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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 availability of resources as well as their effect on living organisms, ecosystems, and components of the environment.

Ecological Impact

Impacts on the social fabric of the community and well-being of the individuals and families.

Social Impact

Impacts on the financial condition of a company, as well as the the economicconditions of its stakeholders and on economic systems at local, national, andglobal levels.

Economic Impact

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

Efficiency gains on operations or transactions either through cultural or technological shifts

Productivity

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)

Producing transporation equipment and providing services for thetransportation of goods and people

Transportation and Logistics

Societal Services

Producing building materials and providing services to create residential and non-residential infrastructure and real estate


Construction and Infrastructure

Participating in government programmes that support and advance the circular economy

Government programmes

'Manage' influences the use and function of physical and material elements within the urban environment. 

Manage

Infrastructure

Develop infrastructure to support sustainable lifestyles

'Mobilise' sets the direction of and builds momentum towards long-term change, while also determining how this direction is determined and governed.

Mobilise

Govern the Transition

Cross-departmental collaboration and engagement

'Regulate' changes the rules of the systems to achieve compliance through enforcement. 


Regulate

Legislation

 Spatial Planning

Compact city development

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

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Rethink

Includes a variety of actions (e.g. campaigns, information sharing, public events) that encourage city residents and visitors to build sustainable practices into their daily lives

Enable sustainable lifestyles

The demand for transport is rising globally—but current modes are heavily material- and fossil-fuels-intensive. Emissions from the transport system could grow by 60% by 2050, and transport is the number-one user of oil worldwide. GHG emissions result not only in warming global temperatures, but also in ocean acidification, which has severe consequences for entire ecosystems and further destabilises our climate. The transport system also drives land-use change and biodiversity loss through the development of infrastructure—also releasing harmful pollutants into the ocean. Key circular solutions:

- Embrace and enable car-free lifestyles
- Invest in high-quality public transport
- Rethink unnecessary air travel
- Electrify remaining vehicles

🚌 Mobility Systems

Businesses

Communities

Governments

The mobility choices and behaviours of residents and businesses can vary greatly depending on the structure and design of the city. A sprawling city covering large areas with wide highways and no bike lanes discourages cycling and increases dependence on private vehicles, which contribute significantly to resource demand and GHG emissions. Meanwhile, a more compact city with mixed use developments, accessible public transport and extensive and appealing pedestrian and cycle networks enables and encourages walking, cycling and other non-motorised, low-carbon forms of mobility. Combined with urban planning that incentivises higher densities along major public transport routes, transit-oriented development can help to slow the outward expansion of cities into the surrounding countryside. 

Compact city planning can help local communities build and create more efficient, safe and viable cities. This concept includes ideas such as the 15-minute city or ‘complete neighbourhoods’, whereby all of the basic needs and services of a resident can be accessed within 15 minutes by walking, cycling or public transport. This concept has also attracted attention as a way to reduce inequality by ensuring that all neighbourhoods have access to affordable mobility options.

Local governments can support the development of compact and low-carbon cities by integrating such concepts into the city’s urban plans, and ensuring that all residents are easily able to conduct their day-to-day lives using non-motorised or public transport. Cities can also ensure that necessary and facilitating infrastructure is provided, such as cycle lanes, pedestrianised areas and public transport options, to enable the shift away from dependency on personal vehicles.


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🚌  Compact city planning and development

