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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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Starter Kit collection

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

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

Innovation

Reduced green house gas emissions released into the biosphere

Reduce Emissions (SDG13)

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

Transportation and Logistics

Providing air, water, rail, and land transportation for passengers, such as airlines, airports, ferries, cruise-ships, tour boat operators, marine ports, railways, train stations, tour bus operators, vehicle rental, and taxi companies, travel agencies and related services

Passenger Transport Services

Use digital, online platforms and technologies that provide insights to track and optimise resource use, strengthen connections between supply chain actors, and enable the implementation of circular models



Incorporate digital technology

Employ technologies to gather and analyse data to provide insights on resource use

Data and insights

Installing sensors to gather data from products and services to identify, enable and/or implement circular strategies (eg. effective resource use & logistics planning, circular business models & design)

Sensors, monitoring systems

'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

Institutional design to enable circularity

Participatory governance mechanisms

Innovation-oriented public procurement

 Public Procurement

Develop infrastructure to support resource cycling

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

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Rethink

**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

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

Includes measures that protect and enhance ecosystems and biodiversity both within and beyond city boundaries, as well as actions to restore degraded ecosystems.


Protect and restore local ecosystems

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


Support circular and resource-efficient business innovations

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

In cities, logistics is a key part of the mobility system, with freight transport making up on average 25% of traffic in cities, while taking up 40% of the road space, and generating 40% of transport-related emissions ([ICLEI](https://sustainablemobility.iclei.org/framing-sustainable-urban-logistics-in-cities/)). Often, urban logistics and freight vehicles commonly carry loads that are below full capacity, since much of urban logistics is centred around the last- or first- mile which has a strong preference for speed and convenience. This therefore means that more vehicles are on the streets, contributing to increased emissions, congestion and air pollution in urban areas. 

Optimisation of urban logistics systems can reduce the total quantities of vehicles on the roads and associated emissions and congestion. In addition to this, cities that are intrinsically linked to a port can optimise the incoming freight, the logistics of unloading, before such loads enter the urban mobility system. One such example is shared logistics systems that pool resources intelligently via digital systems that can match available load capacity with demand to minimise the total quantity of kilometres travelled and the number of vehicles required. Furthermore, decentralised distribution centres throughout cities can act as hubs for low-carbon and non-motorised logistics vehicles and achieve similar benefits in reducing the number of vehicles driving in cities, which can be particularly effective for last- and first-mile logistics.

Local governments can support such optimisation systems by providing financial and in kind aid to innovations and initiatives that are focused on improving the technologies and processes that underpin and enable urban logistics. To this end, cities can share real-time transport related data to optimise logistics routes and support such innovations. Finally, cities can also leverage regulations to establish a minimum load capacity for logistics vehicles entering (certain parts of) the city. 


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🚌  Optimised & low-carbon freight and logistics systems

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

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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From 1 October 2021, stricter rules will apply for heavy vehicles in the city centre. This is to protect the bridges and canal walls. If you are a heavy vehicle driver, this may affect your work. You may have to opt for different routes or transport your load in lighter vehicles and separate journeys. There are also rules of conduct for drivers, which will be strictly enforced.

 
From 1 October 2021, you can only apply for a zone exemption (zoneontheffing) for vehicles up to 30 tonnes.
Only a limited number of vehicles over 30 tonnes will be eligible for a route exemption (routeontheffing). We will also assess your route in advance.
The weight limit applies to the actual weight of the vehicle.
 Vehicles must be a maximum of 10 metres long. We will make an exception if you are transporting an indivisible load, qualify as an abnormal vehicle or if your destination is along a wide road.
Rules of conduct as of 1 October

Do not load, unload or park on the pedestrian area on bridges.
Keep a minimum distance of 3 meters from the canal wall alongside canals.
Keep a minimum distance of 5 meters from other heavy vehicles or objects.
Driving behaviour: drive slowly over speed bumps and other uneven surfaces.

More Information

Apply for an exemption (in Dutch)
Heavy vehicle zone map






  
  

Copenhagen

Barcelona

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Municipality of Copenhagen

Municipality of Barcelona

To improve road use during different times of the day and levels of traffic, cities can make use of intelligent LED lights or other innovation, to better adapt to the road situation in real-time.

Dynamic road use in Copenhagen and Barcelona 

Fàbrica del Sol is an environmental education facility promoted by the Ecology, Urban Planning and Mobility Area of Barcelona City Council. The facility was rehabilitated using environmental measures such as "the use of rainwater, an indoor vertical garden, a geothermal heat pump, a pergola and a partition wall with photovoltaic panels, as well as natural ventilation. The facility acts as a demonstration building and offers a number of additional awareness-raising services and resources, including consultation services on urban ecology, a material loan service and a number of other activities for visitors. [1]

Fabrica del Sol: Environmental education facility in Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona's Sustainable Public Procurement Plan 2018 has the following
objectives, among others: (1) 100% green electricity supply with Guarantee of
Origin from renewable resources or high-efficiency co-generation; (2) 90% of
recycled paper on City Council's overall use; (3) environmental plan for
events organization; (4) extension in the incorporation of environmental
criteria to the procurement of ad-hoc catering services, promoting ecological
and fair trade products; (5) guarantee that textiles originate from a
production process that respects basic working rights and limits of chemical
substances; (6) duplication in the percentage of low-emissions vehicles
acquired for the municipal fleet; and (7) retention of environmental quality
and circular economy criteria for advertising and communication materials in
the Communications Directorate’s (Resource Management) general contract.



