Fostering Circular Economy in Urban Areas

2022 ◽  
pp. 165-178
Author(s):  
K. Orkun Aktaş ◽  
Can B. Aktaş
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Additive Manufacturing ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Centers ◽  
Best Available Technologies ◽  
Design For X ◽  
Product Service ◽  
Efficient Manufacturing

The 21st century is an urban world. Strategies that aim to tackle the urban material challenge and promote circular economy are necessary to achieve sustainable development. Having established the importance of circular economy towards sustainable development, this study presents applicable strategies to reduce consumption and promote circularity specifically in urban centers. Main strategies may be categorized into three areas: reducing material use through better design, efficient manufacturing and processing, and more intensive recycling. For materials use reduction, dematerialization, appropriate design based on product service lifetime, design for X principles and extended producer responsibility are identified as prominent design approaches or policies. For effective manufacturing and processing, the implementation of best available technologies and additive manufacturing were identified to have potential significant impact. For end-of-life phase management, differences between upcycling, recycling, and downcycling require targeted industry-specific policies.

scholarly journals Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in Urban Planning

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 85
Author(s):  
Sonila Xhafa ◽  
Albana Kosovrasti
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Information Systems ◽  
Geographic Information Systems ◽  
Urban Planning ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Spatial Data ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Geographic Information ◽  
Social Infrastructure ◽  
Urban Centers

Geographic information systems can be defined as a intelligent tool, to which it relates techniques for the implementation of processes such as the introduction, recording, storage, handling, processing and generation of spatial data. Use of GIS in urban planning helps and guides planners for an orderly development of settlements and infrastructure facilities within and outside urban areas. Continued growth of the population in urban centers generates the need for expansion of urban space, for its planning in terms of physical and social infrastructures in the service of the community, based on the principles of sustainable development. In addition urbanization is accompanied with numerous structural transformations and functional cities, which should be evaluated in spatial context, to be managed and planned according to the principles of sustainable development. Urban planning connects directly with land use and design of the urban environment, including physical and social infrastructure in service of the urban community, constituting a challenge to global levels. Use of GIS in this field is a different approach regarding the space, its development and design, analysis and modeling of various processes occurring in it, as well as interconnections between these processes or developments in space.

scholarly journals Foreign Experience of Green Economy Development in the Activities of Energy and Oil and Gas Companies in the 21st Century

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariia Andreevna Gureva ◽  
Valentina Vladimirovna Butko
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Green Economy ◽  
Economy Model ◽  
Foreign Experience ◽  
Environmental Projects ◽  
Oil And Gas Companies

Green economy models, in particular, the circular economy model, are capable of creating promising ways to build an ecological future, which requires modernization of the system with respect to a number of environmental methods and elements. The article discusses examples of implementing the key principles of sustainable development and the green economy in the activities of foreign energy and oil and gas companies, which represent a segment with the most powerful potential for introducing new innovative processes and conducting environmental projects.

scholarly journals A paradigm shift in sustainability: from lines to circles

2020 ◽  
pp. 5-16
Author(s):  
Piergiuseppe Morone ◽  
Gülşah Yilan
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
World Population ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Environmental Consequences ◽  
Cradle To Cradle ◽  
Scarcity Of Resources ◽  
Shed Light

The concept of sustainability is attracting great attention as societies become increasingly aware of the environmental consequences of their actions. One of the most critical challenges that humankind is facing is the scarcity of resources, which are expected to reach their limits in the foreseeable future. Associated with this, there is increasing waste generated as a consequence of rapid growth in the world population (particularly in urban areas) and a parallel rise in global income. To cope with these problems, a linear strategy has been applied to increase efficiency by reducing the use of materials and energy in order to lessen environmental impacts. However, this cradle to grave approach has proven inadequate, due to a lack of attention to several economic and social aspects. A paradigm shift is thus required to re-think and innovate processes (as early as in the design phase) in such a way that materials and energy are used more effectively within a closed-loop system. This strategy, known as the cradle to cradle approach, relies on the assumption that everything is a resource for something else since no waste is ever generated in nature. In line with the cradle to cradle approach, the bio-inspired circular economy concept aims at eco-effectiveness, rather than eco-efficiency. While the circular economy has neither a confirmed definition nor a standardized methodology, it nonetheless carries significant importance, since it “is restorative and regenerative by design and aims to keep products, components, and materials at their highest utility and value at all times, distinguishing between technical and biological cycles,” in accordance with the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Despite some controversial opinions that “circles are not spirals, and for growth to occur, spirals with ever-increasing radii are required,” the circular economy concept is taking a central role in the sustainable development debate and, for this reason, deserves attention. The aim of this paper is to shed light on this debate, pointing out the main features of the emerging circular paradigm along with sustainability transition theories and circularity evaluation tools.

scholarly journals Mapping Urban and Peri-Urban Land Cover in Zimbabwe: Challenges and Opportunities

Geomatics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-147
Author(s):  
Courage Kamusoko ◽  
Olivia Wadzanai Kamusoko ◽  
Enos Chikati ◽  
Jonah Gamba
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Rainy Season ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Land Cover Mapping ◽  
Urban Centers ◽  
Geospatial Information ◽  
Study Results

