scholarly journals Circling the square: Governance of the circular economy transition in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 11-31
Author(s):  
Erwin Heurkens ◽  
Marcin Dąbrowski
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Production Process ◽  
Metropolitan Area ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Regional Studies ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Sustainability Transitions ◽  
Closed Loops ◽  
Policy Debates

Circular economy (CE), the new ‘buzzword’ in urban and regional studies and policy debates, is about shifting from a linear production process towards a circular one in which the generation of waste is minimised, materials circulate in ‘closed loops’, and waste is not considered a burden but rather a resource that brings new economic opportunities. However, while there is a consensus on the need to facilitate a transition towards a circular economy, the governing of this endeavour remains extremely challenging because making a circular economy work requires cutting across sectoral, scalar, and administrative boundaries. Drawing on the sustainability transitions literature and the case of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area, arguably one of the frontrunners on the strive towards a circular built environment and economy, the paper seeks to identify and understand barriers for CE transition at a regional scale. The findings underscore the multi-faceted nature of the challenge and offer lessons for the governance of emerging regional circular spatial-economic policies.

scholarly journals Circular Digital Built Environment: An Emerging Framework

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6348
Author(s):  
Sultan Çetin ◽  
Catherine De Wolf ◽  
Nancy Bocken
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
Digital Twins ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Building Information ◽  
Framework Development

Digital technologies are considered to be an essential enabler of the circular economy in various industries. However, to date, very few studies have investigated which digital technologies could enable the circular economy in the built environment. This study specifically focuses on the built environment as one of the largest, most energy- and material-intensive industries globally, and investigates the following question: which digital technologies potentially enable a circular economy in the built environment, and in what ways? The research uses an iterative stepwise method: (1) framework development based on regenerating, narrowing, slowing and closing resource loop principles; (2) expert workshops to understand the usage of digital technologies in a circular built environment; (3) a literature and practice review to further populate the emerging framework with relevant digital technologies; and (4) the final mapping of digital technologies onto the framework. This study develops a novel Circular Digital Built Environment framework. It identifies and maps ten enabling digital technologies to facilitate a circular economy in the built environment. These include: (1) additive/robotic manufacturing, (2) artificial intelligence, (3) big data and analytics, (4) blockchain technology, (5) building information modelling, (6) digital platforms/marketplaces, (7) digital twins, (8) the geographical information system, (9) material passports/databanks, and (10) the internet of things. The framework provides a fruitful starting point for the novel research avenue at the intersection of circular economy, digital technology and the built environment, and gives practitioners inspiration for sustainable innovation in the sector.

scholarly journals Circular Economy Strategies in Eight Historic Port Cities: Criteria and Indicators Towards a Circular City Assessment Framework

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (13) ◽  
pp. 3512 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonia Gravagnuolo ◽  
Mariarosaria Angrisano ◽  
Luigi Fusco Girard
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Evaluation Criteria ◽  
Sustainable Urban Development ◽  
City Region ◽  
Port Cities ◽  
Criteria And Indicators ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
Life Cycle Perspective ◽  
Circular Design

The circular city is emerging as new concept and form of practice in sustainable urban development. This is a response to the complex and pressing challenges of urbanization, as highlighted in the New Urban Agenda (NUA). The concept of a “circular city” or “circular city-region” derives from the circular economy model applied in the spatial territorial dimension. It can be associated with the concept of a “self-sustainable” regenerative city, as stated in paragraph n.71 of the NUA. This paper aims to develop an extensive form of “screening” of circular economy actions in emerging circular cities, focusing on eight European historic port cities self-defined as “circular”. The analysis is carried out as a review of circular economy actions in the selected cities, and specifically aims to identify the key areas of implementation in which the investments in the circular economy are more oriented, as well as to analyze the spatial implications of the reuse of buildings and sites, proposing a set of criteria and indicators for ex-ante and ex-post evaluations and monitoring of circular cities. Results show that the built environment (including cultural heritage), energy and mobility, waste management, water management, industrial production (including plastics, textiles, and industry 4.0 and circular design), agri-food, and citizens and communities can be adopted as strategic areas of implementation of the circular city model in historic cities, highlighting a lack of indicators in some sectors and identifying a possible framework for “closed” urban metabolism evaluation from a life-cycle perspective, focusing on evaluation criteria and indicators in the (historic) built environment.

