Circular Consumption in Cities
Updated on 21.05.2025
This report focuses on how cities can promote circular consumption to reduce environmental impact and overuse of resources. It provides practical strategies, tools, and case studies to help local governments reshape urban systems and behaviours around the principles of reuse, repair, and reduction.
Relevance for Circular Systemic Solutions
This guidance document is a call to action for local governments to lead as catalysts of change in the shift toward a circular economy. It equips cities with practical tools to accelerate the transition at the local level and directly capture its benefits. By tackling the root cause of environmental degradation, overconsumption of natural resources, cities can drive systemic change. Applying circular economy principles such as reducing, reusing, and extending product lifecycles enables cities to reshape consumption patterns across society. Instead of responding to the impacts of overconsumption, cities can take a proactive approach by adopting key urban policy instruments. These include fostering cultural and behavioural change, using urban planning to improve access to circular consumption options, leveraging direct incentives for businesses and consumers, and implementing regulatory measures that support circular practices. This guide is a valuable resource for cities and regions, particularly during the Map and Design phases of Circular Systemic Solutions deployment.
CEAP2 key product value chain
CEAP2 key product value chain
CEAP2 key product value chain
including bio-based economy
e.g. re-use of public spaces and facilities in urban areas
large 500 000-200 000, medium 200 000-50 000, and small cities 50 000-5 000
large metropolitan area >1.5 million, metropolitan area 1.5 million-500 000
predominantly urban regions, intermediate and predominantly rural regions, refer to TERCET typology NUTS 3 region
e.g. commercial, residential, service, industrial