The political and public interest in issues of inclusion and inclusiveness has grown steadily in recent years. Keeping different segments of society together in the aftermath of a neo-liberal era where much of the social tissue underlying market operations has been eaten up by the prevalence of those same market values is a key concern to many public and private actors. The popularity of the label ‘inclusive city’ can also be observed in its increased use among municipal governments worldwide for city branding purposes and its surge in the academic literature. Its relevance notwithstanding, the meaning of the term ‘inclusive’ is not always clearly defined and often multi-dimensional. In this chapter, a state-of-the art overview will be offered of what is currently known about this city label in the academic literature and look both at journal articles and books in the timeframe 2000–2022. Key finding in this study, which builds on and further develops earlier work is that based on both bibliometric research of academic articles and a systematic review of books, book chapters and grey literature, we find six different dimensions of inclusion (spatial, social, environmental, economic, political and cultural) with their own connotations and associations. Taking this variety into account is essential to a more sophisticated understanding of what developing an inclusive city entails and what variations and variety of developmental paths exist.

The comprehensive sustainability assessment of urban waste management systems (UWMSs) is crucial for understanding the impact of current and future city strategies aimed at improving circularity and inclusion in cities. In this study we propose a framework for conceptualizing the inclusive circular city (ICC), and we review specifically scientific literature on methodological tools and trends in integrated sustainability assessments (ISAs) of UWMSs. Of the 145 publications reviewed, only 10 % concurrently evaluated social, environmental, and economic aspects, and just 2 % incorporated circularity and inclusion metrics. Publications focusing simultaneously either on social and environmental dimensions or economic and environmental dimensions accounted for 3 % and 17 % of studies, respectively, while 70 % adopted a single-dimensional approach. A notable proportion of studies focused exclusively on environmental impact assessment, predominantly employing life cycle assessment or indicators such as carbon footprint. Social assessments were notably less prevalent, comprising only 20 % of studies. Stakeholder engagement and inclusion metrics were considered in 20 % and 5 % of the publications, respectively. In terms of R strategies, 65 % of the studies concentrated on recycling and recovery, targeting mainly municipal solid waste. To advance our knowledge on ISAs of UWMSs and improve our understanding of their embeddedness in ICCs, future research should: (a) focus on multidimensional, transdisciplinary assessments with an emphasis on strong sustainability-oriented methodologies by including circularity and inclusion metrics; (b) prioritize inclusion and active stakeholder participation in collaborative knowledge creation; and (c) shift the focus from conventional waste recycling and recovery to ambitious circular strategies that retain resources in closed-loop systems.

The transition to a circular economy necessitates cities to effectively manage their waste flows by capturing and redirecting them within the municipal domain. Traditional approaches to controlling waste flows have primarily relied on quantitative methods, such as material flow analyses. These methods excel in mapping the quantitative aspects of the materials and visualizing their sequential movements. However, recent advancements have highlighted the significant role of human behavior in shaping waste flows. For example, the way that citizens sort their waste determines the components and calorific value of the flows and directly impacts the circular rerouting challenges within the city. This paper argues that enhancing waste management practices in a circular economy requires analytical tools capable of incorporating the social dimension. Based on this premise, a novel approach termed the Waste Journey is developed and tested using a case study on household renovation waste in the Netherlands. Various methodological options to map the case are discussed and an initial framework for the Waste Journey is then proposed. The study emphasizes the influence of social processes on waste handling and offers a comprehensive means in which these processes can be mapped to effectively address challenges toward zero-waste cities.

