Abstract The Circular Economy (“CE”) is gaining momentum as an approach to addressing sustainability challenges. The CE is framed as a transformative model with economic, environmental and social benefits. Nevertheless, the degree of circularity in the global economy is low and critics highlight that current interpretations fall short in delivering promised results regarding the social dimension of sustainability. Instead economic growth is elevated above more radical socio-environmental transformation. This exploratory paper adopts a human needs approach, using Max-Neef’s Human-Scale Development proposal as an analytical lens to explore the contentious social dimension of the CE. The study revisits four seminal texts which are commonly referenced as influencing the CE’s conceptual development: The Blue Economy; Cradle to Cradle; Regenerative Design for Sustainable Development; and, The Performance Economy. These texts were analysed to identify satisfiers of human needs. This provides insight into how inclusive earlier visualisations were of encompassing human needs, and how these compare to the current CE direction. We argue that satisfiers of human needs are embedded, to differing extents, in some of the early CE depictions. Nevertheless, the CE concept has selectively developed, neglecting radical, human-centric transformational aspects and instead adheres to a familiar pathway of business-led economic growth.

中文翻译：

---

循环经济和人类需求满足：承诺激进，提供熟悉的

摘要 循环经济 (“CE”) 作为应对可持续性挑战的一种方法正在获得动力。CE 被定义为具有经济、环境和社会效益的变革性模式。然而，全球经济的循环程度较低，批评人士强调，当前的解释未能兑现关于可持续性的社会层面的承诺结果。相反，经济增长高于更激进的社会环境转型。这篇探索性论文采用了人类需求的方法，使用 Max-Neef 的 Human-Scale Development 提案作为分析镜头来探索 CE 有争议的社会维度。该研究重新审视了四篇通常被引用为影响 CE 概念发展的开创性文本：蓝色经济；从摇篮到摇篮；可持续发展的再生设计；和，绩效经济。对这些文本进行分析以确定人类需求的满足。这提供了洞察早期可视化如何包容人类需求，以及这些与当前 CE 方向的比较。我们认为，人类需求的满足在不同程度上嵌入在一些早期的 CE 描述中。尽管如此，CE 概念已经有选择地发展起来，忽略了激进的、以人为中心的转型方面，而是坚持以企业为主导的经济增长的熟悉途径。以及这些与当前的 CE 方向相比如何。我们认为，人类需求的满足在不同程度上嵌入在一些早期的 CE 描述中。尽管如此，CE 概念已经有选择地发展起来，忽略了激进的、以人为中心的转型方面，而是坚持以企业为主导的经济增长的熟悉途径。以及这些与当前的 CE 方向相比如何。我们认为，人类需求的满足在不同程度上嵌入在一些早期的 CE 描述中。尽管如此，CE 概念已经有选择地发展起来，忽略了激进的、以人为中心的转型方面，而是坚持以企业为主导的经济增长的熟悉途径。