This deliverable (D) 1.3 summarizes the research findings from the project Democratising jUst Sustainability Transitions (DUST) and documents the research process undertaken during the project’s duration. Building on theoretical, conceptual, and methodological frameworks developed in work package (WP)1, research facilitated an analysis of citizen participation in place-based policymaking oriented towards just sustainability transitions in WP2 and 3, as well as the experimental testing of participatory instruments in living labs, referred to as Regional Futures Literacy Labs (RFLLs), in this context in WP4 and 5. Intermediate steps of synthesis ensured that the scope, depth, and determining factors of citizen participation that were identified during the early analytical WPs were targeted in the later experimental WPs. Against this background the main research findings that are presented in chapters of this report can be read as a consecutive elaboration of the projects’ main question: How can the delivery of place-based policies for just sustainability transitions enhance citizen participation and trust in democratic governance, especially among least-engaged communities (LECs)? ... Read more

This paper presents the findings of an interdisciplinary academic exchange exploring the transition towards a circular built environment (CBE), developed over two years of collaborative work at Delft University of Technology’s Circular Built Environment Hub. A key outcome of this work is developing a comprehensive definition of the CBE and the related Scales to Aspects model, which connects the multi-scalar and cross-disciplinary nature of circularity, ranging from materials and components to buildings, neighbourhoods, cities, and regions. It highlights critical tensions, such as the lack of integration between circular strategies and other global challenges. ... Read more

This paper investigates land-use as the cornerstone of spatial planning in rapidly urbanising contexts, focusing on the critical gaps at the mesoscale between centralised vision and local implementation. By exploring Java’s complex desakota landscapes, this study employs an innovative GIS-based land-use cluster analysis using multidimensional parameters—including slope, population density, agricultural land, forest cover, and surface water—to categorise land-use patterns. The resulting mesoscale clusters reveal cohesive functional territories that transcend traditional political boundaries, articulating distinctive ‘mixtures’ of urbanity within Java’s rural-urban continuum. This approach not only captures socio-environmental dynamics across administrative silos but also establishes a new strategic framework for regional planning challenges. By advancing boundary-making beyond mere political convention to reflect on-the-ground ecological and functional coherence, this framework responds to the urgent global challenge of reconciling accelerating suburban and regional development pressures with the preservation of local communities, agricultural systems, and natural landscapes. ... Read more

This deliverable D6.3 Academic dissemination plan sets out a strategy for disseminating research results from the project Democratising jUst Sustainability Transitions (DUST) among an academic audience and via scientific publications. In the DUST Grant Agreement (GA) key project indicators (KPIs) have been defined for observing this dissemination. These indicators include 16 open access research papers, of which at least ten are published in leading academic journals with an Altmetric score of at least 20 and >500 views one month after publication, and one open access edited book covering the project’s scientific advances, with 1000 online reads within a year after publication.

Since the project started in February 2023 researchers at the DUST partner organisations have been working towards realizing these KPI’s. This deliverable therefore firstly presents achievements in terms of scientific publications so far, including already published journal articles, submitted journal articles, conference papers and presentations, as well as publication ideas that were launched by groups of researchers during related DUST project meetings. Drawing on these ongoing publication work as well as an intended comprehensive coverage of results from the different research activities in work packages (WPs) and tasks (Ts), the deliverable secondly identifies upcoming work to be done. This is presented in the form of agreed-upon lists of future publications. In conjunction these lists form the core of this final version of the DUST Academic dissemination plan.

