Co-organized together with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) and C40 Cities, this networking event on “circular economy in cities” aimed at demonstrating the possibilities and challenges of applying the circular economy on the city level, considering the role of other stakeholders at local and national levels. The event will explore the relevance of the circular economy from multiple perspectives, with practical examples through a panel discussion.
UN Environment Cities Unit Head, Ms. Martina Otto, introduced the session, followed by a presentation by Ms. Sharon Gil, Programme Officer with the Cities Unit, on the importance of city-level work at UN Environment towards supporting low-carbon, resource efficient and resilient urban development for people’s well-being through setting norms and accelerating the adoption of existing technologies. Moreover, she presented the work of the Unit and of the Global Initiative for Resource Efficient Cities on urban metabolism and circular economy, and how the latter links to the Third Transformative Commitment of the New Urban Agenda (NUA).
Ms. Miranda Schnitger, Cities Project Lead at EMF followed by framing the circular economy around three principles: 1) design out waste and pollution; 2) regenerate natural systems; 3) keep products and materials in use.
Kevin Austin, Deputy Executive Director of C40 Cities followed with a presentation of how circular economy is relevant to the low-carbon agenda and how it helps with the consumption side of tackling carbon.
Following the presentations, was panel discussion moderated by Ms. Martina Otto.
The panel was composed of:
- Ms. Beryl MPHAKATHI, Deputy City Manger for Durban, South Africa
- Mr. KHOO Teng Chye, Executive Director, Center for Liveable Cities, Singapore
- Mr. Ben SMITH, Director, Energy, Cities and Climate Change, ARUP.
- Mr. Piero PELIZZARO, Chief Resilience Officer (CRO), Milan, Italy
Each panelist gave a short five minute initial reaction to the presentations.
Ms. MPHAKATHI started things off with a short introduction, highlighting the re-use problems in Durban, specifically on material recovery and water, and highlighted the need to incentivize redistribution.
Mr. KHOO presented the Singapore liveability framework, a system’s approach looking at achieving the three spheres of 1) a high quality of life; 2) a competitive economy; and 3) a sustainable environment through integrated master planning and development, and dynamic urban governance. He mentioned that Singapore specifically looks at the issues of water, waste, and food waste.
Mr. SMITH from Arup provided a private sector perspective as an independent, global design and engineering firm. He presented their work on circular business models, consultancy services, and the example of a circular house in London.
The final panelist, Mr. PELIZZARO from the city of Milan, gave his insights as a Chief Resilience Officer in Milan. They’ve been looking at waste management, particularly from the fashion industry, and how waste from one sector can be transformed into an opportunity for another.
The Q&A with the audience yielded reactions about the importance of speaking at fora other than conferences such as the World Urban Forum (particularly in other sectors), and differentiating the message depending on the target audience (the panelists mentioned, for example, how urban metabolism appeals to academics, while sustainable consumption and production appeals to national government, and circular economy to cities)
In addition, one reaction was that there is a need to make the “zero-waste lifestyle” cool, and that we should be looking at how circular economy could also look at the issue of income inequality.
