ABSTRACT

The circular economy (CE) has become a matter of urban development. A literature review shows that the CE debate is biased toward technology-driven industrial change, while bracketing broader socio-political interests. We address this gap by exploring the political economy of scale of the CE. Looking into the case of Brussels (Belgium), a city that has recently adopted the CE as part of its socio-economic strategy, we explore how the anticipated transition to a ‘circular city’ chimes with long-standing urban development agendas. While there is little evidence of stable growth coalitions between corporate and political elites, we argue that the CE provides an ‘urban sustainability fix’ by selectively incorporating ecological goals in urban governance strategies. We further scrutinise the landscape of diverse and heterogenous CE practices in food and transport, highlighting how they are regulated and organised, what labour conditions they offer, and how they are anchored in urban space.

摘要

循环经济已经成为城市发展的问题。一篇文献评论表明，行政长官的辩论偏向于技术驱动的工业变革，同时将更广泛的社会政治利益放在了一边。我们通过探索规模政治经济来弥补这一差距CE的。以布鲁塞尔（比利时）为例，该城市最近已将CE作为其社会经济战略的一部分，我们探讨了预期如何过渡到具有长期城市发展议程的“圆形城市”风铃。尽管几乎没有证据表明企业和政治精英之间有稳定的增长联盟，但我们认为，行政长官通过有选择地将生态目标纳入城市治理策略中，从而提供了“城市可持续性解决方案”。我们将进一步审查食品和运输业中各种不同的CE实践的情况，重点介绍如何规范和组织它们，提供什么样的劳动条件以及如何将它们固定在城市空间中。