Accurate and current land cover information is required to develop strategies for sustainable development and to improve the quality of life in urban areas. This study presents an approach that combines multi-seasonal Sentinel-1 (S1) and Sentinel-2 (S2) data, and a random forest (RF) classifier in order to map land cover in four major urban centers in Zimbabwe. The specific objective of this study was to assess the potential of multi-seasonal (rainy, post-rainy, and dry season) S1, rainy season S2, post-rainy season, dry season S2, multi-seasonal S2, and multi-seasonal composite S1 and S2 data for mapping land cover in urban areas. The study results show that the combination of multi-seasonal S1 and S2 data improve land cover mapping in urban and peri-urban areas relative to only multi-seasonal S1, mono-seasonal S2, and multi-seasonal S2 data. The overall accuracy scores for the multi-seasonal S1 and S2 land cover maps are above 85% for all urban centers. Our results indicate that rainy and post-rainy S2 spectral bands, as well as dry-season S1 VV and VH bands (ascending orbit) are the most important features for land cover mapping. In particular, S1 data proved useful in separating built-up areas from cropland, which is usually problematic when only optical imagery is used in the study area. While there are notable improvements in land cover mapping, some challenges related to the S1 data analysis still remain. Nonetheless, our land cover mapping approach shows a potential to map land cover in other urban areas in Zimbabwe or in Sub-Sahara Africa. This is important given the urgent need for reliable geospatial information, which is required to implement the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) and United Nations New Urban Agenda (NUA) programmes.

Operationalization of Circular Economy

2020 ◽  
pp. 38-60
Author(s):  
Teresa Dieguez
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Economy Model ◽  
System A ◽  
Product Service ◽  
Development Policies ◽  
Persistent Poverty

The arguments for growth, inequality and persistent poverty, climate change, and finite resources call for stronger sustainable development policies, from both developed and developing countries. Situations of more or less (un)sustainability that encourage the idea of finding reasonable ways out of humanity's desire for progress can be conceived. The economy is nowadays mainly based on the called linear economy, which demands a paradigm shift within public administration, companies, and citizens must be committed. The present study has the main goal to understand how entrepreneurship and business have shaped the sustainability and the circular economy model requirements. It also aims to review important concepts like circular economy, sustainable development, sustainable entrepreneurship, servitization, and product-service system. A hypothetical conceptual model for the operationalization of the circular economy model is proposed. Finally, some discussion is done, future research is suggested, and conclusions are presented.

scholarly journals Circular economy in the context of implementing the concept of sustainable development

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 5-27
Author(s):  
Lyudmila Mochalova
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Green Economy ◽  
Economic Management ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Financial Investment ◽  
Best Available Technologies ◽  
Development Goals

During the last three decades the entire progressive world has been trying to put into practice the concept of sustainable development, which implies balancing environmental, economic and social aspects of development. The main focus of this paper is to generalise and systematise modern theoretical and practical approaches to achieving the sustainable development goals. The author devotes particular attention to the concept of circular economy. The conceptual frameworks of sustainable development, green economy, and circular economy (closedloop economy) constitute the methodological basis of the research. The methods include analysis, synthesis, classification, observation. The author proves the possibility and importance of taking into account the sustainable development goals while managing general modernisation processes in society and the economy. The paper reveals that the development of the ‘umbrella’ concept of green economy as a tool for attaining the sustainable development goals, relies on the concepts of environmentally friendly production, the best available technologies, and the circular economy. The author considers theoretical and practical foundations of the circular as a new trend in the development of the concept of sustainable development and studies regulatory, market, financial, investment, economic, technological, and organisational factors that affect the application of the circular economy principles in Russia. The results of the research can help to reach the sustainable development goals at various levels and spheres of economic management using the closed-loop economy tools: circular business models, secondary raw materials markets, methods for managing the cyclical nature of production and consumption

scholarly journals Urbanized rural areas: Identification, spatiotemporal patterns, socioeconomic characteristics, and impacts on sustainable development

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhichao He ◽  
Marcin Spyra ◽  
Qinghai Guo
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Spatial Data ◽  
Public Transportation ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Rural Poverty ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Urban Centers ◽  
Socioeconomic Characteristics

Abstract Sustainable development studies tend to give urban areas a priority seat, with rural areas cast in an inferior role. Despite of the growing urbanization, rural areas still are homes of billions of people universally suffering from poverty, hunger, disease, poor education. The urbanized rural areas, where population, economy, and built-up land area are higher than urban areas, present the opportunities and challenges to sustainable development. Using large-scale and high-granular spatial data (e.g., population, economy, land-use) from Fujian Province of China, we identified 69, 123, and 213 urbanized rural areas in 1995, 2005, and 2015 from 14,136 village-level administrative units. Spatial agglomeration, proximity to well-developed urban centers, and transportation accessibility are the important spatial factors influencing the development of the urbanized rural areas. Furthermore, we investigated the socioeconomic characteristics of the urbanized rural areas based on the Point of Interest data and found the urbanized rural areas had urban-like housing model, diverse non-agricultural livelihoods, complex road networks, mature public transportation, and better access to medical service. Our results suggest that the urbanized rural areas contribute to sustainable development in terms of economy and society, such as alleviating rural poverty, reducing urban-rural inequality, improving health. However, the environment impacts of the urbanized rural areas should be emphasized because urban-like socioeconomic activities and land conversions toward built-up land may lead to increased energy consumption, land degradation and biodiversity loss in rural areas.

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