Nov
15
Mar
2016
CITIES: THE VANGUARD OF THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY (CE) @ Fira de Barcelona
Nov 15 a las 9:00 am – Nov 17 a las 7:00 pm
CITIES: THE VANGUARD OF THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY (CE) @ Fira de Barcelona | L'Hospitalet de Llobregat | Catalunya | España
Cities lend themselves particularly well to circular business models as they act as central infrastructure hubs for key resource flows. If a city wishes to capture and recirculate nutrients more effectively – for example, through industrial symbiosis – then the close proximity of citizens, industry, retailers, service providers and municipal authorities offers an ideal platform to fast-track collaboration.
  • Governance: public authorities have a relevant role designing, planning and implementing the transition towards the new economy. Citizens also have a new power thanks to global access to information and communications. Transparency and engagement appear as new conditions in the context of a city, where citizens are closer to the authorities and governing bodies. Regulation can help address the challenges of the effective implementation of a circular system in cities.
  • Urban planning: to build the system properly the interactions between all the activities and uses that coexist in a city have to be considered. Business, housing, retail, industry, schools, transportation and other services, all have a role to play within a circular system. This complexity brings more resiliency, this being a great advantage of implementing the new economy.
  • Business and industry: a new economy has to be built thinking about new ways to do business and to produce goods and services. Designing facilities and processes to regenerate the environment and to manufacture healthy and recyclable products may bring manufacturers to the city, closer to materials and resources (both human and energy/water).
  • New relationships: the new economy changes the rules. Technical materials (nutrients) are to be perpetually cycled; meaning that many consumer products will in future be thought of as services. Sharing, leasing, virtualising, and other methods, will build a new environment of relationships between citizens in a CE city.