Lastly, the deliverable presents guidelines for publication activities to guarantee reliability, honesty, respect, accountability, and inclusivity in the making use of the empirical data and knowledge that has been gathered during the project. A credit taxonomy is introduced as a specific instrument for determining co-authorship. Open science and acknowledgement practices as well as steps in bringing academic writing to publication are outlined. The realization of KPIs for academic dissemination largely falls outside of the duration of the DUST project. The plan therefore also introduces agreements that govern this post-project process. ... Read more

Accessibility is a cornerstone of the ‘15-min city’ (15 MC) concept, yet prior research has largely assessed access to services without examining its links to behaviour. As a result, accessibility-oriented interventions often prioritise basic needs, while desires and wants, frequently tied to emotions and, therefore, to wellbeing, remain insufficiently addressed. In increasingly urbanised societies, urban ecological structures provide critical services by supporting social interaction and enhancing everyday liveability. Despite a gradual shift in wellbeing assessment frameworks from predominantly macroeconomic statistics towards more balanced perspectives that account for lived experiences and conditions, the influence of urban form on residents’ wellbeing remains underexplored. To address this gap, a conceptual framework and methodological roadmap are proposed based on the results of a systematic literature review using the PRISMA guidelines, including a validation component using Public Participation Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS), GIS analysis, and AI-supported evaluation. The resulting conceptual framework proposes a triple-helix roadmap in which morphological aspects, such as accessible built density, access to green and blue spaces, and patterns of pedestrian flow, are integrated with both objective and subjective wellbeing factors. Hedonic and eudaemonic dimensions are considered across city, neighbourhood, and street-block scales. By specifying corresponding indicators across these three dimensions, which can be collected and integrated using emerging methods such as PPGIS and LLMs, the framework addresses the limited literature on multiscale mixed-methods research on the 15 MC. This in return strengthens research and planning practice through improved assessment of how the spatial design of 15MCs shapes residents’ wellbeing ... Read more

This deliverable (D) 4.4 Evaluation and handbook of the Regional Futures Literacy Labs (RFLLs) evaluates the results of the RFLLs, which are the experimental part of the Democratising jUst Sustainability Transitions (DUST) project. The RFLLs happened in four case study regions in Norrbotten (Sweden), Katowice (Poland), Stara Zagora (Bulgaria), and Lusatia (Germany) between December 2024 and June 2025. The labs tested a novel hybrid format combining designled territorial and digital tools for the participation of least-engaged communities (LECs) in place-based sustainability transition policymaking. Engaged LECs were a rural community (Norrbotten), generations in mining families (Katowice), a community of citizens (Stara Zagora), and young people (Lusatia). The findings presented in this document elaborate to what extent the RFLL format has empowered these LECs to anticipate and envision regional structural change, how it has supported them in the building of social capital in a pluralistic and inclusive decision environment, and how it has helped the strategic and proactive positioning of their concerns in the multi-level deliberative governance of place-based sustainability transition policymaking and democratic life at scale.

In theoretical terms, the conception of RFLL format recognizes the importance of and challenges to citizen participation in place-based policymaking in the continuous, complex, and uncertain setting of sustainability transitions. Building on knowledge from the fields of public policy, spatial planning, spatial design, future studies, and democracy studies, the format emphasizes the role of anticipation and imagination, and reflexivity in the consideration of territorial, temporal, and organisation aspects of transitional development for policy learning, argumentation, and negotiation. The format also acknowledges that engaging a distinct LEC in public policymaking resembles the involvement of an ‘advocacy community’ or ‘advocacy coalition’, which requires particular attention to how community and policy fields of interest are thematically bounded, structured by narratives, and intersect. ... Read more

E-democracy refers to the use of electronic communication technologies, such as the internet and social media, to facilitate democratic processes and engagement. Participatory digital tools can in this context support decisions by mediating large scale collaboration among various stakeholders, through the exchange of data, endorsement, and opinion. The e-democracy tool Pol.is is an open-source consensus-oriented deliberative decision-making software for addressing controversial issues within potentially large groups of social media users. The tool is designed to address diverse types of publics and is oriented at second-order decisions on the exchange and synthesis of opinion. The tool enables consent formation at scale in situations where there is a low level of trust in pre-existing social networks. Pol.is enables low-cost participation in such a context via a series of embedded strategies and rules that reduce participants’ burden of decision and counteract flaming (provocative responses to posts). The tool is designed to inform agenda-setting by promoting organisation. It uses predefined ‘seed statements’ (SS) as input for the identification of clusters of consent (and dis-consent) around these policy statements. It allows people to first add nuanced comments on these prompts. Conversation then proceeds with ordering added comments around algorithmically structured themes which are then used to build a matrix that organizes comments around themes quantitatively.

