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Circle Economy and ICLEI have partnered up to initiate the go to knowledge hub of case studies about the circular economy in cities. The Cities Collection is a repository of case studies that demonstrate the role of cities in the circular transition, and includes policies, business cases and research articles. Cases in the Collection flow into an ecosystem of digital products which support users in transitioning cities to circularity, for example [Ganbatte](https://ganbatte.world/cities/) and <a href="https://circulars.iclei.org/" target="_blank">ICLEI Circulars</a>, both part of the <a href="https://circulars.iclei.org/circle-lab-for-cities/" target = _blank">Circle Lab for Cities Programme.</a>




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Circular Cities

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Policy case

Impact on the health and happiness of human populations

Well-being

Direct and indirect reduction in economic costs

Cost Savings

Reduced green house gas emissions released into the biosphere

Reduce Emissions (SDG13)

Minimise waste through diversion: Instead of sending waste to landfill, it is redirected into other industrial processes for handling, treatment, recycling, recovery, or reuse in various forms. 

Minimise waste through design: At the outset of a process of project, plan and design such that there is zero waste or minimal waste during production, use, and at end of life. 

Minimise Waste (SDG12)

Providing residential and non-residential construction services, such as architectural, engineering, planning, real-estate, contracting, and inspection services

Construction and Real Estate Services

Engage with the government on circular policies and programmes

Government collaboration

Develop regenerative infrastructure

Develop infrastructure to support sustainable lifestyles

Roadmaps and strategies and targets

**Harmonize with nature** by promoting infrastructure, production systems and sourcing that allows natural ecosystems to thrive




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Regenerate

Do better with less by using and supporting infrastructure, processes and products that are designed to minimize material, water and energy use and waste generation from production to end of use


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Reduce

Prioritize solutions that use the power of functioning ecosystems as infrastructure to provide natural services to benefit society and the environment; consider nature-based replacements for grey infrastructure.

Prioritise renewable resources 

Ensure that infrastructure and built assets in the city are designed and upgraded to be as resource-efficient as possible.

Design infrastructure and the built environment for resource efficiency

Cities consume about 75% of global energy and emit between 50% and 60% of global greenhouse gases (UN-Habitat). To reduce the negative impact of their energy consumption, cities need to shift away from fossil fuels and move towards renewable energy sources. Such a shift will help cities work towards their climate change mitigation and adaptation action plans. Renewable energy technologies such as wind, water, solar, and geothermal can also help improve access to energy in vulnerable and marginalised neighbourhoods through, for example, decentralised, off-grid solutions.

Renewable energy technologies can harvest the energy in nature’s processes, such as wind, and solar radiation and geothermal heat, that can be replenished within a human lifespan. In contrast, fossil fuels are materials that are not replenished within a human lifespan and are combusted for energy, losing the fuel material and resulting in emissions.

Local governments can develop sustainable energy plans, considering different energy resources and requirements, to develop a robust strategy for the development of renewable energy technologies and infrastructure throughout the city. They can also institute specific legislation and tax systems to regulate energy production and consumption, incentivise research and development of cleaner, more efficient technologies. Via Power Purchase Agreements cities can buy renewable energy from green energy providers and fix the price in order to provide security to financial institutions to finance renewable energy infrastructure. Furthermore, increasing awareness and facilitating capacity-building on planning urban sustainable energy projects can help the uptake of clean energy across the city by different stakeholders—from citizens to businesses and institutions. Facilitating collaboration, then, will be crucial, since private companies operate most of the world’s energy systems.


⚡ Energy Systems

The built environment, including housing, commercial buildings, and the necessary infrastructure for mobility, is essential for our livelihoods, but:
- the extraction of minerals used to produce construction materials is responsible for a quarter of global land use change,
- approximately 40% of global GHG emissions can be attributed to buildings’ construction, use and demolition, and
- construction and demolition processes drive nearly one-third of all material consumption. 