Understanding the current status and historical path dependencies of infrastructures is crucial for planning future interventions in sustainability transitions. However, studies that examine the interplay between sustainability transitions and civil infrastructures remain limited. This paper presents a systematic review of 97 empirical studies that analyze how infrastructure systems and sustainability transitions influence one another. Infrastructure is found to play a dual role—as both a structuring force that enables or constrains transitions, and as a domain reshaped by transition processes. The review identifies key knowledge gaps and transdisciplinary opportunities. Firstly, capacity-related challenges—across technical, managerial, institutional, and policy dimensions—emerge as a shared concern and a promising entry point for deeper integration of infrastructure- and transition-oriented perspectives. Notably, the tactical level, where strategic ambitions are translated into infrastructure practices, remains significantly underexplored across the literature. Finally, most studies focus on individual systems, overlooking interdependencies across infrastructures and transitions, highlighting the need for a more networked, cross-sectoral approach.

Construction activities in the built environment use a vast amount of resources, making the circular economy an attractive paradigm against the linear take-waste-dispose economy to reduce this resource consumption. Within the built environment, this transition encompasses the use of circular strategies across the product life cycle for materials. This entails efforts from multiple stakeholders across the product value chain. In this study we therefore explore how stakeholders engagement can aid the process to arrive at a common understanding of a public sector circular business model (PSCBM) in the case of a circular concrete paver. We conducted a participatory design workshop aimed to design this PSCBM with all relevant stakeholders across the product life cycle were (re)presented. We conclude that the presence of stakeholder perspectives was observed to be necessary in drafting up a PSCBM for a concrete paver, but caution is needed. Outcome-wise stakeholder engagement was necessary to sharpen the dream, indicating stakeholder value propositions, activities required, value trade-offs and to arrive at a relevant set of indicators. Process-wise, stakeholder engagement in this setting was relevant because stakeholders were enabled to share perspectives and challenge each other perspectives accordingly. This leads to the advantage that the practical feasibility of proposed ideas could immediately be challenged. However, outcomes and assumptions should always be cross-validated and updated according to new insights (e.g., relevant outcomes of tests or regulations, latest insights on reuse and recycling innovations). The outcomes are time- and context-bound and very much reliant on the perspectives shared. The findings of this study contribute to our understanding of how stakeholder engagement in a workshop setting, can potentially be useful to strategize about circular products. We conclude that this for example, could help to improve the functional and esthetical requirements for product procurement.

Rapid urbanization in combination with unsustainable production and consumption patterns leads to the generation of substantial amounts of urban waste. The circular economy promises to bring solutions both with top-down and with bottom-up activities. The former relate to the implementation of policies which are based on the waste hierarchy principles by local governments, whereas the latter are about the adoption of circular business models by urban stakeholders. However, a circular economy does not automatically endow cities with inclusion or resilience against shocks. Consequently, any decision which relates to such a transition is not trivial. This chapter presents an integrative framework to assist urban decision makers in considering inclusion and circularity simultaneously when developing urban waste management systems where urban regeneration has a central role. The framework places explicit attention on improving the accessibility of social groups to various forms of capital and stimulating the development of local economies through improved circulation of resources and information within the urban fabric.

This conclusion chapter synthesizes the contributions from the preceding chapters to address the central question of how a city can govern its Urban Waste Management System (UWMS) to achieve circularity and inclusion. By integrating insights from diverse perspectives, we highlight the key principles and strategies that enable cities to transition towards more sustainable and inclusive waste management practices. The synthetic UWMS framework introduced earlier in the book serves as a comprehensive tool for understanding the complex dynamics of circularity and inclusion in urban contexts. This chapter discusses the interconnectedness of governance, policy, technology, and community participation, emphasizing that effective UWMS governance requires a multi-layered approach. It concludes with practical recommendations for policymakers and urban planners, outlining pathways for achieving a circular economy while fostering social equity and inclusion within urban waste systems. Ultimately, it calls for an adaptive, collaborative governance model to ensure long-term sustainability and inclusivity in urban waste management.

