small_iclei.png

thumbnail_iclei.png

iclei.png


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>




large_Circular-City-Actions-Framework-infographic-scaled_gray background.jpeg

medium_Circular-City-Actions-Framework-infographic-scaled_gray background.jpeg

small_Circular-City-Actions-Framework-infographic-scaled_gray background.jpeg

thumbnail_Circular-City-Actions-Framework-infographic-scaled_gray background.jpeg

Circular-City-Actions-Framework-infographic-scaled_gray background.jpeg

Circular Cities

large_eugene-kuznetsov-swmakc2l4EM-unsplash_2.jpeg

medium_eugene-kuznetsov-swmakc2l4EM-unsplash_2.jpeg

small_eugene-kuznetsov-swmakc2l4EM-unsplash_2.jpeg

thumbnail_eugene-kuznetsov-swmakc2l4EM-unsplash_2.jpeg

eugene-kuznetsov-swmakc2l4EM-unsplash_2.jpeg

CAT Africa

Policy case

Impact on the health and happiness of human populations

Well-being

Contribution to social parity, or impact on social disparity

Equality

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

Innovation

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

Save Water (SDG6)

Producing and providing business and consumer goods and services

Goods and Services

Societal Services

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


Construction and Infrastructure

Providing water and sewage services, including water collection and distribution, water treatment systems and sewage treatment facilities

Water and Sewage

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

Construction and Real Estate Services

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

Prioritise regenerative resources

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

Regenerative energy

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

Industry collaboration

Engage with the government on circular policies and programmes

Government collaboration

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

Internal collaboration

Enacting measures that optimise energy use

Energy efficiency

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

Renewable energy, fuels

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

 Spatial Planning

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

large_5R_Rethink.png

medium_5R_Rethink.png

small_5R_Rethink.png

thumbnail_5R_Rethink.png

5R_Rethink.png

Rethink

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

Communities

Governments

Water system refers to the water supply network for storing and supplying water for use by the community.

One of the greatest challenges of a city is to provide its inhabitants with safe, clean water from a limited fresh water supply. Improving the city’s water infrastructure efficiency, such as minimising leakages, reduces the strain put on the limited supply, which in turn, helps to ensure inhabitants gain access to clean and affordable water.

The water infrastructure of a city typically consists of components such as surface water diversions, wells, pumps, transmission pipes and canals, treatment and storage facilities, and distribution network elements (Burian et al.). Options for improving the efficiency of the system include investing in water loss reduction systems, creating and following a regular maintenance program, and better matching water supply and demand (Global Water Partnership).

Cities can improve the efficiency of their water system infrastructure by conducting a water audit, in which all water flows are traced and losses in the system are identified to map where the most efficiency improvements can be gained. Alongside this, asset management can be used to create a short-term and long-term strategy of investing in new equipment, refurbishing existing equipment and developing maintenance programmes to ensure infrastructure is as efficient as possible, and leaks are minimised. Such management programmes create financial transparency amongst all stakeholders and provide useful long-term planning for larger infrastructure changes (US EPA)

