The cities are growing rapidly in number and in size as the economic activities, education, health, recreation, and basic amenities are stimulating urbanization. However, the environmental footprints of the cities are alarmingly high in terms of extraction of natural resources to sustain socioeconomic activities in the cities and also in terms of pollution, green house gases and waste coming out of the cities. This is creating a vicious circle for the cities in obtaining the natural resources as well as to provide quality of life and basic amenities to their citizens. The depletion of natural resources due to over extraction and over exploitation as well as due to contamination due to the pollution coming out of the cities has created an urgency to support the cities in doing the business differently.
Circular economy approach, by closing the loop as local as possible and by increasing the resource efficiency at local level, could help cities transformation to be sustainable with happier and healthier citizens. The concept of “Circular Cities” is to reduce the intake of natural resources and to reduce the pollution and negative environmental impacts through resource efficiency is the focus of this dialogue. Sustainable consumption and production practices based on lifecycle assessment approach could provide basis for circular economy utilizing various aspects and focusing on various actors within the cities.
The regional policy dialogue aimed for showcasing and prompting stakeholders towards new models of circular economy sustainable cities was held successfully. We would like to invite you to see intertwining aspects between the circular economy and its dynamics for creating sustainable cities especially in the context of massive, and rapid, urbanization. We hear claims that circular economy models will be the most powerful trend of the world to tackle global challenges. Most of us could be familiar with rapid urbanization as we may also be the ones who grow up, live, and learn outside but come to work ‘inside’, in the city of civilization. In this dialogue we will provide key materials to shed light in on rapid urbanization and circular economy that must come along to form what are called ‘circular cities’. There is a repository of information on the role model countries from all over the world : Mongolia, Malaysia, and Finland. We can see the problems they had, what they have done to tackle those problems, and what they plan to do to keep their sustainable cities sustainable.