Making the built environment more circular must prioritise a heavy reduction in material use—while also closing the loop on materials and bringing secondary and renewable material choices to the fore. Our four key solutions for the built environment are:
- Make the most of what already exists: Make the most of existing materials by reusing, repurposing, upgrading and renovating following circular approaches. Where new builds are needed, use secondary materials and be as efficient as possible with urban planning solutions that follow circular design principles so that buildings can be reused, repurposed, and easily disassembled in the future.
- Be as energy efficient as possible: From the design phase, utilise circular strategies to create material- and energy efficient buildings. Couple these designs with a rollout of clean energy solutions, and prioritise energy-efficient appliances and retrofitting. 
- Utilise secondary materials: Maximise the high-value reuse of buildings and components where possible. Ideally, enable the utilisation of construction and demolition outputs and ensure that as much of it as possible is recycled to avoid the need for virgin materials, such as sand and gravel.
- Prioritise circular materials and approaches: Transition to using renewable wood, timber or cross-laminated timber instead of steel and concrete, or move to other locally available materials. Utilise mainstream modular construction and prioritise lightweight frames and structures to reduce cement and steel use, as well as green roofs where possible.



🏢 Built Environment

Businesses

Communities

Governments

Engage with the local community where facilities or offices are located

Community collaboration

Designing products that can easily breakdown and degrade in the environment

Design for bio-degradability

Replace energy sources with less impactful alternatives and enact energy efficiency measures

Regenerative energy

Selling parts of modular products that can be exchanged or replaced

Sale of exchangeable parts

Working together with stakeholders and parties in other unrelated industries to implement circular economy strategies and opportunities

Cross-industry projects, pilots

Designing to enable multiple uses and lifecycles of a product and its materials

Design for cyclability

Engaging in discussions with government bodies and policymakers to push for regulations that support the circular economy

Advocacy for circular economy policy

Using renewable energy like solar, wind, etc. or renewable fuels like biomass, etc.

Renewable energy, fuels

Designing products of multiple parts that can be easily exchanged

Design for modularity

Working together with industry peers to engage in business activities or exploratory projects that advance the circular economy

Joint industry ventures, projects, pilots

Providing products through sharing between consumers, customers, etc.

Peer to peer sharing

Transforming waste products into materials and lower value products within other industries

Open loop downcycling

Providing DIY repair kits or spare part programmes for enabling self-repair

Self-repair, spare part service

Engage and guide customers and consumers to ensure circular use of products

Customer / consumer collaboration

Transforming waste products, materials for reuse within the same industry

Closed loop upcycling

Designing to reduce waste during production and use

Design out waste

Allowing customers to alter and modify certain features of the product

Customisation

Facilitate discussions and meetings between internal team members to identify circular opportunities

Dialogue with internal stakeholders

Generating energy from waste through processes such as anaerobic digestion, gasification, incineration, etc.

Generating energy from waste

Use digital, online platforms and technologies that provide insights to track and optimise resource use, strengthen connections between supply chain actors, and enable the implementation of circular models



Incorporate digital technology

While resources are in-use, maintain, repair and upgrade them to maximise their lifetime and give them a second life through take back strategies when applicable

Stretch the lifetime

Industry peers to industry peer collaboration to create joint value and identify synergies

Industry collaboration

Preserving and conserving biological products such as food, forests, etc.

Preservation, conservation

Working together with the community and engaging them in the company operations

Joint product development

Reuse, repurpose, and recycle waste streams within the same industry

Valorise waste streams - closed loop

Replacing freshwater use with rainwater, fogwater, seawater, etc.

Alternative water use

Initiatives with disadvantaged communities, minorities, people distanced from the labour market

Give-back programmes

Processing waste streams into fuels such as biogas, biofuels, pellets, etc.

Processing waste into fuel

Using bio-based materials such as bioplastics, mushroom-based materials, etc.