💧 Water Systems

Impacts

small_climate-4803653_640.jpg

thumbnail_climate-4803653_640.jpg

climate-4803653_640.jpg

Industries

small_coast-wind-turbine-sea-sky.jpg

thumbnail_coast-wind-turbine-sea-sky.jpg

coast-wind-turbine-sea-sky.jpg

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

Policies

medium_image-20160922-22514-1aqaw5j.jpg

small_image-20160922-22514-1aqaw5j.jpg

thumbnail_image-20160922-22514-1aqaw5j.jpg

image-20160922-22514-1aqaw5j.jpg

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

large_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

medium_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

small_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

thumbnail_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

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

         Population (2014): 86 million
GDP Growth (2013-14): 1%
Inequality Adjusted Human Development Index: 110/187 (2014)
Urban Population of total population (2012): 43.6%
Population growth rate (average annual 2010-2015): 2%
Urbanization growth rate: 2.04%
Proportion of urban population living in slum areas (2007): 17.1%
Youth population: 23.7% Dynamics of Urbanization and Informality
43% of the population of Egypt lives in 223 cities, of which 56 % are concentrated in the Greater Cairo Region as well as Alexandria governorates. The Greater Cairo Region is one of the largest metropolitan area on the African continent. It is a prime engine for economic growth in Egypt and with over 18 million inhabitants, it accommodates close to 20% of the country’s population. The events in 2011 aggravated the already existing trend of a growing number of informal and unsafe areas emerging in Egypt. According to the Ministry of Local Development, about 1,171 areas across the country are considered informal, inhabiting a population of around 15 million inhabitants. Around 60% of these areas are located in the Greater Cairo Region. Urban planning, infrastructure and service delivery have not been able to keep up with the rapid urban growth experienced in Egypt over the last four decades. There is a lack of public space and increasing deficiencies in infrastructure and services. Due to inefficient public land management systems and outdated housing policies, impoverished individuals have no alternative but to settle in unplanned and sometimes unsafe areas. In addition, infrastructure is deteriorating, public services and transportation systems are stretched to the limit, air and noise pollution levels are high and traffic congestion is chronic in most areas. The complex set of institutional arrangements that fragment responsibilities, also constrains efficient service delivery. A lack of efficient and accountable planning and management systems in Egypt, as well as rapid urbanization, has caused socio-political and economic challenges that the country has not been able to address. This contributed to a situation from which the recent so called “Arab Spring” events could develop, that called for a more transparent and accountable government, social equity and justice Impact of Syrian Refugees
Some 250,000 to 300,000 Syrians currently reside in Egypt according to government estimates provided in June 2013. Of these, 127,519 individuals have been registered by UNHCR as of 16 November 2015. Refugees continued to arrive and, as those who have been in Egypt for some time and continue to deplete their savings, Syrians become less able to find housing for themselves and their families. Additionally, there will still be a large number of Syrian refugees in Egypt that do not register with UNHCR, as they are able to legalize their stay through the normal immigration procedures, that will also require support and assistance. The impact of Syrian refugees in urban communities has caused considerable strain. In areas of the city where refugees have settled they compete with poor local residents for scarce resources and limited services and, as such, they are vulnerable to aggression, violence and exploitation. Egyptian residents in these areas have often very similar needs for assistance and support initiatives as the refugees. Environment Issues
The river Nile determines the environment of Egypt, establishing a clear distinction between arable land and the desert. The fertile land of Egypt represents only 3.9% of the overall national territory, and it is divided up into two geographical regions: the Delta and Upper Egypt. The capital city, Cairo, is located in between the two and has a population of circa 20 million people. The density of this megacity is circa 20,000 inhabitants/km². The urbanisation in Egypt is also affecting regional capitals - such as Alexandria - by increasing their population exponentially. This is partly due to the rural population shift, partly explained by the demographic explosion. Despite the governments’ efforts to make the irrigation system in the Nile Valley and in the Delta more efficient during the last century, the demographic growth and its urban expansion is currently the biggest threat for the natural resources of the country. In fact, water pollution and poor sewage treatment is partly responsible for a high infant mortality throughout the country. In terms of energy, Egypt still has a strong oil and gas dependency -96% of its primary energetic needs- which has provoked the appearance of other environmental issues in the last 50 years, such as solid waste management and air pollution. Urban Economy
Although there has been a slight improvement in the Egyptian peoples’ economic situation over the last decades, the country is, due to various reasons, still struggling to reach sustainable and diversified economic growth. The proportion of the population living in extreme poverty declined from 8.2% in 1990 to 3.4% in 2008/9. The total poverty ratio declined from 24.2% in 1990/1992 to 21.6% in 2008/2009. Updated data has not been available since the revolutions. According to Egypt’s Household Consumption and Expenditure Survey, the upper poverty line also stagnated at about 40% between the 1990s and 2008/2009. However, accompanying the revolutions, the rates of economic growth had declined to approximately 2% during the past three years. Another urban dimension of hindrances to Egypt’s economic development is its overcrowded streets, Cairo in particular. Egypt currently loses 4% of its GDP due to congestion which in turn creates an unattractive investment and business climate. UN-Habitat is focusing on encouraging cost effective public transportation systems and promoting non-motorized transportation. Transitional Phase
Egypt had focused on progressing towards the Millennium Development Goals; the proportion of the population living in extreme poverty declined from 8.2% in 1990 to 3.4% in 2008/2009. Following the revolutions of 25 January 2011 and 30 June 2013, Egypt is currently in a transition process and strives to overcome the growing challenges faced by different sectors. Despite many challenges faced by the Egyptian government during the past years, successive governments have taken steps in 2013 aimed towards restoring political and economic stability. The implementation of a political road map is almost finalized, which has so far included the preparation of a new constitution, presidential elections and parliamentary elections. 

Egypt

Africa

Alexandria

large_blob

medium_blob

small_blob

thumbnail_blob

blob

UN Habitat

Egyptian Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities

CallisonRTKL

Distance Studio Consultants (DSC)

<p>Egypt has faced socio-political and economic challenges as a result of a lack of effective and accountable planning and management structures, as well as rapid urbanization. In 2020, the United Nations Human Settlement Program (UN-Habitat) work together with the Egyptian Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities, to conceptualized the Ras El-Hekma Waterfront New City to achieve a qualitative transformation in the spatial planning of new resilient cities in Egypt.</p>