Improving the regulation of the economic development in the large cities economy of Western region in the context of priorities for the construction of a circular economy model

Abstract

Implementation of elements of the circular economy concept in the economic models of large cities creates the preconditions for building environmentally sustainable urban socio-economic systems, the transition to circular thinking, and the creation of new opportunities for economic growth. According to the results of the analysis of the structural transformations efficiency in the economy of Western region’s large cities, the paper argues that their socio-economic systems enter the initial stages of transition from the traditional linear model of the economic system to the system based on the concept of the circular economy. The paper defines that the level of the circular economy development in the Western region’s large cities is insufficient due to a number of regulatory, socio-economic, and technological ones. Concentrated efforts of government and business to reduce and overcome these obstacles can play a positive role in shaping the circular economy in the regions of Ukraine, and the intensification of technology transfer and best practices, new methods of product and material design can significantly enhance its development. Transformation of the linear model of Ukrainian large cities’ economies towards the circular economy should take place in stages in the form of short-, medium- and long-term measures system within a specialized state strategy for the development of the circular economy, because in today's conditions the country has not formed the appropriate institutional, infrastructural, technological, and socio-cultural conditions for a rapid and high-quality transition to a circular economy. Within the step-by-step scenario of Ukraine’s linear economic system transformation into a circular one, the paper offers the Roadmap for the construction of a circular economy, which combines target guidelines and a step-by-step plan for its formation. The Roadmap for the formation of a circular economy in Ukraine combines the strategy, targets, and development plan of the process, outlining its main stages in a certain period of time.