Alternative bio-based materials and inputs

Using waste materials that have been processed and recycled to produce new products within other industries

Using open loop recycled materials

Employ technologies to gather and analyse data to provide insights on resource use

Data and insights

Designing products so they produce as little waste as possible during production

Design for minimal waste

Takeback and return of products from customers after end-of-use

Takeback programmes

Transforming waste products, materials for reuse within other industries

Open loop upcycling

Upgrade, repair, and maintenance while in-use

Maximise lifetime of products in-use

Enacting measures that optimise water use

Water efficiency

Designing products that are made to last and to ensure longer use

Design for durability

Installing sensors to gather data from products and services to identify, enable and/or implement circular strategies (eg. effective resource use & logistics planning, circular business models & design)

Sensors, monitoring systems

Decentralised services that rely on the power of the crowd or the community

Crowd-based services

Marketplaces or services that enable the second hand sale of products

Second-hand sale, distribution

Engage internally to guide employees and facilitate greater knowledge sharing between internal divisions

Internal collaboration

Collection programmes that process products and parts for reuse or recycling within other industries

Open loop collection

Engaging in discussions with customers to educate and raise awareness of the circular economy and explore circular opportunities together

Customer dialogue, marketing 

Integrating circular economy thinking into employee evaluations that are tied to professional compensation

Financial incentives tied to circular economy

 Develop research, structure knowledge, encourage innovation networks and disseminate findings with integrity


Strengthen and advance knowledge

Designing products so they are able to be easily repaired

Design for repair

Reuse, repurpose, and recycle waste streams within other industries

Valorise waste streams - open loop

Employ online platforms to connect and improve information sharing between stakeholders

Digital platforms

Using <a href="https://echa.europa.eu/information-on-chemicals" target="_blank">materials that are not toxic or hazardous</a>.

Non-toxic materials and inputs

Integrate principles of circularity into primary, secondary and tertiary curriculum and conduct workplace trainings

 Education and Curriculum

Account for the systems perspective during the design process, to use the right materials, to design for appropriate lifetime and to design for extended future use

Design for the future

Enacting measures that optimise energy use

Energy efficiency

Recover waste energy or generate fuels and energy from waste streams

Energy recovery from waste

Converting fossil fuel based operations to electric

Electrification

Collection programmes that process products and parts for reuse or recycling within the same industry

Closed loop collection

Selling high quality, long-lasting products

Sale of durable, long-lasting goods

Employing artificial algorithms and robotics to identify, enable and/or implement circular strategies (eg. effective resource use & logistics planning, circular business models & design)

Advanced robotics, artificial intelligence

Connecting products and services into the internet of things to identify, enable and/or implement circular strategies (eg. effective resource use & logistics planning, circular business models & design)

Internet enabled, connected operations

Utilise waste streams as a source of secondary resources and recover waste for reuse and recycling

Use waste as a resource

Developing or utilising online platforms to enable circular economy opportunities through information, product or service offering

Online platforms

Putting in place purchasing guidelines for procurement departments and evaluating suppliers on circular economy principles

Circular procurement

Providing upgrade programmes or upgrade services for products or parts of products

Product upgrade

Transforming waste products into materials and lower value products within the same industry

Closed loop downcycling

Designing products to increase consumer’s emotional attachment and ensure longer use

Design for product attachment, emotional durability

Replace freshwater with less impactful alternatives and enact water efficiency measures

Regenerative water

Providing repair services or maintenance services for products or parts

Product maintenance, repair

Ensure renewable, reusable, non-toxic resources are utilised as materials and energy in an efficient way

Prioritise regenerative resources

Ensure that biological products are properly managed and preserved

Maximise lifetime of biological products

Consider opportunities to create greater value and align incentives that build on the interaction between products and services

Rethink the business model

Developing or utilising online marketplaces to enable the peer-to-peer exchange of products and services

Peer-to-peer online marketplaces

Engaging in discussions with industry stakeholders to share circular economy best practices and push the industry towards greater circularity

Guidance, dialogue with industry stakeholders

Recovering and reusing waste heat, gas, etc. for energy

Recovery and reuse of waste energy

Participating in government programmes that support and advance the circular economy

Government programmes

Key elements of the circular economy

<p>The Rwandan government has received the first funds for their Kigali Green City project. The sustainable city will be comprised of 1,749 housing units spread over 18 hectares, all of which will be powered by renewable energy sources such as solar energy. A wastewater and rainwater collection system will also be installed in each home. The effluent will be treated then reused. Additionally, the plan entails building offices to house creative green businesses.</p>