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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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Business case

Impact on increased knowledge and understanding as a result of the case study

Increase Awareness

Impact on the quantity or quality of jobs, and shifts in the labour market

Jobs

Impact on the health and happiness of human populations

Well-being

Contribution to social parity, or impact on social disparity

Equality

Direct and indirect reduction in economic costs

Cost Savings

Impact on the ease of innovation, and facilitating uptake of innovations

Innovation

Scalability

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)

Reduced use and withdrawal of water and rate of recycling and reuse of water

Save Water (SDG6)

Reduced use of fossil fuel energy sources and/or increased use of renewable energy

Reduce Energy Consumption

Contributing to the improvement of biodiversity including species diversity, total number of protected species, and ecosystem health

Biodiversity

Providing public and private education and support services at any level or for any profession, and governmental and public administration services, including judicial, regulatory, and legislative activities, taxation, defence, public order and safety, immigration services, foreign affairs and the administration of government programmes

Education and Government Services

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

Enacting measures that optimise water use

Water efficiency

Enacting measures that optimise energy use

Energy efficiency

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

Renewable energy, fuels

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

Closed loop collection

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

Open loop collection

Participating in government programmes that support and advance the circular economy

Government programmes

Develop regenerative infrastructure

Develop infrastructure to support sustainable lifestyles

Living labs

Develop infrastructure to support resource cycling

Redesign systems to lay the foundation for circular activities and enable the transition to a circular economy 

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Rethink

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

Facilitate cross-collaboration by engaging city departments, industries and businesses on ambitious, closed-loop circular projects.

Support closed-loop systems and cross-sectoral synergies

Put enablers in place that allow circular businessesto grow, thrive and innovate (e.g. incubators, start-up funding, partnerships, innovation deals, business capacity building and testing groundsfor new business models).


Support circular and resource-efficient business innovations

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

Cities are responsible for 60% of global resource consumption, and with increasing urbanisations, there are growing concerns about forthcoming shortages (water, food, energy). Urban sprawl is costly, damages the environment and affects quality of life. Making cities sustainable will need rethinking of every element of urban living, including the neighbourhood-scale. 

Self-sufficient and socially inclusive neighbourhoods are centralised, self-contained communities, organised in a way that minimises dependency on inputs from outside the system and maximises interaction between its inhabitants. They often produce their own energy and treat their own wastewater, improving security and efficiency of materials, while offering new livelihood opportunities and local value creation.

Local governments can adopt more sustainable and efficient practices in constructing these areas. Through direct and indirect economic incentives, they can push the true costs of infrastructure onto developers and create a favourable real estate climate that helps with empty land in inner-city neighbourhoods. Then, cities can implement circular land planning through urban renewal projects. Building more self-sufficient and circular neighbourhoods will require, however, multi-stakeholder collaborations between municipalities, land developers, construction and waste industries and building owners.

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🏢⚡  Self-sufficient neighbourhoods 

Circular water systems in cities will also depend on new business models shaping innovations and new activities. For example, water operators can determine the shift towards circular business models (e.g. fostering water reuse, decentralised water solutions, etc.).

Cities can explore innovative financing and other support measures—for instance, building the adequate expertise in water resource and efficiency management or innovation challenges—for circular business models in water systems. Simultaneously, they should develop the right policy, institutional, regulatory frameworks to promote scale up these models. Fostering these new business models with additional revenue streams would, in turn, attract the private sector to close the funding gap needed for the circular transition.


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💧 Circular business models for water systems innovation

Impacts

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Industries

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A framework of policy instruments that enabled and encourage the transition to the circular economy

Policy Instruments

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A framework of policy instruments that enable and stimulate the transition to the circular economy

The principles of a circular economy concern designing out waste, regenerating ecosystems and keeping items in use. Decoupling the economy from material flows—improving the rate of resource productivity faster than the economic growth rate—is also a consistent guide. By evolving with the growing number of applications of circular economy principles, and consolidating these strategies across thematic areas, Circle Economy’s Key Elements Framework (KE) renders the elements of the circular economy salient and serves as a basis to derive contextual strategies and interventions. 


The Framework consists of:
- Core Elements: Activities directly handling product or material flows; and uniquely,
- Enabling Elements: those that remove obstacles for core actors.


Key elements of the circular economy

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Circle Economy's framework of strategies and activities that define the circular economy

The Circular City Actions Framework provides urban changemakers with five complementary strategies they can use to start working towards a more circular system. 