​The DUST experiments, which were run under the header Regional Futures Literacy Labs (RFLLs), tested the e-democracy tool Pol.is as part of a hybrid format combining digital and analogous design-led territorial participation instruments. The aim of testing was to increase our understanding of the complementarities between digital and analogue forms of participation, and of how these complementarities can be enhanced to increase the strategic positioning of communities’ interests in multi-level policymaking and democratic life at scale.

​Between January and May 2025, DUST partners in the four RFLL case studies of Norrbotten (Sweden), Katowice (Poland), Lusatia (Germany), and Stara Zagora (Bulgaria) engaged with the Pol.is application during three stages. During the first preparation phase, the TUD Pol.is team educated RFLL case study partners on the use of the software, supported them in the preparation of input – the SSs, as well as opening statements and pages - for the application, and guided them in the preparation and first steps of a case-study-region-wide campaign to attract Pol.is users. In addition, the TUD Pol.is team prepared the application for use in technical terms (the application was hosted at TU Delft for data privacy and security reasons). During the second implementation phase, the collaboratively prepared seed statements (output of the third RFLL workshop) were set out in case study regions for digital deliberation. Case study partners monitored reactions to these statements, moderated deliberations if necessary, and further implemented the Pol.is information campaign. During the final assessment phase, the case study partners carried out a first quantitative assessment of Pol.is results in each case study region. Results of this assessment fed into a policy co-creation process in the RFLL WS 4. The data collection, which is presented in this deliverable, will finally feed into a comparative assessment of results per case study region, and an evaluation of Pol.is on its complementarity with other participatory RFLL tools and activities. ... Read more

The Task (T) 4.3 Regional design is part of the DUST work package (WP) 4 ‘Setting the stage for participation: Mapping, visualization, and digitalization’, which supports the participatory experiments with citizens, policymakers, and experts in the DUST Regional Futures Literacy Labs (RFLLs) in WP5. The RFLLs combine design-led territorial and digital instruments for more proactive and strategic involvement of least-engaged communities (LECs) in multi-level sustainability transition policymaking. The regional designs, which are the key output of T4.3, exemplify a design-led territorial approach. Presented in a series of visual representations and storylines, their purpose is two-fold: firstly, they represent and compare community and policy perspectives on sustainability transition policymaking in regions; and secondly, they support the positioning of LEC’s concerns in policy and public debates. Three images have been drawn for each of the four DUST RFLL case study (CS) regions of Norrbotten (SE), Stara Zagora (BG), Katowice (PL), and Lusatia (DE). Presented in the form of a triptych these images represent: (1) the anticipated local policy impact, (2) communities’ envisioned probable futures, and (3) their imagined preferred futures.

​The design of the visualisations drew on input from several RFLL activities and DUST tasks. In the RFLL workshop (WS) 2, communities discussed their expectations, hopes, and dreams in the context of their region’s sustainability transition. Inspired by the UNESCO Futures Literacy Lab format, the future perspectives were framed as probable and preferred futures. To emphasize the community lens, probable futures were later represented as a ‘head vs. the outside world’. To underline a territorial approach, preferred futures scenes were anchored in a geographic regional map. These two community perspectives were juxtaposed with a policy perspective. The policy perspective foresees the impact of a selection of current and upcoming place-based sustainability transition policies. To enhance comparison with LECs’ preferred futures, also this perspective was depicted in a regional geographic setting. The methods used for analysing the policy and the community perspectives, and the approach to creating the regional designs are described under the methodology chapter.

