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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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Article / Report

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

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

Innovation

Reduced green house gas emissions released into the biosphere

Reduce Emissions (SDG13)

Reduced use of virgin materials and/or an increase of the use of secondary and bio-based materials

Reduce Material Consumption (SDG12)

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

Reduce Energy Consumption

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


Construction and Infrastructure

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

Construction and Real Estate Services

Producing building materials and finished and semi-finished building products for construction

Construction Materials and Products

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

Prioritise regenerative resources

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

Utilise bio-based, reusable, non-toxic and non-critical materials

Regenerative materials

Designing to reduce waste during production and use

Design out waste

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

Design for cyclability

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

Alternative bio-based materials and inputs

Enacting measures that optimise material use such as 3D printing, etc.

Material efficiency

Designing products so they use as little materials, water, energy, etc. as possible during use

Design for resource efficiency

Designing products that can easily breakdown and degrade in the environment

Design for bio-degradability

**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

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

Archetypes

CE Materials

Impacts

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Industries

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Materials

Nace Sectors

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

Topics

Urban Opportunities

Whilst no two countries are the same, there are still obvious similarities between some of them, with discernible development patterns and parallels in evidence. Common problems and shared solutions help place unique country identities and individual issues in context.

Whilst this classification is far from clear-cut and exhibits some overlap, it does underline how the discourse on transitioning to a circular economy needs to account for both differences and commonalities, if we are to arrive at a more strategic and instructive analysis. It also allows to highlight a set of key themes that are likely to be central to the countries that fall under the respective profiles. 

Country profiles (Build, Grow, Shift)

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A framework to distinguish between different country profiles and their circular transition needs.

Browse case studies by type of implementing stakeholder.

Implementing stakeholders

It is 2050.  Full systems change has taken place. This wouldn’t have been possible without the immediate action and radical steps taken from 2020 onwards. Many targets had to be identified in the early 2020s and achieved by 2030 to ensure that the 2050 goal happened in full. A sense of urgency, turbo stakeholder collaboration, supportive government regulation and clear, data driven targets enabled the mindsets and systems change needed to transform to a fully circular textiles ecosystem.

A circular economics model underpins what we have created. It reflects and supports a living organism made up of makers, users and restorers, interacting across vibrant and interconnected networks. Checks and balances, alongside transparency and accountability, ensure a healthy system. Financial, environmental, and social metrics have the purpose of serving communities and the planet. There is shared ownership of profit and loss – across all three metrics – throughout the value chain.

This is what we’ve achieved over the last 30 years:

WCTD Themes

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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


Exploring building materials that have a low environmental impact has been concerning contemporary architects and professionals of the construction field, especially since various global crises are escalating. 
Hempcrete is one that successfully passed as an alternative building material. It performs in an environmentally friendly manner through its whole lifecycle—in its growing plant phase, hemp absorbs carbon dioxide; when used in construction, it’s an effective insulator and a non-toxic material; and after demolition, it can be recycled and reused. Hempcrete is an alternative building material with promising advantages. 
In Arch2O, we discussed the potential of hempcrete as a sustainable building material. Moreover, with little additions, some architects believe it can be strong enough to build a house that twists and twines! Keep reading to explore examples of architecture built using hempcrete. 
Twine House by Antony Gibbon – Image is Courtesy of Antony Gibbon Designs
What are the benefits of hempcrete?

It is a carbon-negative material: the carbon hemp absorbs as a plant makes up for the carbon emitted during the processing phase of hempcrete.
It is fire resistant and creates safe buildings.
Hempcrete needs no added chemicals, hence it creates healthy indoors.
It is an effective thermal insulator and performs well with temperature fluctuations. 
Hempcrete absorbs moisture during times of high relative humidity and releases it when the relative humidity drops.
It is resistant to pests and other termites. 
In the processing phase, hempcrete requires less water than traditional cement. 
It takes decades to fully cure, so its strength and feature improve over time.

