The Role of Urban Manufacturing for a Circular Economy in Cities

Tanya Tsui,Bob Geldermans,David Peck,Arjan Van Timmeren

doi:10.3390/su13010023

Abstract

In recent years, implementing a circular economy in cities (or “circular cities”) has been proposed by policy makers as a potential solution for achieving sustainability. One strategy for circular cities is to reintroduce manufacturing into urban areas (or “urban manufacturing”), allowing resource flows to be localized at the city scale. However, the extent to which urban manufacturing contributes to circular cities is unclear in existing literature. The purpose of this paper is therefore twofold: to understand whether urban manufacturing could contribute to the circular economy, and to understand the drivers and barriers to circular urban manufacturing. By reviewing existing literature and interviewing experts, we identified the caveats for the contribution of urban manufacturing to circular cities, as well as the spatial, social, and material-related drivers and barriers for circular urban manufacturing.

Highlights

By reviewing existing literature and interviewing experts on urban manufacturing and circular economy, we found that, while urban manufacturing contributes to a circular economy in cities, these claims come with a number of caveats, including the lack of empirical evidence, the relative insignificance of transportation emissions in the production process, and the continued reliance on global supply chains
In order to understand whether urban manufacturing contributes to a circular economy at the city level, a literature review of Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) of urban manufacturing was conducted
The LCA method takes into account a variety of different environmental impact categories, such as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, land use, toxicity, acidification, eutrophication, ozone depletion, and various other indicators

Summary

Introduction

Reducing emissions and waste will be a major challenge for cities, and in recent years, transitioning to a circular economy has been proposed by policy makers as a potential solution [2]. While there is no common definition for the circular economy, it is generally understood as a closed-loop system that employs circular processes such as reuse, refurbishing, remanufacturing, and recycling to convert waste into resources [3]. Before introducing the theoretical background on circular economy in cities, a clarification on the relationship between the concepts of “circular economy” and “sustainability” is needed. On the other hand, can be defined as “a closed-loop system that employs circular processes such as reuse, refurbishing, remanufacturing, and recycling to convert waste into resources” [3].

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