Policy case

Impact on the health and happiness of human populations

Well-being

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

Other

Develop infrastructure to support sustainable lifestyles

Roadmaps and strategies and targets

Impacts

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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

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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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SummaryIn the late 19th to 20th century, Dortmund was known worldwide as a center for 
brewing, coal, and steel industries. In 1990, looking to remain out of history books 
and into the future of urban design, Dortmund began a major redevelopment project 
which focused on the establishment of pleasant living and working environments 
through the promotion of sustainable practices. The project included building a 

habitats, and increasing the number of nature reserve areas in the city. The project 
also prioritized attracting cutting-edge technological industry to the city and 
advancing Dortmund as a logistics hub. Through the project, Dortmund sought to be 
known as a ﬁgreen metropolisﬂ in Germany and has succeeded in many ways. With 


number parks and gardens throughout the city, and a major lake serving as a center 
of residential, technological, and touristic life Œ Dortmund has used its need for 
redevelopment to jumpstart its future as a leader in sustainability.  The importance of water management With millions moving into cities globally each month, urbanization implies a necessity 
to increase water supplies. However, according to a global study by McGill University 
in 2014, one in four major cities is water-stressed currently. Global watersheds are 
overused and overstretched with 504 billion liters of water moving across 27,000 km 
in order to provide adequate amounts of water to their inhabitants.This means that managing water resources in cities across the globe is pressing. In 
order to counter climate change, it is necessary to have healthy ecosystem services, 
which rely on adequate water supplies. Therefore, a local government devoted 
towards improved water management provides its inhabitants with a possibility of a 
future with greater resiliency, safety, and quality of life.  Dortmund™s restructuring of its water sources in their redevelopment has proven 
successful. The polluted Emscher River, contaminated from years of industrial output 


ecological restoration. The creation of Lake Phoenix carried a great impact for climate 
change mitigation because of its water retention and cooling system. This case study focuses on the city™s water management, in particular the building of a major lake and 
the cleaning of the river system, which increased Dortmund™s resilience.  Dortmund has transformed from a major industrial city into the ﬁgreen metropolisﬂ of 
Germany™s Westphalia region. Following World War II and the closure of major coal mines 

and steel plants, the city undertook a major sustainable redevelopment project which 

led to marked improvements to municipal water management and sustainable design. 
Dortmund, GermanyA greener tomorrow: Water management in 

urban redevelopmentPopulation / Land area600,000/ 280.7 km2Municipal budget 
$2.23 billionGreenhouse gas inventory Yes, since 1990. As of 2012 Dortmund has reduced its CO2 emmissions by 25% relative to its 1990 baseline. ICLEI Case Studies193October 2016Facts & Figures2Dortmund in contextDortmund is located in the State of North-Rhineland Westphalia and is one of the 
major cities in the Metropolitan Ruhr Area, the former coal mine area of Germany. 
Comprised of 12 distinct districts, Dortmund is the eighth largest city in Germany  and 
boasts strong technological, academic, and tourism sectors.   Industry gave context to much of Dortmund™s infrastructure prior to the 
redevelopment. Since 1875, with the rise of the industrial revolution, until 2001, with 

dominated Dortmund™s economy. Approximately 80,000 of Dortmund™s employees 
worked in one of the industrial branches. However with the industrial decline in the 
of Dortmund™s industrial sites, closed most of their Dortmund sites in 2001. It was not 
until this end of the steel industry that a pressing need for a ﬁNew Dortmundﬂ arose. ﬁNew Dortmundﬂ: Sustainable redevelopment in the Dortmund District of Hoerde Establishing a ﬁNew Dortmundﬂ required a major restructuring of the abandoned 
industrial parks and the wastewater river. In the District of Hoerde, the government 
acquired all 200 hectares of land from the steel mill Phoenix to build a technological 

project was led by the Dortmund administration sector and the newly established 
development agency through the Stadtwerke Dortmund. Mayor Ullrich Sierau took 
considerable initiative in strategizing and rallying for the project. The goal was to 
establish Dortmund as a leader in creative arts and business, with excellent living and 
working conditions. 
Phoenix East, focusing on the creation of a public lake to increase quality of life, 
housing, and tourism. Secondly, the emergence of a cleaned Emscher River System 
from the restructuring of the city™s wastewater system. Lastly, the transformation of 
Phoenix West into a Technology Park focused on increased jobs and innovation in the 
ICT and MST industries. This transformation also included increasing green spaces in 
the south. Overall, the ﬁNew Dortmundﬂ redevelopment project hoped to increase job 
opportunities and quality of life through sustainable practices. Left: Phoenix in 1961 
(Photo by Willi Garth)
; right: Future Location Phoenix West"
 (Photo by Frank Vincentz)
Looking aheadDortmund is a center for future oriented sectors 
such as IT, micro and 
nano-technology, logistics, 
e-commerce and increasingly also for biomedicine and robotics.More than 37,000 people are employed by over 1,400 companies in these sectors, and Dortmund is also 
Germany's biggest producer 
of software. 3Creation of Lake Phoenix In 2010, the site of what was once one of the largest steel factories 

