Project description
Co-creating circular and regenerative resource flows in cities
The research project REFLOW sets out to offer a new approach to circular economy (CE) in urban areas. REFLOW will provide best practices aligning market and government needs in order to create favourable conditions for the public and private sector to adopt CE practices. Active citizen involvement and systemic change are needed to re-think the current approach. Concretely, REFLOW will create new CE business models within 6 pilot cities: Amsterdam, Berlin, Cluj-Napoca, Milan, Paris and Vejle and assess their social, environmental and economic impact. In each of the pilots, citizens will be involved in developing and testing circular products, software, and business models for their own city. REFLOW’s ambition is to offer tools and guidelines that other cities can adopt.
Objective
The vision of REFLOW is to develop circular and regenerative cities through the re-localisation of production and the re-configuration of material flows at different scales. More specifically, it will use Fab Labs and makerspaces as catalysers of a systemic change in urban and peri-urban environments, which enable, visualize and regulate “four freedoms”: free movement of materials, people, (technological) knowledge and commons, in order to reduce materials consumption, maximize multifunctional use of (public) spaces and envisage regenerative practices.
Concretely, REFLOW aims at providing realistic best practices aligning market and government needs in order to create favourable conditions for the public and private sector to adopt circular principles. In order to provide critical examples of ways in which cities can adopt a CE model and reach the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, REFLOW will create new CE business models (Distributed Design Market model, On-Demand System, Corporate Hacking and Corporate Pyramid) within 6 pilot cities (Amsterdam, Berlin, Milan, Paris, Vejle and Cluj-Napoca) and assess their social, environmental and economic impact.
The project will make use of blockchain technologies in order to incentivise the circular practices in local ecosystems and data visualisation tools to enable continuous monitoring and optimisation of “urban metabolic” processes and rapid interventions management. Networks of sensors, urban computing and geo-localisation will capture data ensuring accuracy, integrity and interoperability of relevant data infrastructures, while data visualisation and standard templates will be available for effective communication, public consultation, and exchange of experiences.
Fields of science
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencescomputer securitycryptography
- social scienceseconomics and businessbusiness and managementbusiness models
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensors
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystems
Keywords
Programme(s)
- H2020-EU.3.5. - SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Climate action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials Main Programme
- H2020-EU.3.5.4. - Enabling the transition towards a green economy and society through eco-innovation
- H2020-EU.3.5.2. - Protection of the environment, sustainable management of natural resources, water, biodiversity and ecosystems
Topic(s)
Funding Scheme
IA - Innovation actionCoordinator
2000 Frederiksberg
Denmark
See on map
Participants (27)
08005 Barcelona
See on map
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
80686 Munchen
See on map
20133 Milano
See on map
1013 AK Amsterdam
See on map
1021 KL AMSTERDAM
See on map
E3 3GP London
See on map
See on map
454 44 IOANNINA
See on map
1012 CR Amsterdam
See on map
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
1011 PN Amsterdam
See on map
1019 HC Amsterdam
See on map
7604CG Almelo
See on map
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
10999 Berlin
See on map
14193 Berlin
See on map
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
20121 Milano
See on map
20128 Milano
See on map
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
20137 Milano
See on map
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
75019 Paris
See on map
75004 Paris
See on map
75011 Paris
See on map
75019 Paris
See on map
7100 Vejle
See on map
1473 Kobenhavn
See on map
400001 Cluj Napoca
See on map
400420 Cluj-Napoca
See on map
400293 Cluj - Napoca
See on map
10179 Berlin
See on map