The concept of value has been central to economic thought for centuries; the idea of what makes something valuable shapes how we exchange, produce, invest, and measure well-being. Neoclassical traditions have dominated the contemporary economic framework, privileging financial value as the primary metric of worth. This emphasis on quantifiability, reinforced by positivist methodologies, has marginalised broader considerations of multiple values and incommensurability. Real estate valuation perfectly embodies and exemplifies these tensions. This disjuncture between theory and practice reflects a broader issue within economics: the persistence of an overly narrow understanding of value. In response to these challenges–ranging from sustainability commitments to shifting societal priorities–we turn to a historical narrative of value theories to examine how foundational assumptions about value shape economic thought, resource allocation, and societal priorities. Recent studies point to a growing dissatisfaction with existing valuation models along with a shifting value paradigm: one that increasingly recognises multiple forms of values, the limits of commensurability, and the influence of social and ecological considerations on the practice of appraisal.

Having a high demand for materials and vast emissions, cities are ideal laboratories for exploring the circular economy. The circular city as a city label has attracted a lot of attention from academics and practitioners. However, it remains unclear what a circular city is in the context of the circular economy in the urban environment. To improve our understanding of how circular cities have been defined and developed by scholars, this book chapter reviews academic literature. First, we set a search scope of relevant literature using a bibliometric approach to build a database with 109 peer-reviewed articles. Then, we compile a final list of 28 definitions which are analyzed to find the dimensions of a circular city. These circular city dimensions are: system structure, components, principles, goals, and organizational characteristics. In sum, this chapter provides a comprehensive understanding of the current central themes of circular cities and their shortcomings.

Circularity is often treated as a design principle or strategic ambition to improve resource efficiency, but in practice, many of its claims remain unverified and untraceable. Existing assessment methods typically focus on intended design strategies or modelled impacts, rather than demonstrating real-world outcomes. This paper introduces the concept of evidence-based circularity assessment as an alternative approach for shifting from intention to actionable outcome. Drawing on an analogy of two contrasting ‘circular’ coffee pod systems, it illustrates how the credibility of circularity claims depends on the presence of verifiable evidence, coordinated infrastructure, and traceable processes. Building on these insights, the paper proposes a conceptual framework for assessing circularity, structured around three interdependent elements: proof, process, and persuasion. Finally, the paper explores how these principles can be applied in the built environment, where supporting systems are needed to track, evaluate, and realize circular material flows. The approach aspires to support more transparent, accountable, and adaptive forms of circularity assessment in complex real-world settings.

This chapter provides the background of this book’s topic. It does so by explaining how informal waste picking and urban formal waste infrastructure systems are both relevant to realizing an effective inclusive and circular economy at the urban scale, but that bringing them together does not occur automatically in the policymaking process. It provides a conceptual model that clarifies how the different components of the urban waste management system are connected, clarifies the logic underlying the structuring of the book into the various chapters that follow and then proceeds to present a brief outline of what each of those following chapters will be dealing with.

Existing assessments of Urban Circular Economy (UCE) initiatives often fail to address the multidimensional nature of urban circularity, particularly regarding social inclusion and stakeholder engagement. To address these limitations this research develops a unified theoretical framework by integrating three existing frameworks, the 9 DB framework (for identifying the development stage of waste and resource management), the 10R ladder (for defining the depth of adopted circular strategies), and the inclusive circular city (ICC) framework (for assessing environmental, social, economic and spatial dimensions, including participatory engagement). The unified framework is applied to the network of Circular Craft Centres (CCCs) in the Netherlands, a bottom-up initiative launched in 2019. The application of the framework reveals that the CCC network promotes the long-term circulation of materials, including textiles, furniture, electronics and plastics, through multi-stakeholder collaboration involving governments, organizations, businesses, citizens and vulnerable groups, with a focus on labour market integration. It also shows that CCCs have the potential to foster sustainability, circularity, and inclusion while underscoring the importance of place-based policies, the diversity of circular strategies implemented, and the active involvement of stakeholders across ICC dimensions. This study contributes to the development of holistic theoretical frameworks for evaluating UCE initiatives and supporting inclusive urban circular transitions.