Steel: friend or foe in the face of the climate emergency?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter Swann ◽  
Francois Hanus ◽  
Olivier Vasart ◽  
Alan Knight
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
High Potential ◽  
If Steel ◽  
Embodied Carbon ◽  
The World ◽  
The Face ◽  
Zero Carbon ◽  
Recycled Material

<p>Steel is the most recycled material in the world and a key contributor to the circular economy, but todays primary steelmaking methods result in high embodied carbon. In the face of the climate emergency, designers have been tasked with driving down the upfront emissions of the built environment. Naturally the embodied carbon characteristics of all materials have been put under the microscope and those with high impacts are being demonised, primary steel is one of those. So how does a designer balance the immediate needs of the climate emergency with the future needs of society? When confronted with a material like steel with practically perfect circularity characteristics but high embodied impacts how do designers balance the needs of today with those of tomorrow? What if steel could be made with zero carbon emissions? Coupled with its high potential for re-use and its high recycling rates is steel a friend and ally in the face of the climate emergency rather than a foe?</p>

Mountain-valley circulation in central Chile: consequences for Black Carbon deposition over glaciers in wintertime and summertime

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rémy Lapere ◽  
Sylvain Mailler ◽  
Laurent Menut ◽  
Nicolás Huneeus
Keyword(s):  
Black Carbon ◽  
Metropolitan Area ◽  
Dry Deposition ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Central Andes ◽  
Urban Air ◽  
Air Masses ◽  
Time Dynamics ◽  
Mountain Valley ◽  
Stable Conditions

&lt;p&gt;The configuration of the Santiago basin, Chile (33.5&amp;#176;S 70.65&amp;#176;W) is quite unique in that it combines very strong emissions of urban anthropogenic pollutants with the steep topography of the coastal and Andes cordilleras surrounding the Metropolitan area. Interactions between atmospheric pollution and mountain meteorology are therefore exacerbated, and the potential for black carbon (BC) deposition on glaciers is strong. Based on chemistry-transport modeling with WRF-CHIMERE, we investigate (i) the pathways leading to deposition of BC from Santiago up to Andean glaciers in wintertime and (ii) the differences in magnitude and time dynamics of such deposition between wintertime and summertime.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ice and snow in the central Andes contain significant amounts of BC often attributed to emissions from Santiago. However, given the usually stable conditions in wintertime and the height of the obstacle to overcome for urban air masses (Santiago is 500 m a.s.l., summits are above 4000 m a.s.l.) the pathways for such deposition are not straightforward. We find that, for a typical winter month, up to 40% of BC dry deposition on snow- or ice-covered areas in the central Andes directly downwind from the Metropolitan area can indeed be attributed to emissions from Santiago. The adjacent network of canyons plays a key role in this export: for the case of the Maipo canyon, polluted urban air masses follow gentle slopes upward in the afternoon, consistently with mountain-valley circulation, before being vertically exported when reaching the tip of the main canyon. Statistical analysis shows that zonal wind speed in the urban area and vertical diffusion deep into the canyon account for most of the variance in BC deposition.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In summertime, more intense convection takes place, and mountain-valley circulation is seldom perturbed by cloud cover, resulting in a greater export potential. Accordingly, summertime dry deposition of BC on glaciers occurs on a regular basis with equivalent amounts each day, contrarily to a more chaotic time series in wintertime. The contribution of wet deposition in winter (nonexistent in summer) exacerbates this irregularity. However, as a consequence of weaker emissions, average monthly dry deposition of BC over the central Andes glaciers (29&amp;#176;S to 38&amp;#176;S) is found to be less than half in summertime (135 &amp;#181;g/m&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;) compared to wintertime (320 &amp;#181;g/m&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;). Given the lesser role played by wood burning for residential heating in summertime, emissions from Santiago through traffic and industry dominate the signal leading to 55% of dry deposition, while it accounts for only 14% in wintertime, at the regional scale, due to more scattered sources.&lt;/p&gt;

