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Circle Economy and ICLEI have partnered up to initiate the go to knowledge hub of case studies about the circular economy in cities. The Cities Collection is a repository of case studies that demonstrate the role of cities in the circular transition, and includes policies, business cases and research articles. Cases in the Collection flow into an ecosystem of digital products which support users in transitioning cities to circularity, for example [Ganbatte](https://ganbatte.world/cities/) and <a href="https://circulars.iclei.org/" target="_blank">ICLEI Circulars</a>, both part of the <a href="https://circulars.iclei.org/circle-lab-for-cities/" target = _blank">Circle Lab for Cities Programme.</a>




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Circular Cities

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Policy case

Impact on the quantity or quality of jobs, and shifts in the labour market

Jobs

Direct and indirect effects that increase revenues or the potential for new revenues, for example from new products, customer segments, partnerships or business models

Revenue Potential

Reduced green house gas emissions released into the biosphere

Reduce Emissions (SDG13)

Producing and gathering crop and animal products from land and water through farming, hunting, and fishing

Agriculture

Processing and producing food and beverages for consumption

Food and Beverage

Work together throughout the supply chain, internally within organisations and with the public sector and communities to increase transparency and create joint value

Team up to create joint value

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

Manage

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


Regulate

Legislation

 Public Procurement

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

Increase efficiency and promote local economic growth by shortening supply chains and connecting local producers to consumers.


Support local low-impact circular economies

The food system nourishes populations and employs 50% of the global workforce, but:
- it currently drives a quarter of the overshoot on the climate change planetary boundary due to its greenhouse gas (GHG) production, 
- animal farming alone uses over one-quarter of all land, equivalent to the size of the Americas,
- nearly a quarter of freshwater resources are lost due to rampant food waste, and
- it is the single largest driver of biodiversity loss.

A circular food system must address the whole value chain, from production to consumption to waste management. The four key solutions for the food system are:
- Put healthier, satiating foods first: Prioritise satiating and healthy foods with a lower environmental impact—ideally shifting calories from meat, fish, and dairy towards cereals, fruits, vegetables, and nuts.
- Go local, seasonal, and organic: Prioritise the production and consumption of local, seasonal, and organic produce (sometimes in combination with GMO to reduce pests and disease loss on crops), which can lead to a significantly reduced need for chemical inputs, fuels, and processing services that contribute to environmental impacts.
- Mainstream regenerative agriculture: Scale up agricultural practices that regenerate ecosystems, recirculate nutrients and sequester carbon by design. 
- End avoidable food waste: Minimise food loss and valorise waste following the food waste hierarchy along the supply chain and at the consumer level through better management of transport and storage, more refrigeration and smart planning, and technology at the consumer and food service levels.



🍏 Food Systems

Businesses

Governments

Impacts

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Industries

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

Policy Instruments

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A framework of policy instruments that enable and stimulate the transition to the circular economy

The principles of a circular economy concern designing out waste, regenerating ecosystems and keeping items in use. Decoupling the economy from material flows—improving the rate of resource productivity faster than the economic growth rate—is also a consistent guide. By evolving with the growing number of applications of circular economy principles, and consolidating these strategies across thematic areas, Circle Economy’s Key Elements Framework (KE) renders the elements of the circular economy salient and serves as a basis to derive contextual strategies and interventions. 


The Framework consists of:
- Core Elements: Activities directly handling product or material flows; and uniquely,
- Enabling Elements: those that remove obstacles for core actors.


Key elements of the circular economy

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Circle Economy's framework of strategies and activities that define the circular economy

The Circular City Actions Framework provides urban changemakers with five complementary strategies they can use to start working towards a more circular system. 

The framework is action-based to provide users with concrete strategic directions and showcase the desired outcomes of each strategy. 
The framework consists of five complementary **strategies**, under which **sub-strategies** provide further detail. Finally, each sub-strategy consists of a diversity of tangible **solutions** which are framed in relation to key thematic areas. 

Note: solutions are currently focused on:
- 🍏 **Food systems**
- 🏢  **Built environment**
- 👕📱  **Consumer goods**
- ⚡ **Energy Systems**
- 🚌 **Mobility Systems**
- 💧 **Water Systems**

More thematic areas are coming soon...

'Click through each of the five strategy cards below to explore the framework and circular economy case studies in more depth!'



This framework was developed in collaboration with ICLEI, Metabolic and Ellen MacArthur Foundation with support from the MAVA Foundation. Read more about it [here]( https://circulars.iclei.org/action-framework/). 



Circular City Actions Framework

An action-based framework for local governments working towards circular cities

Thematic Areas

City Stakeholders

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Based on the work of [Bocken et al. (2016)](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309699661_Product_design_and_business_model_strategies_for_a_circular_economy), the Four Flows Framework serves as a simple framework for managing resource flows in a circular economy by using less (Narrow), using for longer (Slow), using again (Cycle), and using clean, regenerative materials and energy (Regenerate).

These different principles of circular economy can be applied to our socioeconomic metabolism: we can design stocks like buildings, infrastructure, machinery, and vehicles to be rich resource mines for the future, and design manufactured goods and consumables to be cycled and made regenerative. Furthermore, the focus must also centre on getting more value out of fewer materials. Achieving the aims of a circular economy—minimising material use, regenerating the Earth, and preventing material losses—can be done through these four key strategies mentioned above.