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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 While most cities around the world struggle with inequality, in Johannesburg, South Africa, the challenge is compounded by the legacy of apartheid. In the apartheid era, black populations were relocated to the poorly serviced areas far away from job opportunities. Though apartheid officially ended in the 1990s, the legacy of segregation remains deeply embedded in Johannesburg; the city has been struggling to confront inequalities between its predominantly black, disadvantaged areas and its historically white, prosperous neighborhoods. As described in a new case study of Johannesburg in the World Resources Report, "Towards a More Equal City," Johannesburg is the first city in South Africa to try the innovative approach of "Transit-Oriented Development" to try and reverse the impacts of urban planning rooted in segregation. A City Drawn Along Segregated Lines After apartheid, the reformed national government focused on anti-apartheid planning efforts by expanding access to basic services. For 20 years, this meant funneling massive public investment into housing, water, sanitation, electricity and waste removal. But city officials left out an important component in their definition of "basic services": transportation. Consequences of this omission emerged over time. For example, in 1994, the national government launched the "million house program," which provided fully subsidized housing and land to those below the poverty line. The problem was location. Subsidized units were built at the edge of the city; informal settlements, known as "townships," received improved water and electricity services, but were disconnected from the city's core, where jobs were located. Commutes were long, expensive and dangerous. Commuters spent more than 35 percent of their income on transport alone, sometimes traveling 4 hours with multiple minibus transfers to reach a job. With little pedestrian infrastructure, risks of accidents and road deaths remained high. Introducing the "Corridors of Freedom" Spatial isolation of the urban poor (and mismatch between housing and jobs) in cities is not unique to Johannesburg. Cities in Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Colombia face similar problems. To address this spatial mismatch between jobs and housing, is it better to bring jobs to people, or help people get to jobs more affordably and efficiently? Johannesburg had disappointing outcomes when they focused on the former and hoped to overcome the spatial mismatch by focusing on mobility. Their long-standing service provision programs were to finally be bolstered with transit-related investments. To guide these investments, the city turned towards a paradigm called Transit-Oriented Development, which focuses on creating compact, walkable, mixed-use, mixed-income communities centered around high-quality public transportation. 
  Bus Rapid Transit in Johannesburg. Photo by GCRO

 In 2013, former Mayor Parks Tau founded the City of Johannesburg's flagship Transit-Oriented Development initiative, called the Corridors of Freedom. The project kicked off what would become a core tenet of Johannesburg's strategic and spatial planning. Through the framework of Transit-Oriented Development, investments were to go to transit access and urban regeneration, public improvements that were historically neglected relative to other basic services. The city's new Bus Rapid Transit system, called Rea Vaya, now connects low- and high-income areas of the city. A handful of neighborhoods, deemed Corridors of Freedom "priority zones" because they connect the Central Business District to poorer districts and townships, have seen an increase of bike lanes and sidewalks, social facilities like libraries, community centers, clinics and parks, and mixed-income developments. In Soweto, one of Johannesburg's most well-known black townships with more than 1.3 million residents, a new pedestrian bridge helps commuters, largely low-income and informal workers, reach opportunities in the central district. The city invested more than $5 million in the Empire-Perth corridor, which connects Soweto and central Johannesburg, and constructed parks and other street infrastructure to encourage walking and cycling. Investments for public infrastructure and social facilities will continue across the city as part as the Corridors of Freedom initiative, as seen in the following map: Another aim was to redevelop areas into denser, mixed-income, more affordable neighborhoods. Instead of affordable housing units on the edge of town, the city partnered with private developers to integrate affordable housing options into their redevelopment plans along the Corridors of Freedom. Designed by Iyer Urban Studio, 2013, photo permissions from City of Johannesburg. By 2017, some areas saw successful redevelopment of neighborhoods with mixed-use, denser buildings for commercial amenities, student housing and middle-low income families. Private developers also committed to build 4,500 new affordable units along other routes of the Corridors of Freedom. Redevelopment has not been without controversy and criticism. Wealthier neighborhoods in priority zones have complained about potential overcrowding and "undesirable changes." The plan has also stirred debate over whether redevelopment benefits the most under-served populations. While some believe it is better to concentrate public investment in impoverished areas, advocates of the Corridors of Freedom caution against reinforcing the NIMBY (Not-in-My-Backyard) mindset and further isolating the urban poor in disconnected areas. Lessons from Johannesburg While faced with serious implementation challenges, the Corridors of Freedom initiative took root due to four factors: 
Political leadership and vision: Mayor Tau prioritized spatial inclusion. Though political leadership has changed, Transit Oriented Development remains an important part of Johannesburg's long-term vision.
Dedicated investment: The planning department controls Johannesburg's capital budget. This is unique to South Africa, and helped prevent administrative backlog with budget allocations. This arrangement helped implement the TOD strategy quickly and effectively.
Supportive and aligned national policy: In anticipation of the 2010 World Cup, the national government accelerated Bus Rapid Transit development as a priority. The first successful phase of Bus Rapid Transit paved the way for second and third phases.
Private sector interest: In light of historical distrust between the city and the private sector, planners designed detailed precinct-level proposals for the Corridors of Freedom to ease the process for private sector investors. (This technical capacity in the City of Johannesburg's planning is noteworthy.) Examples of private sector interest include a niche group of developers willing to invest in affordable rental housing projects for young professionals.
 For former Mayor Tau, the lasting success of this project was that "Transit-Oriented Development as a policy principle has remained part of the overall strategic planning framework of the city...ensuring that investments are going in infrastructure that was historically neglected." The Corridors of Freedom were renamed the Transit-Oriented Development Corridors after a change of political leadership in 2016. Yet the project remains as an integral part of "Johannesburg 2040," the city's master plan for future development. Cities considering Transit-Oriented Development—like Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City and Delhi—can learn a lot from Johannesburg. The city's Transit-Oriented Development approach highlights coordination and collaboration with real estate developers within an overall strategy and vision created by the city. It also illustrates that jobs, housing and transport markets, informal and formal, are closely connected. Finally, it suggests that buy-in and longevity of long-term spatial transformation projects require collaboration between civil society, the public sector and private stakeholders. Johannesburg's Transit-Oriented Development approach is one small step towards tackling spatial inequalities. Though nascent, it has helped the city embark on an ambitious experiment for more inclusive urban growth. A new case study in the World Resources Report, "Towards a More Equal City," details Johannesburg's experience with envisioning and implementing TOD. It describes the leadership, multi-level policy architecture, local level planning, and private sector incentives that enabled it. It also discusses how this experience is playing out today amid local political changes. 