​The output of T4.3 is a series of four triptychs representing and comparing the community and policy futures in the four case study regions where the RFLLs take place. Output was and will be used in several consecutive DUST activities. During the RFLL WS 3 communities co-created policy statements, which were further on opened for large-scale digital deliberation on the DUST Pol.is platform (T4.5). The regional designs were used to inspire the formulation of the statements, and for Pol.is information campaigns in digital and physical environments. Additionally, regional designs were also used for community storytelling in WS3: LECs were invited to take these as a starting point for telling stories about their regions. Beyond the RFLLs, the regional designs will be included in the DUST citizen position papers (D5.3), and displayed in several DUST exhibitions (WP6, T6.7). Exhibitions will be curated in all four CS regions, displaying the regional designs alongside explanatory text and audio-visual material. The exhibition material will also be promoted be used in other policy, academic and civic contexts concerned with discussing the role of communities in just sustainability transition policies. T4.6 will assess the different uses of the regional designs in and beyond the RFLLs. D4.4 will present the results from this analysis. ... Read more

More than 20% of global carbon emissions are linked with the production of construction materials used in the built environment. The use of bio-materials along with urban densification strategies that avoid demolition and reduce material demand, have been recommended to achieve urban sustainability goals. Addressing these measures, this study compares the life cycle embodied carbon emissions of seven hybrid top-up structural systems composed of concrete, steel and advanced engineered timber products made out of softwood and hardwood species. The life cycle carbon emissions (expressed in kgCO2-eq) were estimated following a cradle-to-grave approach, with a functional unit equivalent to 1 m2 of top-up structural system and focusing on The Netherlands and the city of Amsterdam as main geographical scope. A statistical analysis was included to account for the potential variation of emissions across each life cycle stage, using Monte Carlo simulations for random sampling. The results indicate that predominantly bio-based structures present a staggering 60% lower embodied carbon emissions compared with predominantly concrete, steel and modestly hybrid systems. Preserving the long-term carbon storage capacity of timber elements through high-quality reuse can offset 30–60% of the total positive emissions of the predominantly bio-based systems. Up to 6MtCO2-eq of the national carbon budget in The Netherlands can be saved from a radical uptake of bio-based structures in Amsterdam by 2050. Diversification of material diets with bio-based alternatives is recommended, along with established policy that can guarantee sustainable sourcing and prolonged lifespans through high-end reuse practices. ... Read more

Transitioning towards a circular built environment and turning waste into resources have become one of the new sustainability paradigms today. However, a circular transition can be considered a ‘wicked problem’. The multiple dimensions and scales of the circular transition and its substantial spatial implications fit well into the planning approach of Geodesign. The Horizon 2020 funded project “Resource Management in the periurban Areas - Going beyond Urban Metabolism (REPAiR)” implemented an innovative Geodesign approach. Moreover, it explored its capability to support spatial decision-making processes for the circular economy transition of the built environment within urban planning practices. This article aims to understand to what extent a process of Geodesign, which is conducted with the support of a digital tool and a Living Lab approach, can support the creation of localised circular economy strategies and foster the circular economy transition in cities and territories. The analysis explores and compares the results of three European cases -Amsterdam, Hamburg and Naples. It considers the kind of data input required to run the process in every phase, the stakeholders involved and their typology, the specific urban or territorial, planning and governance scales of analysis, and the final output definition after the Geodesign process implementation. The approach outputs constitute a decision support system for easing negotiations between local actors regarding the circularity strategies to implement. The findings reveal an intertwinement between different forms of knowledge included in the process, ranging from sustainability to governance and design, and the actors engaged in planning a circularity transition spatially. However, even using similar starting data, the local information and the starting conditions strongly influence the process and the types of strategies elaborated in each case. ... Read more

The Netherlands aims to achieve climate resilience and water robustness by 2050, necessitating an interdisciplinary approach to spatial planning due to the complex nature of climate adaptation. A critical need exists for subsurface data, especially for interventions related to underground elements like water storage, soil infiltration, and subsurface management. This need became particularly relevant when the Dutch government adopted 'water and soil guiding' as a core principle for spatial planning in 2022 (Ministerie van Infrastructuur en Waterstaat, 2022). Translating this principle into practical solutions is complex, requiring detailed knowledge of subsurface characteristics. The absence of such information can lead to issues like groundwater contamination and high-maintenance parks.