The future of the circular economy and the circular economy of the future

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 529-546
Author(s):  
Ricardo Weigend Rodríguez ◽  
Francesco Pomponi ◽  
Ken Webster ◽  
Bernardino D'Amico
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Futures Studies ◽  
Alternative Futures ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Economic Paradigm ◽  
The Future ◽  
Bibliometric Review ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThe circular economy (CE) has gained momentum in recent years as a new economic paradigm. While the CE sets a very defined vision for a sustainable future, it still operates in the present. As such, existing guidance on and research into the CE lack a necessary understanding of how to go from the present to the future. What if the future is different from what the CE expects? The CE cannot answer this question adequately and therefore is not capable of developing this understanding alone. To address this shortcoming, this paper proposes futures studies (FS) as a complementary discipline because it offers exactly what CE lacks: methods to explore alternative futures.Design/methodology/approachTo understand the level of interdisciplinary research in the built environment between CE and FS, a systematic literature review is carried out using a bibliometric review and a snowballing technique. This manuscript reviews seminal literature in both fields and their theoretical background.FindingsThis paper demonstrates the lack of collaboration between CE and FS and highlights a systemic failure within CE, which is to consider the future as unknowable. It further provides an initial understanding of where the synergy sits, recommendations on where to start and introduces some of the FS chief methods that could be used by CE in the built environment.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors’ bibliometric review and snowballing approach might have missed out on some literature that still falls within the scope. Such limitations are due, on one hand, to the authors’ bibliometric review approach by selecting publications based on matching keywords. On the other hand, the snowballing approach is affected by the authors’ subjective judgements on which of the publications are worth to explore based mainly just on the title and abstract of the paper.Practical implicationsThe inclusion of Futures Studies will allow a stronger focus on approaching possible futures to be integrated overtly into existing work, research and action within the CE community.Social implicationsIt is more reasonable to expect that by cooperatively creating and implementing constructed futures with FS methods and CE principles, a better future for the built environment be reached. This is why it is so relevant for humanity that these two communities start to interact as soon as possible and maintain and open and productive collaboration in transitioning towards a sustainable society.Originality/valueTo the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first of its kind by considering FS into the CE debate.

scholarly journals Links between circular economy and climate change mitigation in the built environment

2020 ◽  
Vol 260 ◽  
pp. 121115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Gallego-Schmid ◽  
Han-Mei Chen ◽  
Maria Sharmina ◽  
Joan Manuel F. Mendoza
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Change Mitigation

Assessing South Korea's Globalization Strategy and the International Competitiveness of the Seoul Metropolitan Area

1997 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis A. Rondinelli ◽  
Gyula Vastag
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Metropolitan Area ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
International Competitiveness ◽  
International Markets ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Trade Regime ◽  
International Trade Agreements ◽  
Seoul Metropolitan Area ◽  
Globalization Strategy

Korea's pursuit of globalization is being driven by its membership in international trade organizations, its international trade agreements, and the need to accelerate exports, its primary source of economic growth. Reforming its international trade regime, however, is only part of what Korea must do to make its corporations more competitive in international markets. National policies must be supported by favorable business conditions in cities and metropolitan areas where industries are located. The “international competitiveness” of the Seoul metropolitan area, together with national economic policies, liberalization of its international trade regime, and the development of agile firms and industries will determine how effectively and how quickly the Korean government achieves its objectives of globalizing Korea's economy and society.

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