Circular Cities HUB

(EMF) Circular Economy in Cities 

focuses on opportunities in  three key urban systems - buildings, mobility, and products - and looks  at how city governments can work to enable a circular economy  transition.

Implementing the circular economy in cities can bring tremendous economic, social, and environmental benefits.The implementation of a circular economy vision could foster the emergence of:

• Thriving cities in which economic productivity increases through reduced congestion,  eliminated waste, and reduced costs. New growth and business  opportunities support skills development and jobs
• Liveable cities with improved air quality, reduced pollution, and enhanced social interactions
• Resilient cities, reducing reliance on raw materials by keeping products in use and balancing local production with global supply chains

These  benefits can be achieved by changing the way urban systems are planned,  designed, and financed, and how they are made, used, and repurposed. 

This vision aligns with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to the effects of climate change.

Circular Cities Program

The Circular Cities program gives members:

• An understanding of how to approach the resilient, circular, inclusive city. 
• Access to expertise in urban metabolism scans and spatial analysis. 
• Capacity building and sharing best practices with like-minded practitioners.
• Tools to facilitate city-specific implementation strategies.
• Access  to a growing network of other cities and knowledge institutes,  simplifying collaboration on EU projects, international research, and  joint tendering.

Using digital to accelerate and scale the circular economy


The Circle City Scan Tool enables local governments to discover and  prioritize circular opportunities for their city or region, based on  proprietary and publicly available socioeconomic and material flow data,  relevant circular case studies, and users’ input as to which sectors,  materials, and impact areas are a priority in local agendas. 


The  tool builds on Circle Economy’s expertise helping cities and regions  develop circular economy action plans over the last five years,  including cities such as Amsterdam, Glasgow, Basel, Almaty,  Philadelphia, and more.  

Exploring Doughnut Economic

Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL) is a new organisation working with  innovative cities, community groups, businesses and teachers worldwide  to co-create and spread brilliant tools and resources that turn the  ideas of Doughnut Economics into practice.

An Urban Circular Economy 

is one in which cities keep resources in use for as long as possible, extract the maximum value from them whilst in use, then recover and regenerate products and materials at the end their life. It is a more efficient and environmentally sound alternative to the traditional linear economy in which we make, use and dispose of resources.

The Circular Cities project offers a knowledge ex-change platform for both pioneering first mover cities, and cities closely following behind, with regards to embedding circular economy principles into their urban operations.

The Circular Cities project will work to identify the effects, both positive and negative, of incorporating circularity into the cities’ planning instruments, as well as how these can be assessed. The outcomes are meant to help policymakers, investors, businesses, consumers and civil society to find the most promising transition pathways.

The Circular Economy in Cities

More than 80% of global GDP is generated in cities, which therefore makes them ideal testing grounds for circular economy models. The confluence of business, resident and government actors creates live innovation labs for addressing the complex challenges of linear economic models. The rich ecosystem of producers, consumers and intermediaries, as well as the goods themselves and the constant flow of information, create an opportunity to introduce new practices, including facilitation of the reverse logistics sector, material collection, waste processing, energy and natural resource conservation and new business models and product design that incorporate circular thinking.

Climate-KIC Circular Cities Project

Fast-Tracking Zero-Waste City Systems

Cities across Europe now unite in a project with the aim of developing a  shared circular economy approach to urban development. The aim of the  project is to identify best practices and act as city role models to  engage other cities on the track towards circularity.

The Circular Cities project will work to identify the effects, both  positive and negative, of incorporating circularity into urban planning  instruments, as well as how these can be assessed. 

The outcomes are  meant to help policy makers, investors, businesses, consumers and civil  society to find the most promising transition pathways.

The formal outcome of the project will include a circular economy  toolbox for cities, outlining how cities can effectively incorporate  circular economy into municipal planning and strengthen their capacity  for systemic innovation. In this way, the municipalities, universities  and utility companies engaged in the project will act as inspiration for  others and form the basis for possible adjustments to local and  national government regulations.

The Circular Economy Club (CEC) 

is the largest international network of circular economy professionals and organizations with over 260 CEC local chapters in  over 110 countries. Non-for-profit, global and open to anyone to join  the club for free.

