ABSTRACT

In recent years the concept of the circular economy gained prominence in EU policy-making. The circular economy promotes a future in which linear ‘make-use-dispose’ cultures are replaced by more circular models. In this paper, we use the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries to ask how an imaginary of circularity has been assembled and stabilized, which imaginative resources were drawn on, and how goals, priorities, benefits and risks haven been merged with discourses of innovation, sustainability and growth. Drawing on policy documents and interviews with policy officers of the European Commission, we argue that the monitoring framework and indicator development function as a site collective imagination in which desirable ‘circular’ futures are co-produced. These futures are imagined to provide novel opportunities for the private sector and to generate jobs and economic growth while at the same time improving the natural environment as measured by selected environmental indicators.

摘要

近年来，循环经济的概念在欧盟的决策中倍受关注。循环经济促进了未来，线性的“制造，使用，处置”文化将被更多的循环模型所取代。在本文中，我们使用社会技术虚构的概念来询问如何构建和稳定圆性的虚构，利用了哪些虚构的资源，以及如何将目标，优先级，收益和风险与创新，可持续性和可持续发展相结合。增长。根据政策文件和对欧盟委员会政策官员的采访，我们认为，监测框架和指标的开发是一个现场集体的想象力，在其中共同产生了理想的“循环”期货。