Circular Cities (a Revolution In Urban Sustainability)

This book provides the first, definitive summary of circular cities and compares them to other city types, such as smart, zero waste, regenerative, and resilient. It examines the different approaches to circular development, drawing on examples from four European cities: Amsterdam, London, Paris and Stockholm.

With cities striving to meet sustainable development goals, circular urban systems are gaining momentum, especially in Europe.

This research-based book defines the circular city and circular development. It explains the shift in focus from a purely economic concept, which promotes circular business models in cities, to one that explores a new approach to urban development. This approach offers huge opportunities and addresses important sustainability issues: resource consumption and waste; climate change; the health of urban populations; social inequalities and the creation of sustainable urban economies. It examines the different approaches to circular development, drawing on research conducted in four European cities: Amsterdam, London, Paris and Stockholm. It explores different development pathways and levers for a circular urban transformation. It highlights the benefits of adopting a circular approach to development in cities, but acknowledges that these benefits are not shared equally across society. Finally, it focuses on the challenges to implementing circular development faced by urban actors.

This ground-breaking book will be essential reading to scholars, students, practitioners and policymakers interested in the circular economy, urban sustainability, urban ecology, urban planning, urban regeneration, urban resilience, adaptive cities and regenerative cities.

Part 1: Conceptualising Circular Cities Chapter 1 The Ecological Crisis Chapter 2 Moving from a circular economy to a circular city Part 2: Circular Cities: European Case Studies Chapter 3 Circular Stockholm Chapter 4 Circular London Chapter 5 Circular Amsterdam Chapter 6 Circular Paris Part 3: Lessons learnt for Circular Cities and Development Chapter 7 Implementation: pathways, levers and dynamics Chapter 8 Reasons for adopting a circular development pathway Chapter 9 Challenges to implementing circular development Chapter 10 Circular Cities: conclusions and future research

"It’s a rare thing, but every now and then a book appears that is an absolute ‘must have’. This is one of them. It breaks new ground in the emerging field of circular cities research presenting new concepts and a clear-sighted analysis of circular city practice in four European cities, and points to pathways to the future. This masterful text convinces that there is a need for a shift in emphasis from the circular economy to a more inclusive focus on circularity in urban systems. Moreover, it is a great read." – Mike Jenks, Professor Emeritus, Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development, Oxford Brookes University.

"In Circular Cities Williams develops a hands-on conceptualization of circular urban development and offers an insightful comparative analysis of key front-running cities in Europe. Crucially, the author generously details credible pathways toward implementation elsewhere. This is a crucial resource for academics, policy makers, and practitioners engaging with the circular economy in contemporary cities." – David Bassens, Associate Professor, Cosmopolis: Centre for Urban Research, Department of Geography, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

"Jo Williams’ study of four European cities provides a wealth of best practice examples for how to "loop, adapt, and regenerate" in pursuit of greater circularity. Its lessons will be indispensable to policy makers and students of