of a ﬁNew Dortmundﬂ, the lake would be the trademark of the city™s 
pleasant working and living conditions, setting it apart from other 
cities. The lake sits on the eastern side of a barren industrial site 
close to the city center of Dortmund, covering roughly 24 hectares 
of land. It is 1,230 m long, 360 m wide, and 4.6 m deep in maximum, 
situated near Hoerde, the newly attractive suburb. Dortmund City 
Council™s urban planning and building development department 
The creation of the lake has brought greater tourism, residential 
communities, and technological institutions to the area. The lake itself 
boasts a promenade and harbor area used for boating, water sports, 


3 to its normal capacity of 600,000 m
3 of retention volume of rain water or 





Re-naturalization of Emscher RiverThe Emscher River is an 85 km long tributary of the Rhine River. It 

Area up to the City of Duisburg. It forms the central axis of the river 
system in the City of Dortmund. During the era of industrialization, 
the river served as an underground sewer known as ﬁHoeschkanalﬂ, 
running below the steel works site in Phoenix East. Much of the river™s 
natural biodiversity growth and ecosystem was destroyed from the 
repercussions of industry. The water undrinkable and the river beds 
and banks concreted for better drainage, the whole river system was 
in need of a major redevelopment. The re-naturalizing of the Emscher 



recreational activities along the river. Reallocating wastewater: 
As part of the redevelopment, the Emscher 
drainage and wastewater management system transformed into a 
natural open water system. The new Emscher catchment area in the 
Metropolitan Ruhr area contains more than 240 km of waste-water 
channels parallel to the river system, focused around a large main 

drain. In Dortmund, this main drain serves as an axis for the sewage, 
leading the sewage to the Dortmund-Deusen treatment plant, one 
of four treatment plants in the Emscher System of the Metropolitan 
Ruhr Area. The new wastewater sewer will run to the south and the 

northern edge of the lake. The Dortmund government has focused on transforming the water system fully by 2020 to reduce peak discharge 
into the Emscher River.Renaturalized river Emshcher running parallel to Lake 
Phoenix 
(Photo by S. Baer)Lake Phoenix (Photo by Frank Vincentz)Urban integration of natural River Emscher at Lake Phoenix 
(Photo by Wirtschaftsfoerderung Dortmund)4Flood prevention: 
along the Emscher River. In the District of Hoerde, Lake Phoenix serves as a huge rain water 

populated areas.  In the northern districts of Dortmund, Mengede and Ellinghausen, 
the Emscher has been restructured to ﬁnaturalﬂ meander widths of 200-300 m. The 



Ecological Restoration: 
A great focus was held on natural regrowth and sustainable 






the basins to allow for new wetland restoration and continual irrigation of surrounding 
land. These wetlands will allow for natural vegetation, eventually reaching half of its 
growth to be native trees and half native plant life, along the banks. Results and impact on community Growth in jobs and industry: 
Today, 70% of Dortmund™s economy belongs to small to medium sized businesses focused in the service sector. The City of Dortmund acts 
as the service center for the surrounding regional manufacturing economy. Main 
industries in Dortmund now include IT technology, micro and nanotechnology, and 
production and information technology innovation. There has been a rise in GDP per capita from the start of the redevelopment in the 1990s. Much growth in new 
technology sectors comes from the growth of technological parks and technical 
universities in Dortmund. The number of employees has grown steadily, and has 
expanded by 5,900 in 2015. However the unemployment rate is still high but on a 
slide downwards trend of 11.8% in June 2016. The main unemployment group is 


unemployment agency, local government, associations and institutions are dealing 
 Increase in leisure and quality of life: Many residents were skeptical especially 
of the Phoenix project in its early stages, in particular of the rising real estate prices 
of property surrounding the lake. However, multiple aspects of the redevelopment 
focused on using resilient practices to improve the livelihood of Dortmund™s 
Renaturation of the Emscher system: Demolition of concrete borders in the 
Rüpingsbach in Dortmund-Schönau 
(Photo by Stefan Kunzmann)
5population. The creation of the lake established room for recreational 

walking, skating on the shores of the lake. Also along the Emscher River 
newly created footpaths and cycling lanes made from recycled soil 
encourage nearby inhabitants to exercise outdoors. The outpouring of 

the city bring great enjoyment to visitors and residents.  Greater green coverage: 
Almost 50% of Dortmund is covered in green 
space, whether that be from forests, agriculture, parks, gardens, natural 
reserves or natural growth along the river system. Due to the restructuring 

become a part of the Emscher Countryside Park. It is now part of an 84 
km stretch of green space in the Metropolitan Ruhr Area which runs from 
the start of the Emscher in Dortmund to its output into the Rhine. Parks 