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Johannesburg

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City of Johannesburg

The city of Johannesburg is implementing what they call 'Transit-Oriented Development,' which focuses on creating compact, walkable, mixed-use, mixed-income communities centered around high-quality public transportation. The city's new Bus Rapid Transit system, called&nbsp;Rea Vaya, now connects low and high-income areas of the city, while new "Corridors of Freedom" connect via public transport lines poorer districts and townships to the city center. The city has also seen an increase of bike lanes and sidewalks, social facilities like libraries, community centers, clinics and parks, and mixed-income developments.

Johannesburg Fights Inequality with Transit-Oriented Development

The Green Building policy is part of the city’s efforts to achieve low to net-zero carbon performance for all new buildings in Johannesburg by 2030 while achieving a total net-zero performance compliance standard by 2050.&nbsp;The policy aims to guide the construction of green, low-energy and resource efficient buildings in the city that are powered by cleaner, renewable energy sources.

Green Building Policy in Johannesburg commits to achieve Net-Zero Carbon Performance through resource efficiency and renewable energy

Landfill gas is mainly made up of&nbsp;carbon dioxide, oxygen methane,&nbsp;and methane gas, which is the most harmful gas on the ozone&nbsp;layer. Initially conceived as a carbon reduction initiative, the Johannesburg landfill gas to energy project aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from five landfill sites in Johannesburg by converting landfill gas to electricity.

Process landfill waste to energy project by the City of Johannesburg

Waste pickers will be officially integrated into South Africa's recycling economy as part of a pilot project called the African Reclaimers Organisation (ARO), based in Johannesburg. The program aims to enhance the collection of recyclable materials from homes and offices, boost reclaimers' livelihoods by reimbursing them for their work and change public attitudes toward waste management and reclaimers.

Circular Waste Management Initiative in Johannesburg Employing Waste Pickers 

Cities that host an EcoMobility Festival, an ICLEI-led initiative, make one of their neighbourhoods car-free for one month to encourage behavioural change. The three cities of Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Johannesburg, South Africa; and Suwon, Republic of Korea, have participated to date.