IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i19p14302-d1249343.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Measuring Circularity in Cities: A Review of the Scholarly and Grey Literature in Search of Evidence-Based, Measurable and Actionable Indicators

Author

Listed:
  • Kartik Kapoor

    (Circular and Low Carbon Project, International Solid Waste Association, 3013 AK Rotterdam, The Netherlands)

  • Nikhil Sayi Amydala

    (Circular and Low Carbon Project, International Solid Waste Association, 3013 AK Rotterdam, The Netherlands)

  • Anubhav Ambooken

    (Institute of Combustion and Power Plant Technology (IFK), University of Stuttgart, 70174 Stuttgart, Germany)

  • Anne Scheinberg

    (Circular and Low Carbon Project, International Solid Waste Association, 3013 AK Rotterdam, The Netherlands
    Springloop Cooperatie UA, 8024 AX Zwolle, The Netherlands
    Department of Environmental Studies (ES), Antioch University New England, Keene, NH 03431, USA)

Abstract

Circularity in cities is key to Earth’s sustainable and resource-efficient future. In contrast to the broad framework of circular economy , circularity is a technical concept associated with avoiding disposal and prolonging the useful life of products and materials, and thereby extracting fewer resources. In search of metrics and indicators to measure the impacts of circular processes in cities in real time, the authors reviewed the literature on the circular economy and circularity, in search of evidence-based circularity indicators suitable for cities to use to benchmark the environmental and climate benefits of six waste prevention cascades. This paper reports on a systematic literature review using the PRISMA protocol to screen, evaluate, and review published and grey literature sources. From more than 15,000 papers screened, after application of criteria, fewer than 25 papers were found that presented evidence-based, measurable, and actionable indicators or indicator sets for benchmarking the performance of circular processes in cities. The authors concluded that the practical commitment to evidence-based tracking of circularity (in cities) is weak. Practical progress towards a circular economy and physical and economic circularity will require stakeholders to strengthen and test the very small number of indicators and indicator sets that are relevant and useful for cities and regions to use for measuring their progress towards becoming more circular, and increase evidence-based monitoring for circularity and the circular economy.

