2020-Nov-02 : Cost Action tackles the complexities of circular city planning
On Friday, 23rd October, the 4th day-long meeting of the COST network project Circular City happened online. More than 60 participants from nearly all European countries continued their discussions on the circularity opportunities and challenges that individual nature-based solutions may have to make cities more sustainable and resilient.
To visualise to its wide audience what the project means with “Circular City” and what “nature-based solutions” could do in the future, a short explanatory video has been launched that will also serve as the group’s digital working model.
Katrin Bohn and André Viljoen are two of the four academics representing Great Britain in this COST Action which is fully titled The Circular City: Implementing nature-based solutions for creating a resourceful city. They contribute mainly to the Urban Farming working group of the action.
To visualise to its wide audience what the project means with “Circular City” and what “nature-based solutions” could do in the future, a short explanatory video has been launched that will also serve as the group’s digital working model.
Katrin Bohn and André Viljoen are two of the four academics representing Great Britain in this COST Action which is fully titled The Circular City: Implementing nature-based solutions for creating a resourceful city. They contribute mainly to the Urban Farming working group of the action.
An explanatory video produced by COST Action members was launched. (image: COST Action Circular City 2020)
In several workshop rounds and two plenary sessions, the project’s four working groups – Urban Water, Green Buildings, Resource Recovery and Urban Farming – revisited the outcomes of the three previous virtual meetings which happened since June 2020 and which drew up a repository of available nature-based solutions ranging from areas as diverse (or not) as urban farm and bioswale or anaerobic digester and extensive green roof.
Whilst our work is ongoing, urban agriculture’s key contributions to circularity have been identified as food production, nutrient recovery, material recovery (biomass) and rain water management. Examples are being collected of the opportunities that integrating food system activities into cities may pose, such as increasing biodiversity or reducing packaging waste, as well as of its challenges, such as the competing interests in relation to water or land use. The work will continue and be reassessed in the next meeting in December.
Whilst our work is ongoing, urban agriculture’s key contributions to circularity have been identified as food production, nutrient recovery, material recovery (biomass) and rain water management. Examples are being collected of the opportunities that integrating food system activities into cities may pose, such as increasing biodiversity or reducing packaging waste, as well as of its challenges, such as the competing interests in relation to water or land use. The work will continue and be reassessed in the next meeting in December.
For further information on this COST Action see the project’s website.
COST Action Circular City is on facebook and twitter.
For B&V's contribution to the project see its Theory page on this website.
To keep up to date with the project's development see our blog Productive Urban Landscapes.
COST Action Circular City is on facebook and twitter.
For B&V's contribution to the project see its Theory page on this website.
To keep up to date with the project's development see our blog Productive Urban Landscapes.