The framework is action-based to provide users with concrete strategic directions and showcase the desired outcomes of each strategy. 
The framework consists of five complementary **strategies**, under which **sub-strategies** provide further detail. Finally, each sub-strategy consists of a diversity of tangible **solutions** which are framed in relation to key thematic areas. 

Note: solutions are currently focused on:
- 🍏 **Food systems**
- 🏢  **Built environment**
- 👕📱  **Consumer goods**
- ⚡ **Energy Systems**
- 🚌 **Mobility Systems**
- 💧 **Water Systems**

More thematic areas are coming soon...

'Click through each of the five strategy cards below to explore the framework and circular economy case studies in more depth!'



This framework was developed in collaboration with ICLEI, Metabolic and Ellen MacArthur Foundation with support from the MAVA Foundation. Read more about it [here]( https://circulars.iclei.org/action-framework/). 



Circular City Actions Framework

An action-based framework for local governments working towards circular cities

Thematic Areas

City Stakeholders

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Based on the work of [Bocken et al. (2016)](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309699661_Product_design_and_business_model_strategies_for_a_circular_economy), the Four Flows Framework serves as a simple framework for managing resource flows in a circular economy by using less (Narrow), using for longer (Slow), using again (Cycle), and using clean, regenerative materials and energy (Regenerate).

These different principles of circular economy can be applied to our socioeconomic metabolism: we can design stocks like buildings, infrastructure, machinery, and vehicles to be rich resource mines for the future, and design manufactured goods and consumables to be cycled and made regenerative. Furthermore, the focus must also centre on getting more value out of fewer materials. Achieving the aims of a circular economy—minimising material use, regenerating the Earth, and preventing material losses—can be done through these four key strategies mentioned above.

Source: Circle Economy. (2023). *[The circularity gap report 2023](https://www.circularity-gap.world/2023)* (p.22). Amsterdam: Circle Economy. 

Four Flows Framework

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          Toronto’s eastern waterfront presents an extraordinary opportunity to shape the city’s future and provide a global model for inclusive urban growth. Sidewalk Labs is honoured to present the Master Innovation and Development Plan (MIDP) for the Sidewalk Toronto project as a comprehensive proposal for how to realize that potential.             Job Creation Through strategic investments in critical infrastructure, manufacturing, and a new innovation campus, the project aims to bolster the Toronto economy in a scalable, inclusive way.        Sustainable and climate-positive development Through a series of energy and mobility initiatives, the project has the potential to become the largest climate-positive community in North America.       Housing Affordability Sidewalk Labs aims to expand options for lower- and middle-income households, and to create new sources of private funding that can help support ambitious below-market affordability programs       New Mobility An expansion in walking, cycling, and transit infrastructure, coupled with on-demand mobility services, can improve options and help save households $4,000 a year in transportation costs.       Urban Innovation Flexible physical conditions and open digital conditions, overseen by a government-sanctioned entity, can encourage urban innovation while protecting privacy and the public good.                     Update: Sidewalk Labs will no longer pursue the Quayside project. Learn more.    

Toronto

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Waterfront Toronto is the public advocate and steward of waterfront revitalization. Created by the Governments of Canada and Ontario and the City of Toronto, Waterfront Toronto is mandated to deliver a revitalized waterfront.

Waterfront Toronto

Sidewalk Labs is an urban innovation company working to make cities more sustainable and affordable for all. We create products, invest in new companies, and help plan innovative places around the world.

Sidewalk Labs

<p>Toronto’s eastern waterfront presents an extraordinary opportunity to shape the city’s future and provide a global model for inclusive urban growth. Sidewalk Labs has presented the Master Innovation and Development Plan (MIDP) for the Sidewalk Toronto project as a comprehensive proposal for how to realize that potential. Measures will aim to 1) reduce overall energy demands through energy-efficient building designs 2) eliminate energy waste through digital management tools 3) use district energy systems 4) design an advanced renewable power grid 5) protect the water quality along the waterfront through combination of green infrastructure and digital stormwater management systems. Finally, to reduce GHG emissions from garbage trucks and the impact of landfill waste, Sidewalk Labs proposes a smart disposal chain that could dramatically improve recycling rates and organic waste processing. The smart disposal chain (once constructed) would reduce GHG emissions by 1.08 annual tonnes per capita (or 17.1 percent) from the city’s current average. The project would also result in a landfill diversion rate of 80 percent and in more than 44,000 direct jobs (and 93,000 total jobs) by 2040.</p>