Circular cities
Have you ever heard about circular cities? Maybe a circular economy would be more famous than circular cities.
Today, I would like to introduce a paper written by Joanna Williams.
We cannot live without some resources, such as materials, energy, water, and land. People consume them too much, causing urban problems, especially resource scarcity. Many ecologists or economists have suggested ways to change the situation, but most have focused on the economy.
In this paper, the author focused on RESOLVE (current state-of-the-art conceptualization for circular economy) and suggested how RESOLVE can be strengthened.
Current situation
Cities (there is no clear definition for "cities") consume 60-80% of natural resources worldwide. They are responsible for 50% of global waste and 75% of greenhouse gases. In 2050, 66% of the world's population will live in cities, and the global footprint will triple by 2030.
-For me, this part showed the level of overpopulation and implied the influence of natural disasters (especially climate change).
-Also, as I learned from class, there must be a difference between developed countries and developing countries about global waste and greenhouse gases.
Municipal wastes produced in European cities are exported to Asia. This caused severe health and environmental problems in Asia. However, some countries have introduced stringent regulations, which have induced other countries to experience more severe situations regarding waste and scarcity of resources in needed places and countries.
- This shows the importance of a sustainable system in all places even though there is environmental and economical inequality.
- Also this shows that just becoming circular cities is not enough to cope with this problem. Worldwide corporation is required.
Half of the world's cities ( with more than 100000 inhabitants) are experiencing water scarcity and food security. This is a big problem in Asia and Africa. The way to use land appropriately is required. Cities rely on global food producers.
- An increasing number of populations cannot meet their essential needs solely within their borders due to the disproportionate value of land and fluctuations in market prices. Because of that, each country have to rely on other countries and made the situation more difficult to cope with.
Cities consume 60% of global energy and primarily rely on fossil fuels. In 55 cities, the population declined because of economic trends. This shows the necessity of scale-appropriate systems.
- The point would be to make sustainable and circular systems in small towns with limited budgets.
In hedge cities (e.g., London, Tokyo, Melbourne), land value is increased, and land owners try to maximize the profit from their land. From that, they don't use the land for "lower-value activities" such as green space.
People see this big problem as economically beneficial and high-value. This thinking causes the worldwide loss of natural forests, such as the Amazon.
- This economic perspective is accepted all over the world, however, it prevents making city with green.
High land value led to urban densification. Ecosystem services are required for environmental regulation, especially flooding, heat, pollution, low biodiversity, and soil degradation.
- How can we make flexible and circular cities?? From what I learned in class, I guess using a budget for infrastructure would be the best.
A circular approach would tackle resource management and waste production. For that, we need a more flexible system for circular cities.
The current conceptualization of the circular economy
Boulding Stahel and RedayMulvey developed the concept of a circular economy, which became influential in Germany and Japan during the 1980s and 1990s. The Circular Economy aims to decouple natural resource depletion and environmental degradation from economic growth. It focuses on redesigning processes and material cycling in commerce and industry. The Circular Economy is a restorative and regenerative approach to past damage to the environment.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) developed a RESOLVE framework. EMF sees the circular economy as a value-creation mechanism apart from consuming finite resources. The framework has three principles.
1. preservation and enhancement of natural resources by balancing stocks and resources flow.
2. use materials at the highest utility technically and biologically.
3. improve system effectiveness by designing out external costs.
- I think preservation and enhancement might be the first step but not the final step. Is there any solution that does not require any natural resources??
- How can we design out external costs?
There are 6 actions to improve the circular economy.
1. Regenerate: to regenerate ecosystems and biological resources in healthy way, shift to renewable energy and material
2. Share: Share product and maximize utilization by making loop speed slower.
3. Optimize: remove waste in the production chain and supply chain (increase efficiency)
4. Loop: keep materials in the loop (3R)
5: Virtualize: dematerialize resources
6: Exchange: replace products
- I guess this is almost perfect.
After explaining RESOLVE, the author mentioned the shortage of RESOLVE.
RESOLVE was not made for complex urban systems but for single sectors.
Urban ecologists describe a city as a system of three interconnected spheres: the natural, built, and socio-economic environments. That means the economy is just one element in the urban system.
Urban cities metabolize resources, require self-sufficiency, and have the capacity to adapt to changes.
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As I commented, the author wrote about circular cities and the difficulty of making circular "cities" and introduced RESOLVE.
However, he also pointed out that the
WEAK POINT of RESOLVE.
The first one is Consumption.
He said RESOLVE focuses on production rather than consumption. However, a circular society is undeliverable if citizens do not "buy into" consuming products and services or adopt the circular system.
-This is true. Without a practical system, the "circular cities" would be meaningless.
Thus, delivering circular practices and production should be equally placed in circular cities.
He also commented on RESOLVE's scale. It is for small-scale systems, but urban systems are much more complex. Furthermore, RESOLVE does not focus on lifestyles.
From these perspectives, the author suggested that "consumption patterns produced by lifestyles, social practices and systems of provision" are necessary.
The second one is Land.
RESOLVE ignores land, as the author said.
Land is a valuable resource, but it remains vacant because of its cost.
- this implies the necessity of government or any community that keeps land not vacant.
Also, recycling land is a low-value activity. However, ecosystem services offered by land are essential for regenerative processes in cities. He also talked about examples.
In the Baltic Sea region, the 29 largest cities had at least 500-1000 times larger ecosystem support areas than the area of cities to tackle the degradation of natural capital and environmental hazards.
Land-use patterns and urban systems affect resource consumption. Thus, land use for lower-value activities is important.
To summarize, the land is important as (1) valuable resources, (2) space for circular activities and assimilating waste, (3) ecosystem services for regeneration, (4) land-use patterns affect resource consumption, (5) adopting circular actions, e.g., localization and looping resources.