Pierre Chevet Sports Center by Lemoal Lemoal – Photography is by Elodie Dupuy
Is Hempcrete Stronger Than Concrete?
Hempcrete has a compressive strength of around 1/20 and only 15% density that of concrete. So, no, hempcrete is not stronger than concrete and hence must be used with the support of a load-bearing structural system of another material. However, the good news is because of the low density, hempcrete is resistant to cracking under movement, which makes it perfect for areas prone to earthquakes.
List of 5 Projects Using Hempcrete Image by Antony Gibbons
This house, designed by Antony Gibbons Design is inspired by the Möbius strip and is entirely made out of hempcrete blocks reinforced with concrete, which expresses the house’s connection with nature. The structural design and material choices are an innovative response to the challenges imposed by both mathematics and architecture. The entire house contacts the floor only through few meters, while the roof rigidifies the entire frame of the building. The interior is daylit through the floor-to0ceiling windows facing the swimming pool.
 Courtesy of Steffen Welsch Architects
Designed by Steffen Welsch Architects, Hemp House in Australia is a dual occupancy home that provides a unique experience of co-housing. Hemp House is made of natural materials: timber, rammed earth, and hempcrete—it is the first hempcrete house in Australia. 
The use of such natural materials gave the designers an opportunity to get adventurous with sculptural curves, and more importantly, build in an environmentally friendly manner. The designers’ vision of the environment goes beyond heating and cooling, it included aesthetics, acoustics, and air quality. This is why hempcrete was a perfect choice for such vision, it is breathable, it regulates temperature and humidity, it is an effective acoustic insulator, and it creates a cozy and warm atmosphere.
 Photography is by Elodie Dupuy
Paris Studio Lemoal Lemoal built France’s first hempcrete public building. The studio took the Pierre Chevet Sports Center as an opportunity to experiment with hemp as a construction material. Structure-wise, the building is carried by a wooden half-vaulted frame that is adjoined to the hempcrete walls for support. This system makes maximum use of the column-free interior, which is a demand for a sports center. 
Another demand for such a building is acoustic insulation, which, as previously mentioned, hempcrete walls perform very well regarding. This is one of the reasons why the designers left areas of the hempcrete walls untreated. They also wanted to showcase the hempcrete blocks, which were assembled dry and connected through an interlocking system that requires no adhesives or mortar. Moreover, the hemp panels were harvested and fabricated within 500 kilometers from the sports center’s site, which minimizes transportation emissions. 
 Photography by Oscar Proctor
Located at Cambridgeshire in the United Kingdom, Flat House is a “radically low embodied carbon house” as explained by the architects. This house was designed with an aim to create a prototype for pre-fabricated hemp-based construction for more and broader use of hempcrete. 
The architects, engineers, and material specialists collaborated to develop a prefabricated panel infilled with hemp that is harvested 20 acres of the farm. This collaboration led to the creation of a brand new hemp fiber cladding product, and more importantly, the establishment of Material Cultures, a research organization whose aim is to explore biomaterials in the context of off-site construction. 
 Courtesy of BC Architects
This community center in Belgium located within a public park was built to strengthen the current function of the park. The development of The Regional House created an educative and participative experience that explores an ecological and sustainable approach to construction—it served its community even during the construction phase. The materials incorporated into the community center include compressed earth blocks and hempcrete. 
The hempcrete is used to insulate the facades and the roof and is left untreated to maintain its breathability, making the building CO2-negative. Even the construction techniques of The Regional House were sustainable; 19000 compressed earth blocks were produced in a 3-week workshop, and 213 square meters of hempcrete were installed in a 2-week workshop by more than 150 volunteers. 
 

Emerging tendencies, inspired by environmental and energy saving criterions for building envelopes, refocus on a new challenge: the use of plant materials as bio aggregates in green concretes. Hemp concrete has not only a positive balance in its climate change indicator, it also has a positive health impact. Increasing research, developed mainly over the last 15 years, highlights innovative applications of natural fibres for the green building sector among which hemp concrete is one of the most promising.
Cannabis is known as one of the most versatile crops and therefore one of the oldest culture plants, confirmed by archeological findings dating from 6,000 years ago. Yet, researchers estimate that it was already farmed in Asia about 10,000 years ago, parallel to the climate change at the beginning of the Neolithic period, and basically for fibre, food, medical and psychoactive destinations [1]. Its adaptive response to divers climates, its low fertilizer demand, its biocide free farming and its ability for crop rotations explain its expansion and cultural importance, confirmed by numerous historical statements.


