The circular economy (CE) is gaining momentum in cities. To ensure a sustainable CE, it is crucial to measure the environmental performance of CE strategies. However, environmental assessments overlook several strategies that are a key feature of urban CE practice. These include reuse and repair, sustainable built infrastructure and urban land use, green public procurement, smart information and access technology.
To provide insights into the environmental performance and potential of these strategies, industrial ecologists and municipalities should:
collaborate with urban systems experts
quantify the environmental impacts of entire urban systems
combine environmental assessments with social and economic feasibility ones.
This workshop brought together experts from various organisations to discuss topics like the undervalued importance of infrastructure in tackling climate change, discuss the markets for secondary resources, the relevance of deconstruction design to enable the renovation wave, and stress value-chains collaboration.
This report assesses how the circular economy contributes to reaching climate goals with regard to residential housing.
The draft Flemish climate policy plan covers the operational phase of housing and the material and carbon footprints of building and renovation. The report explores two ways to reduce these footprints: reducing the size of new housing and splitting existing buildings, and applying alternative construction methods or building materials and increasing the use of recycled and reused materials.
Arup has joined forces with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to produce a report on the value of circular economy (CE) in real estate.
CE offers real estate investors a framework for achieving environmental and social goals while delivering better economic performance. How do real estate business models need to change - apart from eco-design - if CE principles are to scale up in this sector?
The report defines five models to improve financial performance to the benefit of real estate investors and construction clients:
From 31 May to 4 June, Vlaanderen Circulair will hold a Circular Building Action Week with eight open workshops, a plenary event and a circular market dialogue, entirely online. The theme of this edition is communication. Discover the offer!
CIRAA is a company active in promoting circular economy principles and helping businesses ensure that their plans and projects abide by those principles.
Commissioned by the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel (STAP), which advises the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and co-authored by Circle Economy and Shifting Paradigms, this report uncovers the range of socio-economic and environmental co-benefits that circular mitigation interventions can bring to GEF countries of operation.
The report supports strategic advice by the STAP to the GEF and its implementing partners, and helps carve out a role for these bodies in accelerating the transition to a low-carbon circular economy. Its findings will be highly relevant to the development of future GEF projects and programmes across its different focal areas.
As part of the Circular Public Procurement project, the City of Aalborg (Denmark) has established a new innovative approach to buying playgrounds, based on the principles of a circular economy, as well as grounded in a pedagogical understanding of creative play as an important part of a child’s development.
The call for tender ‘Operation of the Circular Cities and Regions Initiative’s Coordination & Support Office (CCRI-CSO)’ is now open for submission with deadline 1 March 2021.