Despite the necessity for interdisciplinary and subsurface data, organizational, technological, and institutional barriers hinder the use of information models and standards in climate adaptation design. Currently, even though there are many subsurface models and standards available, the Netherlands lacks an integrated approach linking subsurface information models with local climate adaptation design. It also lacks an example of the use of standards to exchange planning information containing climate adaptation design interventions.

This research explores how subsurface data models can enhance urban climate adaptation design. By assessing existing models, it identifies data requirements for effective interventions based on Dutch policy documents. The paper introduces CLIMACAT, an online tool integrating subsurface information models and other crucial data in one online catalogue following FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable) data principles, tested in four Utrecht neighborhoods.

The findings emphasize the importance of integrating subsurface information models into urban planning to achieve more effective and context-sensitive climate adaptation interventions. Significant barriers include data accessibility and standardization. New spatial plans were standardized using Land Administration Domain Model (LADM) Part 5 (ISO 19152-5), tailoring some attributes for climate adaptation design, facilitating cross-border information exchange. This approach addresses specific challenges in the Netherlands and provides a framework for international adoption, contributing to global urban climate adaptation efforts. The research highlights the need for accessible subsurface data and interdisciplinary collaboration, supported by continuous technological and policy advancements. ... Read more

Work package (WP) 4 ‘Setting the stage for participation: Mapping, visualization, and digitalization’ of the DUST project builds on research in WP2 and 3 and is oriented at preparing and supporting the participatory experimentation with citizens, policymakers, and experts - the Regional Futures Literacy Labs (RFLLs) - in WP5. The labs combine design-led territorial and digital instruments for more proactive and strategic involvement of least-engaged communities (LECs) in sustainability transition policymaking. Within WP4, Task 4.2 maps the policy context for the experiments in the four case study regions where the experiments will be carried out, namely Stara Zagora (BG), Lusatia (DE), Katowice (PL) and Norrbotten (SE). More specifically, the task foresees the impact of place-based just sustainability transition policy measures. This will later allow to contrast this projected impact with the impact of measures that are imagined by LECs, the development of policy statements on this base, and deliberating these statements using the e-democracy tool Pol.is.

​The context mapping performed in Task 4.2 has been carried out to foresee the impact of ongoing and upcoming just sustainability transition measures in case study regions. A consistent and comprehensible spatial representation of impact is constituted via the use of an adapted version of the Territorial capital (TC) framework developed by Orsi et al. ​(2022). To achieve output, a Geographic information systems (GIS) application was used to create a geographic database that collects and combines data on the thematic key issues that are identified in relevant policy documents. This database constitutes the deliverable (D) 4.1.

​Task 4.2 drew on the results of Tasks 3.1, 3.2, and 5.2.1. Results of the task in the form of maps and other visualisations will feed into Tasks 5.2 and 5.3 to support participants' interaction in the RFLLs. This deliverable D4.1 is a living database, including a supportive table titled Territorial Capital Catalogue (TCC), which introduces the identified capitals across policies and categorizes them based on our adapted framework. The database will be complemented and transformed as interaction in the RFLLs proceeds. ... Read more

