“Smart Sustainable City” AND “Circular  Economy”: How circular principles fit in Smart Sustainable Cities

This thesis aims at contributing to the development of the novel concept of Smart Sustainable Cities (SSC). Existing literature lacks consistency and a clear overview of what fields should be part of SSC frameworks, as demonstrated by the variety of proposed frameworks, dimensions, indicators, and fields. For this reason, this thesis researched one possible path to an improved framework – through lessons on Circular Economy (CE). CE practices are being applied to cities at an increasing rate and the insights from their frameworks could advance SSC. Through asystematic literature review of the implementations of both concepts – CE and SSC, an overview of the most common fields has been offered, and lessons from CE applied to SSC. This thesis answered the research question: How can Circular Economy contribute to the Smart Sustainable City framework? The results are summarized in an improved comprehensive framework for Smart Sustainable City,divided into four dimensions with 23...Show moreThis thesis aims at contributing to the development of the novel concept of Smart Sustainable Cities (SSC). Existing literature lacks consistency and a clear overview of what fields should be part of SSC frameworks, as demonstrated by the variety of proposed frameworks, dimensions, indicators, and fields. For this reason, this thesis researched one possible path to an improved framework – through lessons on Circular Economy (CE). CE practices are being applied to cities at an increasing rate and the insights from their frameworks could advance SSC. Through asystematic literature review of the implementations of both concepts – CE and SSC, an overview of the most common fields has been offered, and lessons from CE applied to SSC. This thesis answered the research question: How can Circular Economy contribute to the Smart Sustainable City framework? The results are summarized in an improved comprehensive framework for Smart Sustainable City,divided into four dimensions with 23 strategic fields. Innovation, business, tourism, local resources, building sector, and food were among fields strongly supported byCE literature, while SSC models seemed not to realize all of their potentials. This review provides a thorough overview of the state of the affairs on the topic, offering a starting point for future research. This framework can be used for multiple purposes, from developing indicators for assessing a city’s progress towards becoming an SSC to offering guidance on where to implement smart sustainable solutions.Show less

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“Smart Sustainable City” AND “Circular Economy”: How circular principles fit in Smart Sustainable Cities