Enabling circular economy in cities (geo-information sciences nexus sustainability governance)

The circular economy action plan issued by EU in 2020 is a key feature towards Sustainable Development, promoting all type of strategies for regional collaborations to maximize the value retention of resources within the EU economy (EU, 2020). The action plan represents a strategic instrument to tackle environmental pressures from the existing linear economic system whilst creating new business models to enhance resources management efficiency that will hand in hand reduce waste and improve the quality of secondary raw materials. On the other hand, cities are massive consumers of resources, according to United Nations, 60-80% of natural resources are used in urban areas. This is where the concept of urban metabolism can be associated with the purpose of circular economy, since urban metabolism consists of elements such inputs (water, materials..), stocks (buildings, infrastructure..), outputs (water sewage, solid waste, air emissions, etcetera) and feedback loops (interactions between those elements) (Dijst et al., 2018). Making the urban metabolism more circular might increase its resilience to cope with potential internal and external shocks, such as materials and energy supply shortage.  This research theme can be studied from geo-information science with the intention to select questions in an interdisciplinary approach that integrates governance and sustainable management perspectives to  the CE opportunities in some regions/cities.