From historic point of view hemp had important papers as fiber plant, it was already manufactured to rope and textile in the 18th dynasty in Egypt, 3500 years ago. Moreover hemp paper manufacturing technology was responsible for the spread of science and wisdom during the Abassid Caliphate, when this technology was taken over by the Muslims from Chinese prisoners during the Samarkand battle at the year 751 of present time, while the technology of paper manufacturing was already practiced 2100 years ago in China [2]. Hemp experienced a maximum employment during the 17th century’s seafaring where up to 100 tons of hemp fibre was employed per sailing ship. However, modern uses, that were developed already last century experienced a drawback as soon as legal reasons blocked the farther development in numerous countries until recent changes of law focused again on the industrial and medical uses of hemp (e.g. in 1941, Henry Ford already developed hemp bio fuel and a bio-plastic for car bodies [3] that was containing 70% cellulose from slash pine, straw, hemp and ramie fibre, lighter and with better mechanical performance than steel).

Walls with hemp clay bricks
Since about 25 years ago the potential of hemp was rediscovered for green development in Europe. European legislations were adapted in several countries in favor of the growth and processing of industrial hemp varieties with a THC level below 0,2% in the upper third of the plant. Simultaneously this multi-beneficial crop was developed to thousands of products and derivates for very divers sectors like textile, automotive, industrial design, food, medical, paper, cosmetic, paint, animal bedding and care, biomass and construction among others. Recent changes of law in favor of hemp farming and processing on a global scale are only then sustainable when taking into account the utilization of the whole resource [1] as well as local circumstances. Due to economic interests this model is unfortunately not always practiced.
Construction is known to consume actually about 40% of the world’s global energy, 25% of the global water and 40% of the global resources (UN Environment Program, 2016). This consumption can be drastically reduced with the substitution of mineral aggregates by plant aggregates. This measurement not only locks carbon dioxide inside the building envelope but also reduces operational energy [4], e.g. air conditioning, what makes the insulating hemp concrete extremely interesting to combat climate change.

Hemp lime concrete sprayed application on a brick façade
Currently about 5,000 tons of hemp material is yearly employed for construction purposes in France, the country that started to develop in insulating building materials from hemp in the early years 90 followed by other European countries and developing in the last 15 years towards a global interest, undertaken by a growing research on this field. The materials are based on the two main components of the hemp stem: fibre (about a third part of the stem material) and the more abundant woody core (historically often considered as waste product of hemp fibre de-cortication), transformed mainly into particles of 2-25 mm length, called hemp hurds or shives. Hemp is naturally free of nutrients for parasites, it doesn’t need to get protected, like wood and some other plant based materials and is difficult flammable (classification B1 or B2). Construction materials based on hemp range from loose wool (100% hemp) or thermo-welded insulating panels (85% hemp fibre or 80% hemp fibre and hurds) and non woven felts for acoustic damping or leveling (100% hemp fiber) to particle boards for dry walls and ceilings (up to 100% hemp), pellets for slabs (pressed dust, by product of hemp fiber decortication), hemp fiber reinforced polymers for façade panels and curtain walls and hemp oil based varnishes. Hemp insulation panels replace non renewable resourced and energy consuming insulation materials like glass and rock wool, that show the same or very similar thermal conductivities. Nevertheless, tests were proving that U-values alone, determined in laboratory conditions, are not a suitable parameter for evaluating the thermal performance of a hemp based material since it is exposed to real weather conditions [5]. For instance synthetic fibres are unfavorable materials in summer conditions because they show a much lower phase shift in comparison with hemp fibre based insulators.

