Circular economy in territorial planning strategy: Incorporation in cluster activities and economic zones

Abstract

Planning is a form of interaction between social, economic, environmental, political, organizational, and institutional elements that undergo different processes. Planning is influenced by sets and subsets of factors that come together and are measured on a spatial scale. Despite well-planned strategies, sustainability has always been questioned, especially in developing countries. In this regard, the Circular Economy concept has been considered an inclusive solution to contemporaneous phenomena and a model for ensuring the sustainability of any initiative. Albania undertook territorial reform for decentralization in 2014, and all the national and regional strategies were drafted considering closed-cycle concepts. As such, sustainability was the central point of focus for all plans. Considering the difficulty and significance of the process, this work analyzes circular economy incorporation in the territorial spatial planning reform of 2014 in Albania. It makes a comparison between the level of integration in the planning and implementation phases to assess the level of integration in the cluster activities in economic zones that came as a result of the planning strategy. A participatory approach and data reduction techniques through the Delphi method are used, taking into consideration different stakeholders in the case of the Durana economic zone. This study takes the position that the main components of the national and local planning strategies are elements of the circular economy, but fails to fully adopt critical components of the Circular Economy concept. Ownership separation and the existence of large informal areas are the main underlying factors that obstruct planning and implementation of territorial reform. This study deduces that complete incorporation of stakeholders calls for coordination of actions and practices of all actors in spatial planning; the role of clusters in the shift toward the CE concept is moderate, and the level of incorporation of CE in cluster activities depends on how much it is in line with their specific activity. We recommend a more effective synetization between stakeholders, resource allocation effectiveness, and preliminary capacity development in the preparation phase of the territorial planning for a successful shift toward circular concept models; a shift toward CE relies on the effectiveness of cluster activities and the success of economic zones.