An ecological metaphor can enable transitions towards regenerative circular economies. Yet, this potential remains latent because its conceptual development, which is a prerequisite for its practical operationalization, is in its incipient phase and largely vague. To strengthen its epistemological underpinning, we propose a forward-looking interdisciplinary research agenda which brings together theories, ontological positions, analytical approaches, and strategies of action from ecological economics, panarchy theory, socio-metabolic research, process ecology, environ network theory, the constructal law, nature-based solutions, complexity economics, doughnut economics, regenerative economics, and ergodicity economics. The agenda facilitates the concentration, consolidation, and acceleration of theoretical and methodological innovation for the generation and accumulation of a diverse yet coherent body of knowledge on the interpretation of the process of regeneration and for illuminating the ways in which regenerative circular economies may function.

Urban infrastructure development is one principal way people are transforming the natural world and their living conditions. It is important for humanity, but it can also cause major impacts to the environment, such as huge amounts of solid waste and CO2 emissions. Considering this, the circular economy (CE) is a promising alternative to the traditional “make, use, and dispose” linear economy model. However, as a strategy for sustainable development (SD), the CE is still in its infancy in the urban transport infrastructure sector. Therefore, this article aims to guide the implementation of CE during transport infrastructure projects. To achieve this goal, a literature review and case study were adopted as the research methods. After reviewing existing well-established CE frameworks, the iReSOLVE (implement, Regenerate, Share, Optimize, Loop, Virtualize, Exchange) framework is recognized as the most comprehensive one. Upon it, an analytical framework containing specific-related aspects of CE in urban transport infrastructure projects (which belongs to meso-scale) is proposed (coined as the 4Wh-iReSOLVE framework). The 4Wh means Who, When, Where, and What. The proposed framework offers insight into potential CE activities for transport infrastructure projects and assists in assessing the performance and impacts of CE of these projects to cover the gap of the neglected meso-scale. Ten circular viaduct project initiatives in the Netherlands are used as case analyses with the 4Wh-iReSOLVE framework. The results present the highlights of the circular viaduct initiatives in the Netherlands, with CE activities categorized into five groups (design-related strategies, general CE strategies, implementation, management, and related digital technologies and materials, as well as environmental sustainability). As verified by several experts of the projects studied, it can be concluded that the 4Wh-iReSOLVE framework is suitable for transport infrastructure project CE analyses and implementations. It can potentially be a suggested guideline in future policy documents.

Product-service systems (PSS) represent a business model that increases material decoupling and decreases environmental risks while providing customer value. PSS can help realize a more sustainable construction industry, which remains among the largest polluting and waste-generating sectors. Systemic change in the infrastructure sector requires client involvement, which is represented by the government. However, establishing circular PSS is challenging due to the complexities, which need to combine the lifecycle approach, customer-client aspects, new contracting, knowledge transfer, technology, and PSS-specific aspects. It requires ex-ante evaluation of real case studies to increase knowledge and understanding. This article presents a first-of-its-kind framework for infrastructure based on the current literature and analysis of five infrastructure pilots in the Netherlands (bridge deck, digital road lights, guide rails, roads). The final multistakeholder integrated circular PSS framework includes i) lifecycle perspective and circularity, a) materials and b) management, ii) customer-contractor relationship including a) customer-perspective b) co-creation aspects, c) client-customer hierarchy, iii) technology perspective (functions and resources) iv) business aspects such as a) network and b) value creation and retention. The framework allows customer-contractor communication and can serve as decision support. It is applicable to circular PSS where the customer has more involvement in the formulation of PSS.

