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Growing in popularity, the circular city framework is at the leading-edge of a larger and older transitional dialogue which envisions regenerative, circular, and symbiotic systems as the future of urban sustainability. The need for more research supporting the implementation of such concepts has been often noted in literature. To help address this gap, this holistic review assesses a range of pertinent sustainability frameworks as a platform to identify actionable strategies which can be leveraged to support and implement circular city goals. This assessment is grounded in a holistic overview of related frameworks across interdisciplinary and scalar domains including circular city, the food-water-energy nexus, circular economy, bioeconomy, industrial symbiosis, regenerative design, and others. Building on these interrelationships, the applied strategies espoused within these publications are synthesized and assessed in the context of circular city implementation. From an initial 250 strategies identified in literature, thirty-four general implementation strategies across six thematic areas are distinguished and discussed, finding strong overlaps in implementation strategies between frameworks, and opportunities to further develop and harness these synergies to advance circular city toward sustainable urban futures. 

Energy use within buildings contributes to nearly a third of carbon emissions in the United States (Zhang et al. 2019, EPA). Meanwhile, between 30-40% of food in the U.S. is wasted and generates carbon emissions equivalent to that of 37 million cars yearly (UN FAO). Long term decarbonization strategies within the built environment can look to alternative energy mechanisms which redirect waste resources as inputs to other systems. Circular City models of sustainability accordingly look for potentials to close loops, turning waste into resources and reducing pollution. These approaches are generating increasing interest and seek to advance a very applied approach to sustainability- one which will integrally require leadership from design fields, local governments, and community leadership to succeed.

 

This research collaboration between the Circular City + Living Systems (CCLS) research lab and the architecture practice Weber Thompson addresses the intersection of three critical topics affecting the carbon footprint of the built environment: adaptive reuse of existing buildings, increased availability of electric and autonomous vehicles, and food production in cities. This study measures and compares the relative impact of the operational carbon impact reduction of an eventual transition to electric autonomous vehicles, the embodied carbon reduction of adaptive building reuse, and the potential to sequester carbon as a benefit from living systems in urban aquaponics operations in adapted parking garages.

 

Abstract. A circular city builds upon the principles of circular economy, which keyconcepts of reduce, reuse, recycle, and recover lead to a coupling ofresources: products and by-products of one production process become theinput of another one, often in local vicinity. However, sources, types andavailable quantities of underutilised resources in cities are currently notwell documented. Therefore, there is a missing link in the information flowof the circular city between potential users and site-specific data. Toclose this gap, this study introduces the concept of a site resourceinventory in conjunction with a new information model that can manage thedata needed for advancing the circular city. A core taxonomy of terms isestablished as the foundation for the information model: the circulareconomy is defined as a network of circular economy entities which areregarded as black boxes and connected by their material and energy inputsand outputs. This study proposes a site resource inventory, which is acollection of infrastructural and building-specific parameters that assessthe suitability of urban sites for a specific circular economy entity. Aninformation model is developed to manage the data that allows the entitiesto effectively organise the allocation and use of resources within thecircular city and its material and energy flows. The application of thisinformation model was demonstrated by comparing the demand and availabilityof required alternative resources (e.g. greywater) at a hypothetical sitecomprising a commercial aquaponic facility (synergistic coupling of fish andvegetables production) and a residential building. For the implementation ofthe information model a proposal is made which uses the publicly availablegeodata infrastructure of OpenStreetMap and adopts its tag system tooperationalise the integration of circular economy data by introducing newtags. A site resource inventory has the potential to bring togetherinformation needs and it is thus intended to support companies when makingtheir business location decisions or to support local authorities in theplanning process. 

Abstract As the building sector faces global challenges that affect urban supplies of food, water and energy, multifaceted sustainability solutions need to be re-examined through the lens of built environments. Aquaponics, a strategy that combines recirculating aquaculture with hydroponics to optimize fish and plant production, has been recognized as one of "ten technologies which could change our lives" by merit of its potential to revolutionize how we feed urban populations. To holistically assess the environmental performance of urban aquaponic farms, impacts generated by aquaponic systems must be combined with impacts generated by host envelopes. This paper outlines the opportunities and challenges of using life cycle assessment (LCA) to evaluate and design urban aquaponic farms. The methodology described here is part of a larger study of urban integration of aquaponics conducted by the interdisciplinary research consortium CITYFOOD. First, the challenges of applying LCA in architecture and agriculture are outlined. Next, the urban aquaponic farm is described as a series of unit process flows. Using the ISO 14040:2006 framework for developing an LCA, subsequent LCA phases are described, focusing on scenario-specific challenges and tools. Particular attention is given to points of interaction between growing systems and host buildings that can be optimized to serve both. Using a hybrid LCA framework that incorporates methods from the building sector as well as the agricultural sector, built environment professionals can become key players in interdisciplinary solutions for the food-water-energy nexus and the design of sustainable urban food systems.