of all sizes surround Dortmund. Westfalenpark, with the third largest 
rose collection in the world, with around 3,800 types of roses, holds three 
Federal Garden Exhibitions. Dortmund™s botanical garden, Rombergpark, 

largest botanical gardens in Germany. The protected nature reserves in 
Dortmund are steadily increasing. Between 1977 and 2016, almost 10% of 
the municipal area was taken under protection. Lessons learnedAllowing for greater public participation
 in decision making more likely 
leads to excitement and interest in the Phoenix Project. In the beginning 
stages of the redevelopment, there existed uncertainty and fear among 
many inhabitants living nearby the project area due to the likely rising 

background into the predominately working-class District of Hoerde, where 
Lake Phoenix would be constructed. The integration of the resident population remains a challenge in the 
redevelopment, however establishing a platform for the voices of the 
residents allowed for greater excitement to be built and security to be felt. 

workshop was held in 2006 on the design and construction of the river™s 
ending outlet. They concluded that transparency in the redevelopment of 


bridge to cross the river, and walkway to the weirs. Creating diversity of funding and leadership, where no single government 
member, developer, or investor holds a majority of the power in the project 
allowed for various funding and brainstorming to develop. The Mayor was 



and voices were valued and implemented into the project. The mere scale of the project, quite large and complex for a city having lost its 
main form of economy, necessitated a collaborative, open-mind agency and 
team to successfully coordinate planning, marketing, and public participation. 
There were workshops held by the City of Dortmund, NRW.Urban, a major 
German developing agency, and ThyssenKrupp. These workshops integrated 
the ideas of other consultants, planners, knowledge institutes, developers, 
and architects into the larger concept of a ﬁNew Dortmundﬂ. Meeting with citizens (Photo by Michael Leischner)Concert in Dortmund (Photo by Roland Klecker)Clear, articulated goals lead to a more concrete and successful outcome. 
Following the end of industry in Dortmund, most of the city™s political leaders agreed 
that the city must undergo a major redevelopment if it wanted to stay a competitive 
urban metropolis. However the Phoenix redevelopment project resulted in being far 
more expensive than was anticipated in the budgeting and design. For example, due 
to an unpredictable evaluation of the sight, the cost to excavate the contaminated soil 
of the steel mill site increased. On the other hand, a large part of the project costs was borne by sale of land for buildings along the shore of the lake. Having clear, attainable 
goals from the beginning of the project, such as prioritizing a sustainable redesign, 
Prioritizing sustainable practices in redevelopment creates a long-term healthy 
impact on its community. Dortmund focused its redevelopment around improving its resilience to climate change, with water management and greening as the main means of execution. It created ways to bring its citizens outside to stay active, increased 

and created more gardens and parks for its citizens to enjoy. By prioritizing improved 

has also prioritized quality of life for its citizens, the biosphere, and the climate.ReplicationThe results of this case study show that cities caught in antiquated infrastructure 


aspects of Dortmund™s project appear unique, there exist many possible ways to 
implement a more sustainable redevelopment plan on the local-level. Dortmund™s 
redevelopment suggests that smaller scale projects such as increasing the number 
of parks and gardens or maintaining and restoring natural pathways for civilian 
use, can build resilience and improve quality of life for its inhabitants. By focusing 
on improving their water management, cities can work towards climate change mitigation, increased water supplies, and greater city-wide resiliency.  Further Reading Award winning documentary film about the history of Lake Phoenix:
 http://www.goettliche-lage.de/ City of Dortmund:
 
https://www.dortmund.de/en/about_dortmund/home_ad/index.html Conversion of the River Emscher System:
 
http://www.eglv.de/en/emschergenossenschaft/emscher-conversion/ 1989-1999 - International Building Exhibition in the Metropolitan Ruhr Area
 
http://www.iba-emscherpark.de/pageID_2507086.htmlKey ContactsCity of DortmundMichael Leischner Head of Municipal Climate Protection Dortmund, Germany
Tel: +49 231 50 26 904

Email: michael.leischner@stadtdo.de 
www.dortmund.de/en
ICLEI World Secretariat (WS)
Capacity CenterKaiser-Friedrich-Str. 7
53113 Bonn, Germany

Tel. +49-228 / 97 62 99-00

Fax +49-228 / 97 62 99-01
Email: urban.research@iclei.orgwww.iclei.org
AcknowledgementsAuthor: Rebecca Peet,  
ICLEI East Asia Secretariat
Contributor: Michael Leischner, 
City of DortmundEditor: Shermaine Ho, ICLEI East Asia Secretariat


Municipality of Dortmund

<p>Dortmund has adopted a process of the city's redevelopment, adopting sustainable criteria around greater infrastructure for flood prevention, river revitalization projects, parks and gardens throughout the city, and a major lake serving as a center of residential, technological, and touristic life.</p>