Detail of casted, compacted hemp concrete walls
However, the most versatile insulation material is hemp concrete. Mixed e.g. with hemp hurds, lime (or other natural binders) and water, this material allows a consumptions of up to one cubic meter hemp hurds per constructed square meter. the whole building envelope can be done with it, since its mechanical strength and fire classification are more favorable then in hemp wool insulators and even an important fire resistance (more than 120 minutes) can be achieved in load-bearing concretes, without reducing the hemp content. Its aptitude for inside applications and its water vapor diffusivity makes it very interesting not only for bioclimatic architecture but also for retrofitting of vernacular architecture. Furthermore a un-rendered 30 cm thick hemp concrete wall enables a storage of 36.08 kg of CO2 per m2 [6].
Structural vault of hemp concrete
Main applications are concretes for manually compacted, casted walls, sprayed insulation coatings, external and internal plasters, premade blocks and panels for non load-bearing or load-bearing applications, floor slabs, slabs and roof insulation, including structural applications like vaults and cupolas. Densities of this concretes start with 200-250 kg/m3 (sprayed coatings or void filler), while a wall mixture for non load-bearing applications ranges usually from 400-500 kg/m3. Whereas hemp consumption is unchanged, higher densities of 600 kg-1000 kg are achieved, among other methods, with higher binder content [7] what increases the mechanical strength. Those concretes and mortars are used in plasters, external renders and load-bearing applications. For environmental and economic reasons non calcined binders, e.g. clay based ones, are preferable in load-bearing applications. Hemp concrete is mainly known as hemp lime building [8], an interesting option in view of the fact that the porosity of lime doesn’t hinder the capacity of hemp for absorption, transfer and phase change of water in vapor and liquid forms. It also contributes to temperature regulation by osmosis. While aerial lime carbonates (hardening progresses slowly) and is very sensitive to climate conditions, hydraulic lime as well as mixes of aerial lime and puzzolanic aggregates are favorable options to accelerate the hardening process of a hemp concrete and allow setting with important coatings or wall thicknesses, without compromising the water vapor diffusion, compared to aerial lime binder. While lime binder is even giving favorable results in humid climates, the uses of gypsum, un-stabilized clay and organic binders are limited or precise constructive measurements to protect them from water. Apart from greater setting problems than with lime or lime with small amount of hydraulic binder, Portland cement is not recommended as the only binder in a hemp concrete because of environmental aspects. Its energy demand during the fabrication process is higher than in hydraulic limes and only a very small amount of carbon dioxide, emitted in this process, is reabsorbed in its hydraulic hardening process. On the other hand the addition of small amounts of natural cement to aerial lime can be useful during unfavorable drying conditions (natural cement is a similar product to hydraulic lime but thanks to the composition of its raw material it hardens quick and develops important mechanical strength in a short period of time). The pure cement use doesn’t increase significantly the mechanical strength compared with hydraulic lime since it shoes important setting problems in a hemp concrete matrix and also can’t compete with other positive material properties of lime and other natural binders like clay.

