par Verga, Giulia Caterina ;Khan, Ahmed Z.
Editeur scientifique Bortolotti, Andrea
Référence 14th Biennial of European Towns and Towns Planners 2024 on “Inclusive cities and regions”(22-24 April 2024: Naples, Italy), Making/unmaking urban circular economies with "otherness", INU Edizioni Srl, Vol. 756, page (2)
Publication Publié, 2024-04-24
Abstract de conférence
Résumé : Cities across Europe are increasing their ambitions to embrace a Circular Economy (CE). In this context, a series of circularity-inspired (branded?) urban projects are emerging. In the Brussels Capital Region (BCR), CE policies have supported the development of pilot projects aimed at testing and developing know-how and strategies for implementing circularity-inspired ambitions in urban planning and urban designs. In this research, circularity is used as an entry point to ask relevant questions about the material intensity of current and future practices of urban development plans and projects. Through the prism of circularity, we look at the movements (consumption and waste) of materials and resources, the spaces they shape and the practices they develop. If we examine this subject through the lens of inclusivity, the focus shifts to the actors, both human agents and more-than-human ones. In the case of urban projects, we are particularly interested in the material layout of the built environment and the associated utilities and infrastructures. This research focuses on the quality of the open spaces generated, on planning processes, actors and stakeholders as well as on ecosystem issues (water cycles, soil regeneration, biodiversity). The aim is therefore to study these aspects and find ways of rethinking them in a more resource-conscious and holistic manner. To do this, we look at the relationships that humans establish with existing arrangements of materials, and the socio-technical challenges for a transition towards more just and sober/frugal (sufficiency-inspired) ways of envisioning urban futures. Building on previous research on spatial factors impacting the embedding of Urban Circularity Practices (UCPs) in the BCR, we now question how ongoing strategic urban projects spatialise circularity ambitions. This paper thus addresses the following set of questions: How are current strategic urban projects integrating circularity-inspired ambitions? Who are the actors and what are the stakes? How to support and develop (more) inclusive circularity-inspired urban projects and designs? These questions are explored both theoretically, through concise international literature review, and empirically, through four case studies in the BCR. The international scientific literature on CE and urban planning and design is still in its infancy, but inclusivity appears to be an essential aspect when it comes to having a leverage effect in implementing such ambitions in urban projects. Fratini et al (2019) point out that the CE imaginary can support transformative pathways for socially inclusive and environmentally desirable value creation in cities. Levoso et al. (2020) argue that to implement CE strategies in urban systems requires, the involvement of local stakeholders in the identification and validation of circular solutions is essential. Remøy et al. (2019) suggest the use of living labs, while Fors (2021) and Mirzoev (2021) both highlight the need for long-term participation and inclusion of marginalised groups. Furthermore, the absence of an intersectional environmental perspective in the CE rhetoric of 'nobodies' (informal CE actors and practices) is highlighted by Wuyts (2022). Marin et al. (2018) argue that the development of circular cities requires a multi-perspective and multi-dimensional approach, rooted in place-specific and multi-scalar transition relationships, and may follow different drivers/visions and therefore different circular strategies. Within the BCR, four projects at very different stages of deployment were studied. Each project deals with a distinctive context and deploys a diverse urban planning strategy dealing with circularity (see Figure 1). In terms of inclusivity, we see that residents, activists and NGOs are drivers of change, thanks to a well-established network of NGOs responsible for monitoring urban projects, both private and public. Their support or opposition has, in some cases, influenced and determined the course of urban development in strategic areas that had been in the pipeline for years. They criticised urban planning tools such as the PAD (Plan d’Aménagement Directeur, a recent regional planning tool that enables the strategic and regulatory aspects of an urban area) and pleaded for more inclusive planning processes. Over the last decade such activists and NGOs criticised strategic urban projects building too densely (PAD Law district), defend biodiverse areas (PAD Josaphat) and have pleaded for renovation of buildings stocks instead of demolitions and reconstruction (PAD Mediapark). They have even developed alternative plans and a tool capable of showing the amount of CO2 produced by demolition and reconstruction compared with renovation. Their opposition has sometimes had an impact on the process and prompted the public planning agencies to rethink the urban tools deployed. The development of a “shared vision” document prior to the launch of new regulatory plan for the EU district is the best example of this. To conclude, circularity-inspired ambitions are in the BCR context pushed from both ends (by public administrations and by inhabitants, activists and NGOs), the result is an interesting landscape of hybrid processes, that put to the fore different CE strategies. Bottom-up initiatives (and struggles) are drivers for more inclusive circularity-inspired ambitions and practices and are currently contributing to the transition of urban planning and design towards less material-intensive paradigms (for example, the requirement to reduce demolition, or to retain parts of brownfield sites as biodiversity reserves, or for food production, or pleading for net-zero soil hardening and increased permeability, among others).

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