- This requires pattern and system change in cities to become circular. We learned about the uncertainty of the planning environment in class, and I recalled that "politician" might missing from this thought.
The third one is infrastructure.
Infrastructure decides the supply, management, and consumption of resources. Usually, infrastructure facilitates materials, water, energy, and goods in cities. To make it circular, integrated infrastructural systems are usable. However, the segregation of infrastructural systems reinforced by institutions or funding systems framework and physical urban form prevent the adoption of integrated infrastructural systems. Infrastructure maintenance and construction use over 50% of global raw resources and more than 33% of global energy. That means re-use or recycling of infrastructure should be important.
The fourth one is Adoption.
The author states that the necessity of adaptive infrastructure is overlooked in RESOLVE. We have used a core of infrastructure for a long period, but some of it is really old and needs rehabilitation or alternative methods. This is really significant when society demands change to the new system. The inability to adopt might waste resources. As the author said, having the capacity to adapt and being flexible requires "planning techniques, technical and institutional structures, and integration of education and interdisciplinary practices across the lifecycle of infrastructure." Adoption would be new point that we have to focus.
- Again, this also related to "political point" as we leaned
The last one is as I mentioned, scale and localisation.
RESOLVE focuses on a small scale; however, almost all materials have been across international boundaries recently. Even in that situation, localization of materials is important because it reduces resources consumed for transportation, as the author said. This also induces maximizing positive impacts and minimizing negative impacts by production because of the localization.
- broad perspective and localizing is important (maybe "think globally, act locally"?).
All impacts would directly affect the local community. This would be a big motivation to change social practices for circularizing. The author mentioned "symbiotic local capital" to improve interdependent and self-reinforcing localization. This comprises social, financial, human, and physical capital. It means we can support this "symbiotic local capital" from several perspectives. In a globalized world, exporting and importing, which might prevent localization, are done not from a financial point of view but with political will or profit.
- I agree with the author that localization requires people's will and political will. Anyway, localization would be profitable for us.
As I introduced, RESOLVE has three principles and six circular actions. However, the author states that RESOLVE concerns the economic system, not the ecosystem. Also, there were many weak points in RESOLVE.
Then, what is the circular approach??
The author mentioned three steps for conceptualization.
1. outlining the principles
2. identifying the components from the principle
3. describing components relationship
Let's talk about the three stages deeply.
1. outlining the principle
According to the author, the circular approach has three principal aims.
Reducing waste and amount of resources, preserving ecosystem and natural capital, and designing out negative externalities.
The ecosystem requires minimizing waste and renewal.
2. Components
Circular actions and supporting actions from 'A definition and principles' would be significant in this section. Author talked.
Three circular actions include: looping, regenerating, and supporting action.
Looping means a loop of resources (e.g. recycles, reuses) to decrease waste. This includes refurbishment and grey-water recycling.
Regeneration refers to the preservation of nature by the incorporation of green and blue infrastructure.
Adaption involves the structuring of the city to enable the adaptation to new infrastructure.
The graph summarizes what the author mentioned.
City can take additional action: optimization, sharing, substitution, and localization.
If there is anything that people can use to optimize resources, such as technologies, processes, design, and economic tools, we should use them. This is optimization.
Sharing means sharing resources such as living space, working space, and travel.
If people can choose renewable resources, they should choose them rather than non-renewable resources.
Localization of resource consumption and production reduces energy used for transportation. Localization of resources localizes impacts of consumption and encourages pro-environmental behavior.
3. Conceptualisation
Author mentioned Conceptualization which summarizes how three actions deliver a circular approach to resource management.
Three actions (looping, regenerating, and adapting) can be reinforced through the four supporting actions (localize actions, substitute actions, share actions, and optimize actions). The supporting actions also urge the reduction of resource waste in the urban ecosystem. It also increases the viability of using 'waste heat' and energy recovery.
Both human activities and natural processes consume resources, the author said. New resources are also produced with this process. The ecosystem, citizens, and economy support the urban system's productivity. Through circular actions, the remaining 'waste' also should be addressed.
Different combinations of seven actions would tackle problems in cities.
Future Research by the author
The author discussed RESOLVE and the advanced way, but it should be the beginning, not the end. He wants theoretical conceptualization to be tested in practice to check its utility.
Nevertheless, a combination of actions would be useful and reveal alternative urban strategies that are adopted in the cities.
My thought
Today, I summarized the existing frame for circular economy and the author's thoughts on a circular economy.
From my perspective, I agree with the author's opinion that a circular economy would not succeed in circular cities. Cities are much more difficult and cannot be circular easily. However, if we really want to approach problems caused by "not being a circular system," it would be the right approach. However, I really want to see it not only from a macroeconomic perspective but also from a microeconomic perspective. This paper has a broad viewpoint but also a narrow perspective.
Also I thought RESOLVE is not enough to use practically. Almost all points that author mentioned was clear and usable. Especially localization is important, or if we cannot proceed localization, we might have to change trend from cheap to eco-friendly. When politicians think about infrastructure, they have to think about budget, companies to ask, and maybe connection (only in Japan?) If this "improved RESOLVE" can be used, it would be real circular economy. One more point that is missing is "education." I'm not sure whether education is really necessary or not, but what we learn from education would be foundation in the future.
I learned a lot about infrastructure and inequality from class. Especially making-decision problems and cost-escalation. If we really want to make circular cities, this would be a problem.
Thank you so much for reading my summarization of the paper by Wiliam J. I completed catching the details of what the author wanted to say.
I don't have space to talk about real examples. So I will talk about it in the next blog!
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Reference
Williams, J. (2019). Circular cities. Urban Studies, 56(13), 2746-2762. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098018806133
theconversation.com
www.acorecycling.com