To push forward a transition towards a clean, zero-waste circular economy (CE), cities and regions need to embed circularity goals and principles into their policies and urban planning. Succeeding in this effort requires developing tools for assessing the progress towards CE and to inform the relevant policies through effective evaluation. The current assessment methods face challenges in integrating the relevant dimensions and lack adequate data. Notably, spatial, governance and social aspects of CE transitions are often overlooked. In this chapter, we draw upon the academic literature and real-world policy examples to evaluate critically the existing approaches to CE assessment. Based on this, we provide recommendations to enhance the assessment of CE transitions in cities and regions. ... Read more

Implementing a circular economy in cities has been proposed by policy makers as a potential solution for achieving sustainability in the construction sector. One strategy that has gained interest by both policy makers and companies is to develop “circular construction hubs”: locations that collect, store, and redistribute waste as secondary resources. However, there is limited literature taking a spatially explicit view, identifying the spatial parameters that could affect the locations of hubs both for now and in the future. This study therefore aims to categorize different types of circular hubs for the construction industry, collect spatial parameters required for finding suitable locations for each type of circular hub, and translate the spatial parameters into a list of data and spatial analysis methods that could be used to identify potential future locations. The study used the Netherlands as a case study, extracting spatial parameters from two sources: Dutch governmental policy documents on circular economy and spatial development and interviews with companies operating circular hubs. Four types of circular construction hubs were identified: urban mining hubs, industry hubs, local material banks, and craft centers. The spatial parameters were extracted for each type of hub from four perspectives: resources (such as material type, business model), accessibility (such as mode and scale of transportation), land use (such as plot size, land use), and socio-economic (such as labor availability). The parameters were then translated into a list of spatial data and analysis methods required to identify future locations of circular construction hubs. ... Read more

In the European context, cities and regions play a key role in boosting circularity and achieve the European Green Deal action plan ambition to ‘boost the efficient use of resources by moving to a clean, circular economy’. To this end, cities and regions will be instrumental in promoting circularity through engagement with key actors and integration of circular economy (CE) goals within their policies and spatial plans. To support this effort, it is essential to develop appropriate metrics and tools for evaluating the progress and transition towards a circular economy. Although numerous new assessment methodologies have been suggested (Corona et al., 2019), they generally focus on quantitatively assessing how circular a project, system, or business is, or on evaluating the extent to which circular strategies align with the principles of a circular economy. Current metrics rarely extend beyond material sustainability assessments, which means they often do not capture the complexity of the CE transition and lack a comprehensive, integrated perspective. In particular, what they omit are the spatial (Williams, 2020), the governance (Korhonen et al., 2018) and the social dimensions (Pitkänen et al., 2020). In this paper, we propose a holistic transition assessment tool developed and tested across several metropolitan regions, including Amsterdam, Naples, Łódź, Hamburg and Pécs, being at different stages of the circular economy transition. The final version of the tool was applied in two cases, the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area and the city of Tomaszów Mazowiecki. The tool focuses on five dimensions: (1) governance structures, (2) awareness, comprehensiveness of the sustainability assessment, (3) tools for measuring material stocks and flows as well as (4) for co-creation of solutions and strategies with stakeholders, and (5) circular built environment. The results of applying the tool in a series of workshops with regional CE stakeholders allow for exploring the following questions: What is the state of the transition towards CE in European urban regions from a holistic perspective? What hinders these transitions? And how to identify means to overcome those barriers? The assessment tool is of interest for regional and urban policy-makers, planners and stakeholders engaged in development of CE strategies and policies. What is more, the results presented in the paper allow for comparative insights into the state of transition towards CE and for drawing lessons on what it takes to nudge the development of regions and cities towards circularity. ... Read more

