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In Circular Communities, pioneering, collectively supported initiatives are central, aimed at closing resource flows at neighbourhood or district level and thus contributing to the transition to a circular economy.

For the analysis of these different initiatives, the researchers – urban planner Els Leclercq and architect Mo Smit – developed a unique method: the Circular Value Flower method. This method helps to organise the joint closing of resource flows (materials, energy, water, biota, nutrients) on a neighbourhood scale and provides insight into the added value (economic, ecological, social, cultural, aesthetic) that can be realised within the built environment.

Circular Communities thus offers inspiration and lessons for integral sustainable interventions at the scale of the neighbourhood and ties in with the new Environmental Planning Act (2022), which explicitly offers space for citizen initiatives and local commissioning.