Key details
Location
- Battersea
Price
- Free
Who can attend
- By invitation only
Type
- Workshop
In a time of accelerating climate crisis and growing inequality, the concept of the circular city has inspired diverse and powerful imaginaries, from the allegorical doughnut model to visions of a balanced, regenerative urban metabolism. These imaginaries have become central to political mobilisation, uniting various stakeholders around a new agenda for sustainable urban development.
Research has shown, however, how circular visions are often not truly novel but, rather, involve a repackaging of existing, largely ineffective urban green growth strategies. Even when circular city models are paired with more ambitious goals - such as Amsterdam's aim to become the world’s first ‘Doughnut Economy’ or Vancouver's circular food initiative - early policy implementations have tended to encounter barriers or limitations. At the same time, critical questions persist around power, governance, and distribution: who controls the city’s circular systems, and who stands to profit from them?
In the run-up to 2030, with many cities actively positioning circularity as a key strategy to meet the Paris Agreement targets, now is the time to explore new or more radical visions for regenerative urbanism. How can these visions align with, and also extend beyond, current climate and sustainable development goals? In what ways can the regenerative be combined with the redistributive, in ways that empower communities? What forms of regenerative urbanism might meaningfully challenge the broader linear and extractivist economy? And, how might these visions reshape our approach to a globally just and democratic green future?
Addressing these and related questions, this interdisciplinary workshop brings together scholars and practitioners from across the social sciences, humanities, and art and design fields to examine the interplay between the symbolic, narrative, and aesthetic dimensions of the circular city as both a discourse and an imaginary, alongside its material manifestations through policy, technology, and community activism.
Register to attend
The workshop is free to attend, however advanced registration is required. To register for the workshop, please email: [email protected]
Workshop programme
Download a PDF of the programme here:
Organisers
- Christoph Lindner, Royal College of Art
- Miriam Meissner, Maastricht University