Reimagining design as a transformative practice for realizing a circular built environment is both urgent and important. Many of today's resource problems can be traced back to the way constructions are being designed. The adoption of circular design practices may alleviate these problems. Most previous research has either mapped the boundaries of contemporary circular design practices or pushed those boundaries with new interventions. The lived experiences of designers are, however, often overlooked. Little remains known about what it is like to be engaged in and how to ‘live through’ circular design. This study therefore seeks to understand the practice from the perspective of designers themselves. Through applying an interpretative phenomenological analysis to unstructured interview data collected from ten frontrunning Dutch designers, it explores both the what and how of circular design. Four emergent themes were found that illuminate the experience itself. Circular design is, accordingly, interpreted as a practice which: proclaims responsibility towards the Earth, materializes future-oriented solutions, deals with a multi-headed monster, and involves orchestrating a design ecosystem. These themes are illustrated with narrative accounts of designers' actual experiences. The rich, in-depth insights offer ample learning opportunities to better understand and facilitate unfolding circularity transitions. Circular design is, as such, theorized as a vital practice that can shape the built environment through materializing responsible futures.

Considering the importance of waste metals for the transition to circular economies, this study follows a bio-inspired approach to evaluate their material and monetary global trade patterns for sustainability and equity. Between 2000 and 2022, the global trade grew by 5 % in trading countries, by 37 % in trade links, by 71 % in material flows, and by 569 % in economic flows. Driven by indirect effects, the average circulation of material and monetary flows ranged between 21.8–34.9 % depending on the demand or supply perspective but showed a declining trend. Due to homogenization, high network redundancy, and low network efficiency the trade remained robust yet outside the "window of vitality" characterizing natural ecosystems. A few, mostly high-income countries dominated the market, consolidating imports of high-value metal waste mostly from low- and middle-income exporters. Policies should address circularity and trade inequities, accounting for environmental and social ramifications throughout the lifecycle of products and materials.

The inclusion of the informal recycling sector (IRS) in a circular economy (CE) is challenging and it is gaining increasing attention by the academic community in an exponential yet fragmented way. In this narrative review, we demarcate the direct and indirect contributions of the IRS to various domains of the CE by drawing knowledge from relevant literature. First, we capture the modi operandi of different forms of recycling value chains into a typology. We do so based on distinct foci and policy approaches towards the IRS which have been adopted across different countries. Second, we synthesize various threads of information on reported forms of collaboration, tensions, and challenges in the context of urban waste management, into a conceptual framework to facilitate transitions towards circular and inclusive wise-waste systems. Finally, we discuss important aspects related to circular business models and integration approaches towards the IRS, and we propose avenues for further research.

Rapid global urbanization, urban renewal and changes in people's lifestyles have led to both an increase in waste generation and more complex waste types. In response to these changes, many local governments have invested in municipal solid waste infrastructure (MSWI) to implement circular strategies. However, matching and bridging the costly and logistically complex MSWI with the dynamic social context is a central challenge. In this paper we aim to explore the interdependencies between MSWI and the local social system, and then conceptualize and empirically validate the systemic nature of MSWI. We first review the current MSW treatment methods, corresponding infrastructure, and the challenges facing them. Then, we interrogate system-oriented concepts and use two key insights to set up a conceptual model for mapping the interdependencies in a MSWI system (MSWIS). Finally, a case study of the Dutch city of Almere is used to empirically validate the MSWIS model and identify the social systems that contribute to the development of the MSWIS. The analysis reveals that the development of MSWIS is beyond the municipality's control: efficient resource recovery facilities established by businesses under market rules and waste reuse facilities constructed by social organizations/individuals based on their own needs are key pieces of the puzzle to complete the MSWIS. This highlights the ability of the framework to capture interdependencies that go further than just the formal municipal sphere of influence.

The circular economy (CE) has been established as one of the leading strategies to achieve a more sustainable system leading to national and global goals. One of the models coupled with CE is Product-Service Systems (PSS), with service integrated into products to various degree. PSS implementation in the infrastructure sector has been studied to a limited extent, with evidence of circularity lacking. This study analyzed five PSS infrastructure assets: bridge deck, guide rails, road lights, and municipal and provincial roads. Circularity improved in the design, input materials, and availability of secondary materials. A three-step framework is suggested to enable a circular process: incorporating R-strategies and circularity metrics during design, tracking material circularity, and evaluating implemented metrics and strategies. We suggest mandatory data collection by law to allow traceability, transparency, and the establishment of a secondary resource market.