How can we improve the dialogue between city officials and private developers to ensure greater incorporation of circular economy principles in building projects?
Despite having a range of policy interventions that could be used to address the barriers to circular construction, cities are limited by what legal requirements on circular construction can be set for the private developers. This leaves cities to encourage the private developers to introduce circular measures into their building projects on a voluntary basis.
The aim of this report is to investigate what aspects of the dialogue between city officials and private developers can be improved to increase the chance of circular initiatives making its way into the final building project.
Based on interviews with private developers and their consultants as well as workshops with city planners from London, Copenhagen, Vantaa and Hamburg seven recommendations for an improved dialogue on circular economy with developers was extracted. The seven
recommendations are a result of a thematic analysis with the premise of the recommendations being as straightforward as possible for the city officials in collaboration
with developers to act upon.
The recommendations are developed both as a standalone instrument and checklist to be used in all new private building projects, as well as points of attention to be integrated into
existing instruments. How the seven recommendations can be integrated into existing
planning tools is demonstrated via the examination of two dialogue-focused planning tools being the Copenhagen Sustainability Tool and the London Circular Economy Statement
Guidance.
Download the full report below.
This deliverable has been submitted and is waiting for final approval from the European Commission.