Implementing Circular Urban Systems - challenges and opportunities

Hosted in partnership between UCL’s Circularity Hub and TU Delft’s Circular Built Environment Hub, ‘The Circulars’ is a seminar series which seeks to uncover challenges to and levers for implementing circular urban systems. You are warmly invited to join a day of seminars, led by experts in circular systems from UCL and TU Delft. Both institutions are leaders in the field of circular urban systems.

Programme

Session 1: Localising the loops (10:00 - 13:00)
UCL East Campus, One Pool Street , Room 301

The impact of urban systems is felt locally and globally. Currently, urban systems consume 75% of the world’s natural resources; produce 80% of GHG emissions and 50% of the world’s waste. Localising resources loops (water, nutrients, food, materials, energy) could help to ecologically regenerate urban and global systems. However, questions remain around how to successfully implement these regenerative circular regions.

During this session we will address:

1.  The scale at which circular urban systems could best operate.
2. The benefits/disbenefits of circular systems operating at a local, regional and global scale.
3. The potential for circular systems to emerge at a local scale (city, regional and island scale).
4. The changes needed to facilitate a shift towards greater localisation of resource loops and ecocycles.

Session 2: Finding space for circularity (14:00 - 16:45)
UCL East Campus, Marshgate, Room 304

Our current economic system drives consumption, and undervalues natural resources and ecosystem services. It also creates economic and social inequalities. For decades there have been calls to address these problems; however, nothing has changed. This is clearly illustrated in the case of circular urban systems. The low economic value placed on activities fundamental to a circular urban system makes it difficult for these activities to compete for space in cities, resulting in many challenges. What can be done to overcome these challenges? Are there new economic models required or can this transition happen within the boundaries of the existing economic system?

During this session we will address:

1. How competition for space in successful urban systems has impacted on low-value activities (growing and reusing food, generating renewable energy and energy recovery, remanufacturing and recycling, re-using infrastructure and urban spaces) which are essential for circular urban systems.
2. The mechanisms for intervention in markets to enable the creation of circular urban systems.
3. Whether this transition can happen within the boundaries of the existing economic system.
4. Whether similar problems exist in cities in the developing world and if there are lessons to be learned.