Suggested Citation

  • Kartik Kapoor & Nikhil Sayi Amydala & Anubhav Ambooken & Anne Scheinberg, 2023. "Measuring Circularity in Cities: A Review of the Scholarly and Grey Literature in Search of Evidence-Based, Measurable and Actionable Indicators," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-26, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:19:p:14302-:d:1249343
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/19/14302/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/19/14302/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. António Cavaleiro de Ferreira & Francesco Fuso-Nerini, 2019. "A Framework for Implementing and Tracking Circular Economy in Cities: The Case of Porto," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-23, March.
    2. Alessio Muscillo & Simona Re & Sergio Gambacorta & Giuseppe Ferrara & Nicola Tagliafierro & Emiliano Borello & Alessandro Rubino & Angelo Facchini, 2021. "Circular City Index: An Open Data analysis to assess the urban circularity preparedness of cities to address the green transition -- A study on the Italian municipalities," Papers 2109.10832, arXiv.org.
    3. Luis Diaz‐Balteiro & Carlos Romero & Silvestre García de Jalón, 2022. "An analysis of the degree of circularity of the wood products industry in Europe," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(4), pages 1350-1363, August.
    4. Jeltsje de Kraker & Katarzyna Kujawa-Roeleveld & Marcelo J. Villena & Claudia Pabón-Pereira, 2019. "Decentralized Valorization of Residual Flows as an Alternative to the Traditional Urban Waste Management System: The Case of Peñalolén in Santiago de Chile," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-26, November.
    5. Korhonen, Jouni & Honkasalo, Antero & Seppälä, Jyri, 2018. "Circular Economy: The Concept and its Limitations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 37-46.
    6. Iuliia Plastinina & Lyudmila Teslyuk & Nataliya Dukmasova & Elena Pikalova, 2019. "Implementation of Circular Economy Principles in Regional Solid Municipal Waste Management: The Case of Sverdlovskaya Oblast (Russian Federation)," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-18, May.
    7. Konstantinos Mantalovas & Gaetano Di Mino, 2020. "Integrating Circularity in the Sustainability Assessment of Asphalt Mixtures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-17, January.
    8. Marta Nikanorova & Jelena Stankevičienė, 2020. "Development of environmental pillar in the context of circular economy assessment: Baltic Sea Region case," Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, vol. 8(1), pages 1209-1223, September.
    9. Teresa Domenech & Aiduan Borrion, 2022. "Embedding Circular Economy Principles into Urban Regeneration and Waste Management: Framework and Metrics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-20, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Isabel Mendes, 2020. "The Circular Economy: an Ancient Term that Became Polysemic," Working Papers Department of Economics 2020/02, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics, Universidade de Lisboa.
    2. Ginevra Balletto & Mara Ladu & Federico Camerin & Emilio Ghiani & Jacopo Torriti, 2022. "More Circular City in the Energy and Ecological Transition: A Methodological Approach to Sustainable Urban Regeneration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-18, November.
    3. Nesrin Ada & Yigit Kazancoglu & Muruvvet Deniz Sezer & Cigdem Ede-Senturk & Idil Ozer & Mangey Ram, 2021. "Analyzing Barriers of Circular Food Supply Chains and Proposing Industry 4.0 Solutions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-29, June.
    4. Camilo-A. Vargas-Terranova & Javier Rodrigo-Ilarri & María-Elena Rodrigo-Clavero & Miguel-A. Rozo-Arango, 2022. "M-GRCT: A Dynamic Circular Economy Model for the Optimal Design of Waste Management Systems in Low-Income Municipalities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-25, February.
    5. Julie Marin & Luc Alaerts & Karel Van Acker, 2020. "A Materials Bank for Circular Leuven: How to Monitor ‘Messy’ Circular City Transition Projects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-23, December.
    6. Grouiez, Pascal & Debref, Romain & Vivien, Franck-Dominique & Befort, Nicolas, 2023. "The complex relationships between non-food agriculture and the sustainable bioeconomy: The French case," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    7. Mohajan, Haradhan, 2021. "Cradle to Cradle is a Sustainable Economic Policy for the Better Future," MPRA Paper 111334, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 10 Oct 2021.
    8. Bruno Michel Roman Pais Seles & Janaina Mascarenhas & Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour & Adriana Hoffman Trevisan, 2022. "Smoothing the circular economy transition: The role of resources and capabilities enablers," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1814-1837, May.
    9. Davide Bruno & Marinella Ferrara & Felice D’Alessandro & Alberto Mandelli, 2022. "The Role of Design in the CE Transition of the Furniture Industry—The Case of the Italian Company Cassina," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-20, July.
    10. Monia Niero & Charlotte L. Jensen & Chiara Farné Fratini & Jens Dorland & Michael S. Jørgensen & Susse Georg, 2021. "Is life cycle assessment enough to address unintended side effects from Circular Economy initiatives?," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(5), pages 1111-1120, October.
    11. Francesca Gennari, 2023. "The transition towards a circular economy. A framework for SMEs," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 27(4), pages 1423-1457, December.
    12. Jaroslaw Golebiewski & Josu Takala & Oskar Juszczyk & Nina Drejerska, 2019. "Local contribution to circular economy. A case study of a Polish rural municipality," Economia agro-alimentare, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 21(3), pages 771-791.
    13. Millar, Neal & McLaughlin, Eoin & Börger, Tobias, 2019. "The Circular Economy: Swings and Roundabouts?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 11-19.
    14. D. D’Amato, 2021. "Sustainability Narratives as Transformative Solution Pathways: Zooming in on the Circular Economy," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 231-242, June.
    15. Łukasz Brzeziński & Adam Kolinski, 2024. "Challenges of the Green Transformation of Transport in Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-34, April.
    16. Baoting Peng & Xin Shen, 2024. "Does Environmental Regulation Affect Circular Economy Performance? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-19, May.
    17. Nikos Chatzistamoulou & Phoebe Koundouri, 2020. "The Economics of Sustainable Development," DEOS Working Papers 2005, Athens University of Economics and Business.
    18. Halkos, George & Managi, Shunsuke, 2023. "New developments in the disciplines of environmental and resource economics," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 513-522.
    19. Yu Hao & Yingting Wang & Qiuwei Wu & Shiwei Sun & Weilu Wang & Menglin Cui, 2020. "What affects residents' participation in the circular economy for sustainable development? Evidence from China," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(5), pages 1251-1268, September.
    20. Jose García‐Quevedo & Elisenda Jové‐Llopis & Ester Martínez‐Ros, 2020. "Barriers to the circular economy in European small and medium‐sized firms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 2450-2464, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:19:p:14302-:d:1249343. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.