Abstract
Growing in popularity, the circular city framework is at the leading-edge of a larger and older transitional dialogue which envisions regenerative, circular, and symbiotic systems as the future of urban sustainability. The need for more research supporting the implementation of such concepts has been often noted in literature. To help address this gap, this holistic review assesses a range of pertinent sustainability frameworks as a platform to identify actionable strategies which can be leveraged to support and implement circular city goals. This assessment is grounded in a holistic overview of related frameworks across interdisciplinary and scalar domains including circular city, the food-water-energy nexus, circular economy, bioeconomy, industrial symbiosis, regenerative design, and others. Building on these interrelationships, the applied strategies espoused within these publications are synthesized and assessed in the context of circular city implementation. From an initial 250 strategies identified in literature, thirty-four general implementation strategies across six thematic areas are distinguished and discussed, finding strong overlaps in implementation strategies between frameworks, and opportunities to further develop and harness these synergies to advance circular city toward sustainable urban futures.
Highlights
With increasing urbanization, cities have become dependent on imported flows of food, water, energy, and materials, which are brought into the urban system and consumed whilst ensuing waste streams are sent back out of the city to treatment, landfill, and as emissions and environmental contamination (Dzene et al, 2016)
Review of the applied strategies espoused within the reviewed publications, six thematic areas of thirty-four circular actions and supporting implementation strategies are identified across the spectrum of circular concepts and discussed
Envisioning and implementing regenerative, symbiotic, and circular cities of the future through the circular city (CC) framework will require a complex assortment of context specific approaches and implementation strategies across all six thematic areas- Resource and Material Management, Systems Development and Integration, Bio-based Solutions, Governance and Stakeholder Engagement, Data, Measurement, and Modeling, and Research and Education
Summary
Cities have become dependent on imported flows of food, water, energy, and materials, which are brought into the urban system and consumed whilst ensuing waste streams are sent back out of the city to treatment, landfill, and as emissions and environmental contamination (Dzene et al, 2016) This linear model has allowed urban regions to develop environmental footprints which outweigh their natural bio-capacities and has weakened the resilience of cities (Doughty and Hammond, 2004; Corcelli et al, 2019). The review first addresses a cross section of frameworks relevant to CC implementation from an interdisciplinary range of economic, industrial, urban, and built-environment sustainability concepts Building on these interrelationships, and review of the applied strategies espoused within the reviewed publications, six thematic areas of thirty-four circular actions and supporting implementation strategies are identified across the spectrum of circular concepts and discussed. The under-expressed value of leveraging related sustainability frameworks toward of shared goals and actualization is brought into new light in pursuit of closing loops without reinventing wheels, as momentum to sustainable urban futures through the CC framework builds
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