Circular Cities

Danish Design Center and Clean invite six municipalities to participate in a 2-year innovation course. The project is supported by Realdania and it is free for the municipality to participate.

Municipalities with local circular challenges

The project targets municipalities that have high ambitions to work both systemically and in practice with local circular challenges in collaboration with companies, research environments and citizens and in close sparring with other Danish municipalities. The municipalities will be able to use their own local action plans and issues in the innovation process as a starting point. At the end of the course, the municipality has a tested circular solution model for a concrete problem. The innovation course meets the municipalities’ need for a more systemic, cross-sectoral and holistic approach to the circular transition. Danish Design Center and CLEAN facilitate the process with the municipalities based on design methods and contribute to the development of the new circular solutions together with the right actors and partners.

The courses will focus on:

• Increase cooperation and development across departmental areas in the individual municipality
• Build skills and knowledge about systems thinking and circular solution models
• Ensure political anchoring of knowledge via a follow-up group for politicians in participating municipalities
• Create and test concrete circular solution models together with industry, business, research and civil society
• Support cross-municipal cooperation, where sparring and knowledge sharing between municipalities about circular solution models and systemic development
• Build a ‘community’ of ambitious circular cities

Innovation advisor and community

Each municipality will be assigned an innovation advisor to the process, who will advise the local test. In addition, the participating municipalities become part of a Circular City Community, which is built up along the way, where the goal is to inspire anchoring in the municipalities and strengthen cooperation around the green and circular transition going forward.

Partners

With Danish and international partners on board such as BLOXHUB, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and C40, this Danish innovation process is also disseminated internationally to inspire other cities around the world to work systemically and holistically with circular city solutions.