Circular Municipality for the Future

Higher spatial efficiency and lower resource consumption

Population forecasts indicate that the population in Flanders will continue to grow significantly in the coming years: by 2050, we will need no less than half a million extra housing units, extra space for crèches, shops, offices, and so on. At the same time, there is a growing awareness that buildings also have an enormous environmental impact: their construction, daily use and renovation require a lot of materials, water and energy. And they produce large flows of waste.

A more economical use of our open space and the reuse of empty buildings will become a priority and a challenge.

With the project 'Circular municipality for the future', Bond Beter Leefmilieu (BBL) and the Vereniging voor Ruimte en Planning (VRP) want to make this challenge concrete. We believe that, with the necessary creative interventions in our town and village centres, we can find enough space to accommodate population growth and economic growth in a sustainable manner.

We made a selection of some practical cases of vacancy (a military domain, a school and a shop) and, through workshops with the local authorities, stakeholders and experts, investigated the possible opportunities for closing cycles, preparing buildings for a circular future, and putting the circular economy into practice.

The inspiration book 'Scenario circular' collects all our findings and learning lessons from this search. Anyone can request the book free of charge or download it from the website.

Key results

Key lessons learned
  1. Although much is already happening around circular material flows and in the discussion demolition versus new construction, there is little expertise on circularity in spatial planning. Our workshops were an eye-opener for many local administrators about the importance of circular spatial planning.
  2. The workshops increased public support for the circular use of vacant buildings. Neighbours and local stakeholders were introduced to the concept and were able to think constructively about the redevelopment of the buildings, which generated a lot of enthusiasm.
  3. With this project, we are also focusing on dissemination. Our findings and learning lessons from the practical cases were collected in the inspirational book 'Scenario Circular'. It was presented during the closing conference 'Operation Circulation' in Leuven and can be requested or downloaded free of charge.
  1. Initially, we wanted to draw inspiration from model projects of circular urbanism at home and abroad. However, there are hardly any such projects, nor is there a policy practice on circular urbanism. We are doing pioneering work. So it is still too early, as we had hoped, to write ready-made recipes for circularity in spatial plans.
  2. Urban development projects and spatial plans usually depart from fixed destinations (housing, businesses, nature...). A circular interpretation and the closing of cycles, however, require a different way of working, in which functions can be mixed more often.
  3. Circular urban development does not fit in well with classic tendering procedures that start from a fixed programme that already determines everything in detail. A circular project needs a more flexible programme, which can adapt to the possibility of closing cycles, for example.
  4. Circular reallocations require a different process management from the local authorities. How do they fulfil their governing role and bring stakeholders together in order to realise their ambitions? Making the built environment circular also often requires a large initial investment, which is not obvious with a tight municipal budget.

 

Result

DOWNLOAD PDF FILE

Website

https://www.bondbeterleefmilieu.be

Circular Flanders

About us
Contact us

Follow us

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Instagram
Youtube