COST Action Circular City

Our world is approaching a situation where several resources are becoming scarce at the same time, e.g., energy, nutrients, water, space, while at the same time climate change is proceeding. This will cause problems even in areas where such problems may at present seem negligible. Wealth and wellbeing of coming generations will depend on our ability to adapt our economies to this challenge in the finite world we are living in. Transforming today’s cities into sustainable cities is one of the main adaptations that will be necessary. A holistic approach looking at cities from a system’s perspective is needed to achieve this goal.

Nature based solutions (NBS), especially Green Infrastructure (GI) are introduced in the urban landscape to cope with challenges cities are facing. These challenges are urban heat islands, flooding, treatment of waste- and runoff waters from different origins and food provision. NBS offer a range of ecosystem services beneficial for the environment.

The aim of the COST Action “Circular City Re.Solution” is to build an interdisciplinary platform for connecting city planners, architects, system designers, circular economists, engineers and researchers from social and natural sciences that develop systems allowing cities to cope with the challenges described above. In this COST Action, the definition for a common language and understanding across disciplines are seen as crucial success factor, while CE concepts are seen as key approach and NBS or GI solutions are seen as core elements of the toolbox. This Cost Action is to encourage collaboration and research to test the hypothesis that “A circular flow system that implements NBS for managing nutrients and resources within the urban biosphere will lead to a resilient, sustainable and healthy urban environment”. The planned Action will test this hypothesis in five domains: the built environment, the urban water, the resource recovery, the urban farming, and the society.

Official project website