across different aspects from humans and businesses to systems, services and infrastructure. In a circular economy, materials are circulated back into use without waste. This has the potential to make the local economy sustainable, resilient and friendly to all of the city’s inhabitants – maximising the value of our everyday spaces.
What cities are circular?
A popular example of a circular city is Amsterdam. The capital of the Netherlands, usually known for its rich culture, picturesque canals and chic coffee shops, has taken a leading role in the development of urban circularity. In order to aid its transition from a linear to a circular economy, Amsterdam has invested heavily in three categories: food and biomass, consumer goods, and construction. This way, the city has taken a balanced approach that ensures that people’s basic needs are met, considers the aesthetics of the city environment, and cuts down the city’s consumption of goods.
What are the components of a Circular City, and how do they interact?
Cities are unique environments, balancing the competing values of ecology and economy. Therefore, creating a circular city requires a holistic approach that keeps in mind the requirements for economic competitiveness, environmental sustainability and social inclusion. When we talk about circular cities, we talk about the many layers of city life.
The nature aspect:
Nature positive is the new climate neutral. If we have learned anything from the recent years’ social and ecological crises, it is that being climate neutral is not enough. In order to offset and heal decades worth of living past our ecological means, we need to take an active role. The time for neutrality has passed. Instead of focusing single-mindedly on continuous and unsustainable economic growth, many acting bodies are now looking to create circular models that mimic nature’s perpetual cycles of renewal and decay.
The human aspect:
All cities and communities around the world are built around common pillars of human needs. These include housing, mobility, food, basic services (such as healthcare and education), as well as communication. If these needs are met, people can have a reasonable standard of living, regardless of their location or situation in the world. Therefore, every circular city has to focus on solving the conundrum of how to make sure that these needs are met in a sustainable and accessible manner for all of the people living in the city.
The tangible question we face in terms of city development today is: how can we make inclusive, integrated cities that are accessible for everyone, and not just those who can afford them? How can circularity support that rather than create more barriers for the least privileged?
The societal aspect:
Cities are places where we come together. They are hubs where people live, work, trade, meet each other and have experiences. The foundations of city life are built on influences from cultures, history, governance and other structures. This gives urban areas a dynamic and collective character that has far-reaching effects on how they are built and managed. This also gives city governance the possibility to facilitate the creation of circular and sustainable values for the inhabitants by providing activities and resources, creating spaces for innovation, bringing together communities, companies and regulators, and finding ways to educate and build circularity into the lives of the people. In the end, culture is key to sustainability – because it influences our daily values and choices – as individuals and as societies.
The market aspect:
Sustainable urban economics are multi-dimensional, encompassing different market ideals and cultures. While sustainability and circular economy movements have created more awareness of nature and human-centric perspectives, economic growth and competitiveness are still key motivators. And therefore, a reasonable level of economic competitiveness has to be guaranteed despite the move to circular models in order to make circularity an attractive option for decision-makers and influencing powers. Cities such as Toronto, Malmö and Berlin, which are currently pioneering different circular initiatives, make the case that urban areas can be simultaneously both circular and retain their positions as modern metropolitan business powers.
Nature and the climate have been at the heart of our understanding of sustainability for a long time. And therefore, cities are not necessarily at the forefront of most minds when thinking about circularity. However, successful campaigns from smart cities to green cities have made huge leaps in bringing greenspaces, agriculture and nature back into our urban landscapes.
Possible Solutions & What is the Doughnut Economy?
The circular economy is an umbrella term that many people find too broad to provide practical solutions for cities. On this front, NCH has been part of developing the recently launched ‘Manifest for circular & sustainable city life’ that takes a look at city-level solutions. The manifest was created in collaboration with our partners and managing partners at Natural State and Circularities, Circular Change and Bærekraftsenteret, a Geneva UN Charter Centre of Excellence.
Some of those in search of answers have also turned to more targeted solutions. One of these is the Doughnut Economy – a model developed by the British economist Kate Raworth in 2012. It divides economies into two parallel rings – the social foundation and the ecological ceiling. These describe the coexisting societal needs and ecological carrying capacity of our planet. While originally designed for the global scale, work has been done in recent years, spearheaded by our partners at Circle Economy, to downscale it for the city level. All the while balancing local aspirations with the broader global responsibility of urban centres.
It is possible to realise the vision of green, competitive and socially integrated urban regions within our lifetime. Agritecture is already bringing agriculture back into our city spaces – feeding more and more people across the world. Increasing numbers of those building the places around us are ready to use recycled and sustainable materials, with especially wood having experienced a renaissance as the building material of choice. Small and large-scale recycling initiatives are changing how we view waste. And most importantly of all, attitudes are changing. There is a new, wider social awareness of the fact that sustainable change is needed.
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