Taking Up Some Space: How Urban Space Use Supports Material Circularity in Outdoor Public Spaces

Abstract

Circular urban design is vital for developing the urban environment amidst intense urbanization, resource depletion, and climate change. Recent studies indicate that using urban space effectively is a necessity to promote circularity in the built environment. Yet, so far, discussions on the use of space within the circular economy have hardly shown its value beyond financial terms and enabling the circularity of buildings. To better capture the non‐financial benefits and costs, this study uses a plural value perspective by means of a public sector circular business model lens. The model is applied to three cases of urban space use in the city of Amsterdam. In these cases, space is used for temporary storage and handling to facilitate material reuse in urban area maintenance and (re)development projects in outdoor public spaces. Our findings demonstrate that (temporary) use of urban space is a crucial resource to store materials and enable material circularity in outdoor public spaces. The findings show that more permanent use of urban space provides opportunities for value chain collaboration and professionalization of storage and handling, whereas shorter use of urban space can be utilized for temporary storage to orchestrate the reuse of materials locally. The (temporary) use of urban spaces enables reuse, repurpose, refurbish, repair, and/or remanufacture of materials and products applied in outdoor public spaces and can create public, social, environmental, and economic value. The findings guide project stakeholders, urban planners, and policy makers on how to unlock the value‐creating potential of (temporary) urban space use to create circular outdoor public spaces.