Achieving the Circular Economy: Exploring the Role of Local Governments, Business and Civic Society in an Urban Context

Dear Colleagues,

Urbanisation and climate change are urging cities to find novel pathways leading to a sustainable future. The urban context may be viewed as a new experimentation space to accelerate the transition to a circular economy. Urban symbiosis and circular economy are emerging concepts attracting more and more attention within the urban context. Moreover, new business models are emerging around sharing and peer-to-peer practices, which are challenging existing roles of actors in society. These developments have an important impact on the flows of resources and the use of the city infrastructure, and each research area has taken a different perspective on the analysis of such impacts. In this Special Issue, we want to explore what a “circular city” would constitute and how and why cities engage in circularity. We invite papers discussing, for example, drivers, barriers, and challenges of implementing circularity priniciples. We also invite papers providing new empirical data on sustainability and the circular economy in cities and the roles that business and civic society can play in urban transitions for sustainability, as well as investigations of the interplay between these actors in achieving a circular economy. For example, how do interactions between business models in the urban economy affect the ecological and social sustainability of provision for human needs, and what tools can be used to assess this? What would adequate transition pathways in an urban context look like and what tools and methods can support key decision makers?

Prof. Jenny Palm
Prof. Dr. Nancy Bocken
Guest Editors

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