Webinar 3 Circular Economy and Sustainable Cities | Thursday 22 October 2020 at 5-6:30 PM (CEST)
Register here: https://ruc-dk.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_iqKofHMPSuOJsfwpiD-OXw
Circular economy
Thomas Skou Grindsted, Assistant professor of Sustainability and Geography, Department of People and Technology, Space, Place, Mobility and Urban Studies at Roskilde University
This mini lecture first explores key notions of the great acceleration related to global environmental change research. It particularly outlays concepts of space and time and the different temporalities operating in the economic system versus natural system dynamics. This is the point of departure for understanding circular economy (CE) as one of the normative concepts and (utopian) visions for addressing existing business as usual models, that are claimed to fail in meeting different sustainability goals. What is circular economy? What basic principles lay behind circular economy and how do these principles differ from linear economic models? Very briefly we touch upon the SDG 11 of cities and draw an example to explain one way in which urban planning may deal with issues of unsustainable transportation systems. Insofar as CE is said to align with a biophysical economy, we finally ask questions of mimicking operations of natural systems and their space-time configurations.
Building Sustainable Cities Using an EcoDisctrict Framework
Karen Gaul, Dean of Academics, Evergreen State College, Washington
Using an EcoDistrict framework can help forge community partnerships between campus and community, strengthen the city’s sustainability goals, and lead to more resilient and just neighborhoods. The Evergreen State College, a public liberal arts college in Olympia, Washington (US), is uniquely positioned to invest deeply with community partners. Interdisciplinary, multi-quarter programs mean that students can work in intensive ways on field-based, applied projects. In an academic program called Repair: Sustainability and the Art of Social Practice, we worked for two quarters with partners in the City of Olympia and in the neighborhood around an urban sustainability site called The Commons at Fertile Ground. Student research and community forums helped to inform multiple stakeholders of the potential (and possible challenges) with EcoDistrict protocols, which includes planning at neighborhood scales to address community solar, equitable housing, food justice and more. Frameworks for art as social practice helped inform our creative outreach in the community. This presentation will review our work in the community, summarizing this foundational work as well as next steps and potential for long-term partnerships.
Recommended reading and viewing
https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-economy/what-is-the-circular-economy
https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-economy/concept
https://transitionnetwork.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5LGp8-8wmI
http://cp.art.cmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/living-as-form.pdf