Transformative Urban Living Labs: Towards a Circular Economy in Amsterdam and Turin

Abstract

The circular economy is becoming a field of experimentation to trigger site-specific laboratories oriented towards connecting material flows and citizens’ practices. Despite their wide use, a critical perspective of the transformative paths of these Urban Living Labs (ULLs) is still missing. This paper compares the paths followed by two such experiments, one in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) and the other in Turin (Italy). To this end, we build an analytical framework that targets three dimensions: unconventionality, autonomy, and systemic impact on policies. We conclude that ULLs can take very different transformation paths over time due to a wide range of enablers and barriers. In Amsterdam there has been an assimilation in the neighbourhood as well as a transformative effect on an urban scale; while the case of Turin has turned out to be potentially transformative but also at risk of marginalization.

A Review of Circular Economy Studies in Developed Countries and Its Potential Adoption in Developing Countries

“…Urban, municipal and metropolitan areas were the topics of discussion in a vast number of the articles as there are increasing concerns for implementation and transition of circular economy in these areas. Most of the publications cited countries and cities in Europe as case studies for the implementation of circular economy in urban, municipal and metropolitan areas [35][36][37]. The third group of industries commonly mentioned in the papers was the metal and steel industries, energy industries and the food and agriculture industries which had a 9% respectively.…”

Living Labs Past Achievements, Current Developments, and Future Trajectories

“…For example, [30,31] document LLs in the context of agriculture and health care, and such articles represent a tradition of firstgeneration LLs, while [27][28][29], focus on co-creation, its process and phases in LLs in secondgeneration LLs. Greve et al [23], Bronson et al [24], Engez et al [25], and Cuomo et al [26] in turn offer various conceptualizations for LLs, which are part of discussion of thirdgeneration LLs. The co-guest editors emphasize that LL generations should not primarily be seen as an advancement indicator, but rather descriptions of larger research traditions that the researchers participate in and belong to.…”

“…Cuomo et al [26] discuss transformative urban LLs in a context of circular economy in Italy and Netherlands. Their study contributes to three dimensions: unconventionality, autonomy, and systemic impact on policies for analyzing LLs.…”

“…Finally, the researchers suggest that LLs open novel research avenues that stimulate policy makers and public policy scholars cf. [26,28] and that provide them with practical tools to foster multi-stakeholder participation and collaboration in an urban LL context cf. [32].…”

From Circular Economy to Circular Society

“…The policies of these cities thus don't live up to the socially progressive vision they set for themselves. Amsterdam is often presented as a pioneer and an example of best practice in the urban CE transition and Circular Glasgow was a finalist of the Circulars Award of the World Economic Forum (Cuomo et al, 2020;Maldini, 2021;Williams, 2021). Both cities have thus built up a strong reputation as CE innovators which further enhances the competitiveness of their CE business sector while taking limited tangible actions to fundamentally transform their production and consumption systems.…”