Implementing a circular economy in cities has been proposed by policy makers as a potential solution for achieving sustainability in the construction sector. One strategy that has gained interest by both policy makers and companies is to develop ‘circular construction hubs’: locations that collect, store, and redistribute waste as secondary resources. However, there is limited literature taking a spatially explicit view, identifying the spatial parameters that could affect the locations of hubs both for now and in the future. This study therefore aims to categorize different types of circular hubs for the construction industry, collect spatial parameters required for finding suitable locations for each type of circular hub, and translate the spatial parameters into a list of data and spatial analysis methods that could be used to identify potential future locations. The study used the Netherlands as a case study, extracting spatial parameters from two sources: Dutch governmental policy documents on circular economy and spatial development, and interviews with companies operating circular hubs. Four types of circular construction hubs were identified: urban mining hubs, industry hubs, local material banks, and craft centers. The spatial parameters were extracted for each type of hub from four perspectives: resources (such as material type, business model), accessibility (such as mode and scale of transportation), land use (such as plot size, land use), and socio-economic (such as labor availability). The parameters were then translated into a list of spatial data and analysis methods required to identify future locations of circular construction hubs. ... Read more

With circular economy being high on governmental agendas, there is an increasing request from governing bodies for circularity measurements. Yet, currently existing macro-level monitoring frameworks are widely criticized for not being able to inform the decision-making. The criticism includes, among others, a lack of consensus on terminologies and definitions among scholars, politicians, and practitioners, a lack of supporting data and tools and, consequently, a lack of transparency and trustworthiness. To address those needs, a bottom-up approach to build a shared terminology is suggested as a starting point for monitoring development. The government, data providers, and tool developers are involved in the process of formal ontology development and alignment. The experiment builds upon a use case of the Amsterdam Circular Economy Monitor (2020). First, four ontology development approaches are used to create a theory-centered, a user-centered, a tool-centered, and a data-centered ontology. The ontologies are later compared, merged, and aligned to arrive at one single ontology which forms the basis of the circular economy monitor. The notes taken during the process have revealed that next to a material flow model, typical of socioeconomic metabolism analysis, policy makers are concerned with actors (i.e., institutions, companies, or groups of people) who participate in the analyzed processes and services. Furthermore, a number of terms used by the decision-makers lack clear definitions and references to be directly associated with the available data. Finally, a structured terminology alignment process between monitor users, developers, and data providers helps in exposing terminology conflicts and ambiguities. ... Read more

This paper introduces a methodological framework to integrate circularity in architectural curricula and the building blocks that led to its conceptualisation. The first block (Part A) examines how complexity has affected learning and architectural education, in particular. The paper departs from the notion that knowledge produces further uncertainty in conditions of critical complexity. Moreover, the highest levels of complexity require the least scientific of approaches. It then examines the main challenges resulting from this shift: one is that learning identifies with individuals’ ability to make informed decisions and is now conceptualised as actionable knowledge. Second to that, education should opt for a pedagogy that can support learning through decision making. Architectural education, in particular, should be able to foster a new type of professionalism, where individuals assume accountability for their design decisions that extends beyond the aesthetic realm. But what can drive curricula to become more responsive to the current environmental, social, and political realities? The second block (Part B) looks into the issue of circularity. It examines its relevance to architectural education for its potential to function both as an operational scheme as well as a value system. Furthermore, being a concept in the making, circularity can benefit from academic research but can also support a pedagogy that focuses on helping students learn how to learn. The proposed methodological framework (Part C) builds on these two blocks and on the faculty’s research on circularity to develop a scheme of what constitutes content for teaching circularity, how the goals for integrating it into the curricula can be formulated, and what type of pedagogy is suited to support the integration. ... Read more

A shift towards a more Circular Economy is, in many policies, seen as crucial to achieving a more sustainable and inclusive built environment that meets future demands. In the last decade, the European Commission’s research funding has supported numerous initiatives aiming to reduce waste generation through shifts towards Circular Economy approaches. Many cities and regions followed and started to develop circular economy strategies, action plans and circularity monitors. The difficulties and challenges of implementing a seemingly simple concept are mainly to narrow, slow down and close materials streams and thereby reduce our dependency on raw material input. Europe’s geopolitical dependency on resource-rich countries has become very apparent during the last years. In this article, we identify some of those challenges and propose potential ways forward. ... Read more