Natural and colored hemp lime concrete samples

Detail hemp hurds, sized 2-25 mm, containing 5% fibers
The innovative paper of hemp concrete as construction material is its function as a multi performance material, replacing entirely the mineral aggregates, used in conventional concretes [9], while in historic applications natural fibers where mainly added in meager amounts to concretes and mortars, e.g. to avoid retractions in a earthen plaster or adobe brick. For the reason that it possesses a porous intra and inter particular structure of up to more than 70% [10], the intentions with hemp concrete are material improvements on a thermal, hygrothermal and acoustic scale, creating additionally a carbon storing building envelope, combining hemp hurds or chopped stalk with a natural binder and water. While in the northern and central part of Europe formulations of this multi porous material are mainly designed to adapt to cold climate, thus are very light weight and depend from a wooden support structure, tendencies in the Mediterranean region focus on hemp concrete as a structural material with very dynamic thermal properties by adding a higher thermal inertia component. This is to avoid very light and porous mixes with low or moderate thermal conductivities, ranging from 0.06 to 0.12 W/(m·K), that can cause overheating in summer conditions. At the same time the need to import wood is drastically reduced, where this resource is limited. The elimination of the structure is important in the total balance of the life cycle of a hemp lime concrete where the lime has the first and the wooden structure the second most important impact [11]. Final carbon footprint of a hemp concrete can be drastically reduced by replacing lime binders for clay binders, as the re-absorption of CO2 of calcined binders is un-complete, also due to setting problems. In spite of a positive balance of all phases of their life cycle, a drawback in the use of plant based building materials like hemp concrete is still their higher purchase price, compared with conventional mainstream materials [12] and a general a lack of information and know how on this new technology. That’s why still a minority of customers is choosing for it, valorizing specially its superior ecologic and environmental qualities, its energy saving benefits and its hygrothermal behavior, that contributes to wellbeing. Further natural fibers are more difficult to master in a concrete matrix than mineral and synthetic fibers, e.g. because of their important water intake or their negative influence on the setting process of mineral and organic binders [13]. Thermal behavior is influenced by weathering conditions, that’s what norms are not always taking into account in regard to the performance of a hemp concrete. They also don’t contemplate the complex acoustic performance of this anisotropic material, and don’t consider alternative technologies in the work with the same, e.g. the elimination of membranes (used in conventional construction) to allow the exploitation of their hygrothermal qualities. Mechanical performance is far inferior then in steel concrete. This surely limits the use of hemp concrete as a load-bearing material. With around 2 MPa, when not exceeding a density of 1000 kg/m2, its compressive strength is comparable to other similar, historic materials found in load-bearing applications of 3 or more storey buildings, e.g. earth bricks. Bricks allow the work in difficult drying conditions and avoid long waiting periods till the humidity of the wall is in equilibrium with the environment. Premade elements are suitable for large projects and allow mainstream applications.
Although since the industrial revolution were predominating other values in architecture new tendencies highlight the valuation of materials and concepts, linked to nature, as continuation if previous models, practiced before natural materials got progressively substituted by industrial products. Meanwhile hemp concrete is actually gaining world wide interest, science is achieving important knowledge to manage the performance of this innovative system, approaching optimum results and durability, required for its present and future applications.

External view of a finished hemp clay brick 

Brussels

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Paris

Victoria

Cambridgeshire

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Antony Gibbons Design

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Lemoal Lemoal

Practice Architecture

Material Cultures

BC architects

Hemp is emerging as a valid bio-based alternative to concrete, inspired by environmental and energy-saving criteria. Hemp concrete, in fact, is a carbon-negative material: the carbon hemp absorbs as a plant makes up for the carbon emitted during the processing phase of hempcrete. More, it has a positive health impact as it releases no chemicals, and performs well technically, for acoustic and thermal insulation. Many projects are already proving their great potential: - Regional House Edeghem | BC architects (Brussels, BE)—is an educative and participative experience that explores an ecological and sustainable approach to construction. The hempcrete is used to insulate the facades and the roof and is left untreated to maintain its breathability, making the building CO2-negative. - Flat House | Practice Architecture + Material Cultures (Cambridgeshire, UK)—is a pre-fabricated hemp-based construction made of a brand new hemp fiber cladding product. The collaboration led to the establishment of Material Cultures, a research organization whose aim is to explore biomaterials in the context of off-site construction.- Pierre Chevet Sports Center | Lemoal Lemoal (Paris, FR)—is carried by a wooden half-vaulted frame that is adjoined to the hempcrete walls for support. Hemp is also used for insulation.- Hemp House | Steffen Welsch Architects (Collingwood, AU)—is the first hempcrete house in Australia. Hemp was chosen to optimise heating and cooling thanks to its breathability, while not forgetting quality of aesthetics, acoustics, and air quality, given that it is an effective acoustic insulator, and it creates a cosy and warm atmosphere.- Mobius House of Hemp Bricks and Concrete | Gibbons Design—is entirely made out of hempcrete blocks reinforced with concrete, which expresses the house’s connection with nature.