Source: Circle Economy. (2023). *[The circularity gap report 2023](https://www.circularity-gap.world/2023)* (p.22). Amsterdam: Circle Economy. 

Four Flows Framework

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The Municipality of Milan and Fondazione Cariplo have taken a bold new strategic approach to support a new food system by developing the Milan Food Policy - a tool to support the city's food industry players as they manage food related challenges.What makes the Milan Food Policy circularThrough local procurement, developing logistics for distributing surplus food, and valorising discarded organic material, Milan is making the most of its food resources while supporting the regeneration of natural systems.The benefitsBy working with local public and private organisations, and supporting innovation, Milan has seen important reductions in food waste and the associated costs. Through awareness raising and capacity building, local organisations involved with food are also able to evolve and benefit from this positive shift.Cities as drivers for change in the food systemThe modern food system has many challenges - it is hugely wasteful, degrades nature, and causes many people to be unhealthy, through both its consumption and production. The consequences are significant. A recent report published by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimated that for every dollar spent on food, society pays the equivalent of two dollars in health, environmental, and economic costs.Cities, through their unique characteristics, assets, and capabilities, could play a key role in changing this. By 2050 more than two-thirds of people will live in cities. The average consumption of food per person tends to be higher in cities due to higher incomes and other factors. Combined, this means that by 2050 it is estimated that 80% of all food will be destined for cities, giving urban food players huge demand power. Cities also accumulate large volumes of valuable food by-products and waste, which if managed effectively can yield many new forms of value for the bioeconomy.For these reasons, cities have great influence to shape the future food system. The ongoing work in Milan is a great example of policymakers realising this potential and creating the important policy foundation to support this transformation.Milan - city of 1.3 million people with a strong food cultureOrigins of the Milan Food PolicyMilan had been engaged in new thinking around food since at least 2006 as the city prepared their successful bid to host the 2015 Universal Exposition. In 2014, in the run up to the exposition, the municipality partnered with Fondazione Cariplo to promote and implement a comprehensive local food strategy - the Milan Food Policy.The first step was to assess the local food system by engaging food experts and stakeholders. A public consultation was launched, involving city departments, universities, businesses, and other organisations, which collaborated to establish the most effective strategy, ultimately selecting five interconnected priorities:Improving access to water and healthy foodMoving to regenerative food productionRaising awarenessMaking the most of foodSupporting scientific researchTo support the initiative, the Milan 2015-2020 Food Policy Guidelines were developed and a food policy office was established to coordinate efforts and monitor progress.Towards a better urban food systemSince the launch, many concrete initiatives have been developed and implemented that build on the foundation of the Milan Food Policy.A local ‘food waste hub’In 2018, research was run between the Politecnico of Milan, which provided modelling and data analysis expertise, and Assolombarda, an umbrella organisation that connects supermarkets, businesses, and canteens. Together with the Milan Food Policy office, they explored the creation of edible food waste in three different neighbourhoods. This research culminated in the launch of a local ‘food waste hub’ located in a municipality warehouse, supported by Fondazione Cariplo (with the actions of the project QuBì) and the logistics required to bring in and redistribute food from private canteens, supermarkets, and street markets.Awareness raisingWorking with Milano Ristorazione, the municipal food agency that manages all school catering in the city, a campaign was run in 85 schools. Pupils in school canteens tend to waste fruit that is served at the end of their lunch, so children were instead encouraged to take their fruit as a mid-morning snack. Children were also provided with reusable doggy bags to take leftover food at the end of the school day. The campaign resulted in a 17% reduction of food waste.Regenerating peri-urban and local soils, and creating biogasMunicipal trucks (many powered by biodiesel) regularly collect surplus food from households, commercial properties, and schools in Milan, and transport it to an anaerobic digestion and composting plant. These organic resources are processed into biogas which is injected into the local gas network, and compost which is used to fertilise peri-urban farmland. Through a number of communication tools such as leaflets, radio, and television, Milan inhabitants were given guidance to encourage separation of different organic and non-organic materials, and by 2018, achieved a source separation rate of nearly 56%. In total for that year alone, approximately 130,000 tonnes of organic resources were processed in this way, avoiding 8,760 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.Fiscal measuresTo further encourage markets, restaurants, private and school canteens, and others, a 20% municipal tax reduction was introduced in 2018 for any organisation that donates to food banks and food charities. Administration of this measure requires the collaboration of the fiscal, environmental, and food policy departments.Procurement of locally sourced food productsAround 100 farms and 800 orchards surround Milan. The Distretto Agricolo Milanese (DAM), is a consortium that brings together over 30 of these farms. Together with the Municipality of Milan, DAM works to support procurement of locally sourced food. For example, the rice served in Milan school canteens is entirely produced by the DAM and to date 19 other horticultural supply chains have connections to local sources of food production, drastically cutting down on transportation and supporting local production.

Milan

Municipality of Milan

Distretto Agricolo Milanese (DAM)

<p>The Municipality of Milan works together with the Distretto Agricolo Milanese (DAM), a consortium that brings together over 30 farms surrounding Milan, to support procurement of locally sourced food. For example, the rice served in Milan school canteens is entirely produced by the DAM and to date, 19 other horticultural supply chains have connections to local sources of food production, drastically cutting down on transportation and supporting local production.</p>