Circular Cities and Regions

Cities & Regions

The city of the future is inclusive and circular.

Cities are one of our most critical intervention points for creating sustainable local economies, reducing impact on natural environments, and increasing the quality of human lives. Our mission is to help city and regional governments, developers, and other urban professionals build sustainable futures, with a focus on whole systems change. Urban challenges, both social and environmental, are often closely linked and stem from a few key root causes. By tackling these root causes, we can build new systems that give rise to healthier, more resilient cities.
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Circular Charlotte

‘Circular Charlotte’ explores how Charlotte can start implementing a strategy to become the first circular city in the United States. We investigate how many valuable resources are currently lost through Charlotte’s waste system, and how these could be diverted into new, high-value uses; present a vision, co-created with city stakeholders, for a how a Circular Charlotte could look and function; and describe a roadmap with five business cases as a starting point for action.

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How we work towards circular cities

Our expertise ranges from urban planning and systems science to stakeholder engagement and new venture building. We prioritize long-term partnerships, from vision development all the way through to practical business case implementation.

Urban metabolism scan

Quantifying and visualising a city's 'metabolism' can quickly highlight major impact reduction and economic opportunities. Mapping material, energy, water and waste flows through a city is a critical first step to understanding where impacts are highest and value is being lost, serving as a robust basis for a circular economy strategy.

Living lab development

An action-oriented approach to developing urban spaces and processes for circular economy experimentation and education. Bringing public and private sector partners together, and promoting circular education and entrepreneurship.

Urban mining assessment

Mapping opportunities to recover valuable materials for reuse from post-consumer sources like products, buildings, infrastructure, and landfills. These can then be connected to new circular supply chains.

Business case development

With industry expertise in the food, construction, textiles, chemicals, finance, and manufacturing sectors, we develop concrete business cases with which to engage the private sector and stimulate a systemic circular economic transition.

Circular city strategy

Working closely with city staff and community members to co-create a city-wide circular economy strategy and roadmap that fits the local context and stakeholders. Goals are accompanied by a measurement framework to monitor progress.

Measuring and monitoring

Cities must provide for the needs of all citizens while keeping within the limits of the planet. How can you measure progress towards achieving your circular economy and sustainability goals?

Circular area development

Together with local government, urban designers and planners and other relevant stakeholders, we develop applicable strategies to integrate circular principles and interventions early on in the planning and development process.

Capacity building and organizational change

Changing the way cities are planned and developed requires a change in the way city governments, developers, and financiers work. We provide the tools, insights and knowledge needed for this new way of working. And we help you transition the way you work as an organisation, by applying these tools and knowledge in your core operations.

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Gerard Roemers

Lead Urban Planning and Development

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Specializing in urban and regional metabolism analysis, Gerard and his team develop strategies to transition cities and regions towards more circular and sustainable states.

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