CEC envisions a new era where all cities worldwide function through a circular model, setting the end of an age of waste. CEC  aim is to bring the circular economy  to cities worldwide by building  strong local networks and provide them  to the expertise to design and  implement circular local strategies.

The goals by 2022 are:

1. Bring together local actors to create circular economy strategies in 200 cities.
2. Embed the circular economy in 200 university curriculum's.
3. Support 200 startups and companies to implement circular practices, through mentoring, funding and communications.

The Circular City Funding Guide 

provides information for municipalities, businesses, and other  actors that want to create sustainable cities and implement circular  initiatives and projects.

The Guide provides information on:

1) circular economy in the urban context, 

2) funding instruments and sources, and 3) how to set-up programs for circular funding and financing.

For a city to be circular, it should embed the three principles;

Design out Waste

Keep Material Flows Circulating

Regenerate Earth Eco-systems

BROOKLYN, NY 

New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and Newlab announced   the launch of the 2020 edition of the Circular City program to test  and  pilot solutions designed to address the increasingly complex and  urgent  challenges facing cities. Newlab and NYCEDC partnered to create  the  Urban Tech Hub in 2017 and the Circular City represents a key part  of  the vision to make New York City a global leader in urban  innovation.

Circular City Studio, a program established  with support from NYCEDC, encourages entrepreneurs to reimagine urban  environments and help New York City address short, medium, and long term  challenges facing our city.

The 2020 iteration empowers engineers, inventors, and entrepreneurs from  diverse backgrounds to pilot technologies that support NYC's  sustainability agenda and rethink energy, waste, and recycling systems  in New York City.   

Circular Charlotte, NC

Charlotte is the first city in the United States to make a  commitment  to  adopting  the  circular  economy  as a public sector strategy. In its circular future, all of the material resources that now end up in landfills will be the  basis  for  Charlotte’s  next  industrial  revolution: the foundation for an era of green manufacturing that unlocks  new  technological  advances,  increases  local resilience, and supports workforce development.

In 2018 Envision Charlotte in partnership with the City of Charlotte, engaged Metabolic to analyze Charlotte’s waste stream and develop a strategy forward for  our city. With Metabolic’s expertise in the Circular Economy, 

Envision  Charlotte will utilize a toolkit created by Metabolic to lead Charlotte  and the U.S in becoming more circular while creating more jobs,  innovations, and a drive towards zero waste. 

Our  report,  “Circular  Charlotte:  towards  a  zero  waste and  inclusive  city”,  explores  how  Charlotte  can  start implementing a strategy to become the first circular city in the United States. We investigate how many valuable resources are currently lost through Charlotte’s waste system,  and  how  these  could  be  diverted  into  new, high-value uses. 

We present a vision, co-created with stakeholders from the city, for how a Circular Charlotte could look and function. Finally, we describe a roadmap of actions that should be taken on the pathway towards this vision, and detail five initial business cases that can serve as a starting point for action.  

Circular City of Boulder

Imagine a city that functions like an  ecosystem. No waste. No impacts. Self-sufficient. Resilient and  regenerative by design. This is the idea of a circular city, a concept  that goes beyond incremental improvement and aims for a holistic and  fundamental rethinking of the way we do things. 

Circularity is catching  on globally and here in Boulder we are also committed to making a  circular transition, but we need your help in visioning what this  transition should look like and how to take it forward in a way that  improves our city for everyone who lives here. 

The City of Boulder and Metabolic have been working to develop a  holistic picture of a circular Boulder, where the current resource  system is resulting in key problems or hotspots, and where there might  be opportunities for closing material, energy, or water cycles locally. 

Circular City & Living Systems Lab

The Circular City + Living Systems Lab (CCLS) is an interdisciplinary group of faculty and students researching  living systems integrated into the built environment that produce and  circulate resources within the food-water-energy nexus. 

Synthesizing  expertise from architecture, landscape architecture, engineering,  planning, biology, and ecology, the CCLS applies principles of research  and design to investigate transformative strategies for future cities  that are adaptive and resilient while facing climate change. 

Ongoing  work at the CCLS includes research on urban integration of aquaponics,  building-integrated agriculture, circular economies in the food  industry, algae production, and green roof performance.