Sustainable Public Procurement Plan 2018

La Marina del Prat Vermell is a new neighbourhood under development in Barcelona, Spain that is structured to include sustainable practices. The central feature of the neighbourhood will be a large greenspace of 20,000 square metres, which will include five interconnected spaces with multiple functions; the park will act to both purify the air and be a haven for residents to meet, play and rest. The project has a budget of over four million euros and will see the creation of more than ten thousand new homes.&nbsp;

Marina del Prat Vermell project in Barcelona, Spain

The document sets the strategic lines and strategic objectives to guarantee
the transition towards sustainable mobility and zero emissions, based on the
efficiency of electric vehicles. It is divided into five areas of action and
specifies a set of measures on the horizon of January 2024, with an initial
phase of 2 years, coinciding with January of 2020.



Electric mobility strategy 2018-2024

In order to incorporate waste prevention to waste management, Barcelona
adopted the Waste Prevention Plan 2012-2020. The actions focus on organic and
food waste, light packaging, bulky and clothing waste.



Barcelona Waste Prevention Plan 

In 2009, Barcelona City Council implemented its new contract for street cleaning and rubbish collection. The tender procedure introduced a number of requirements to enhance the quality and sustainability of the service. It includes more frequent rubbish collection, environmentally-friendly vehicles, separate collection of organic waste and recycling containers.

Improvements to waste management

In 2015, Barcelona launched this Commitment which led to 9 related projects: (1) plug-ins looking for energy saving and efficiency; (2) passive reform and active awareness against energy waste; (3) pilot project of mosaic roofs with facilities that combine renewable energy with agricultural and green spaces, rainwater collection; (4) promotion of sustainable mobility with a modal shift of labor transport by lending a fleet of bicycles for workers; (5) green dot 2.0 - action to extend the useful life of materials and products through web and meeting point of initiatives and services that promote urban reuse, repair and mining; (6) action towards zero waste and the circular economy through the improvement of waste separation with door-to-door collection and a system of packaging deposit and return; and (7) communication plan about individual responsibilities on climate change, etc.

Barcelona's Commitment for the Climate

The Barcelona City Council has the firm commitment to promote social action and respect for the environment through its procurement.&nbsp;Improvement initiatives are part of the program called the Sustainable City Council programme.&nbsp;It aims to (1) contribute in the reduction of CO2 emissions generated by city council buildings and services; (2) make progress in waste prevention and improve selective waste collection in city council buildings; (3) increase water savings in city council buildings and services; (4) green up public works, buildings and projects; (5) respect basic standards of ILO in local authority contracts; (6) promote social and sustainable economy; (7) develop a socially responsible and environmentally correct organisational culture; and (8) develop a communication strategy for the programme.The programme places the focus on several key products and services for public procurement which include construction projects and wood. For construction projects, criteria for maximum energy self-science must be established, taking into account other aspects as well, such as the promotion of biodiversity or the use of building materials with environmentally positive characteristics. In the case of wood, all timber products must be guaranteed to be sourced from sustainable forestry (FSC, PEFC or equivalent).

Sustainable City Council Programme

The city of Barcelona needs to drastically increase their recycling rate in order to ensure meeting new EU goals, despite the rate of recycling stagnating recently. The city decided to meet this challenge with a comprehensive zero-waste strategy centered around door-to-door collection of waste, a strategy that has been successfully used in other cities such as Milan before. This is complemented by an awareness strategy among stakeholders, as well as a series of measures to reduce waste and incentivise repair schemes. The city aims to base a wider transition into a greener, more circular urban economy based on this strategy.

Barcelona's zero waste strategy

The city of Barcelona established Green point areas where individuals and businesses operating in the commercial and services sectors can get rid of waste that can’t be thrown into street containers. By using this service citizens contribute to improve the recycling process and help preserving the environment. The Green points can be large environmental facilities located on the outskirts of the city, or smaller and located within the urban area.A Green point allows to collect: flat glass, large appliances, gardening and pruning waste, debris, junk and old furniture, clothes, shoes, ink cartridges, toners, electrical and electronic devices, cooking oil, electric cables, small tires, aerosols and sprays, car batteries, cosmetics, radiographs, batteries, motor oil, paints and varnishes, fluorescent light bulbs, coffee capsules (plastic and aluminum), etc.

Barcelona's Green Point for source collection and separation

Barcelona City Council is driving the BUITS (Empty Urban Spaces with Territorial and Social Involvement) Plan to provide a temporary social and community use for some of the municipally owned land sites that are currently in disuse.This "empty space" plan invites the city's public and private non-profit organisations to propose a use or activity of general interest and temporarily run a site. Their proposals will be assessed and selected by an evaluation committee which will give special consideration to the programme's flexibility, its short-term and provisional nature, efficient self-management that keeps the facilities in good condition, and any positive social impact on the city as a whole. Therefore, an essential feature of the plan is the involvement of civil society in defining, installing and managing urban spaces.Past projects included community gardns, meeting spaces and even parking biking.