IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i21p11732-d663369.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Smart District and Circular Economy: The Role of ICT Solutions in Promoting Circular Cities

Author

Listed:
  • Massimiliano Viglioglia

    (Polytechnic of Turin, Department of Architecture and Design, 10125 Turin, Italy)

  • Matteo Giovanardi

    (Polytechnic of Turin, Department of Architecture and Design, 10125 Turin, Italy)

  • Riccardo Pollo

    (Polytechnic of Turin, Department of Architecture and Design, 10125 Turin, Italy)

  • Pier Paolo Peruccio

    (Polytechnic of Turin, Department of Architecture and Design, 10125 Turin, Italy)

Abstract

Cities will have a decisive role in reducing the consumption of resources and greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Various experiences of urban regeneration have exploited Information and Communication Technology (ICT) potentialities to optimize the management of complex systems and to encourage sustainable development models. This paper investigates the role of ICT technologies in favouring emerging design for Circular Economy (CE) in the urban context. The paper starts by defining the theoretical background and subsequently presents the goal and methodology of investigation. Through a scoping review, the authors identify case studies and analyse them within the Ellen MacArthur Foundation classification framework that splits the urban context into three urban systems: buildings, mobility and products. The research focuses on nine case studies where the ICT solutions were able to promote the principles of CE. The results show, on the one hand, how data management appears to be a central issue in the optimization of urban processes and, on the other hand, how the district scale is the most appropriate to test innovative solutions. This paper identifies physical and virtual infrastructures, stakeholders and tools for user engagement as key elements for the pursuit of CE adoption in the urban context.

Suggested Citation

  • Massimiliano Viglioglia & Matteo Giovanardi & Riccardo Pollo & Pier Paolo Peruccio, 2021. "Smart District and Circular Economy: The Role of ICT Solutions in Promoting Circular Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-20, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:21:p:11732-:d:663369
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/21/11732/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/21/11732/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eleonora Fiore & Barbara Stabellini & Paolo Tamborrini, 2020. "A Systemic Design Approach Applied to Rice and Wine Value Chains. The Case of the InnovaEcoFood Project in Piedmont (Italy)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-28, November.
    2. Gustavo Cattelan Nobre & Elaine Tavares, 2017. "Scientific literature analysis on big data and internet of things applications on circular economy: a bibliometric study," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 111(1), pages 463-492, April.
    3. Kirchherr, Julian & Reike, Denise & Hekkert, Marko, 2017. "Conceptualizing the circular economy: An analysis of 114 definitions," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 221-232.
    4. Christopher Kennedy & John Cuddihy & Joshua Engel‐Yan, 2007. "The Changing Metabolism of Cities," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 11(2), pages 43-59, April.
    5. Simona Fortunati & Laura Martiniello & Donato Morea, 2020. "The Strategic Role of the Corporate Social Responsibility and Circular Economy in the Cosmetic Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-28, June.
    6. Konstantinos Demestichas & Emmanouil Daskalakis, 2020. "Information and Communication Technology Solutions for the Circular Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-19, September.
    7. World Commission on Environment and Development,, 1987. "Our Common Future," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780192820808.
    8. Carolina Giraldo Nohra & Amina Pereno & Silvia Barbero, 2020. "Systemic Design for Policy-Making: Towards the Next Circular Regions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-22, June.
    9. Hossein Shahrokni & Louise Årman & David Lazarevic & Anders Nilsson & Nils Brandt, 2015. "Implementing Smart Urban Metabolism in the Stockholm Royal Seaport: Smart City SRS," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 19(5), pages 917-929, October.
    10. Bögel, Paula Maria & Upham, Paul & Shahrokni, Hossein & Kordas, Olga, 2021. "What is needed for citizen-centered urban energy transitions: Insights on attitudes towards decentralized energy storage," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    11. Bellini Francesco & Dulskaia Iana & Savastano Marco & D’Ascenzo Fabrizio, 2019. "Business Models Innovation for Sustainable Urban Mobility in Small and Medium-Sized European Cities," Management & Marketing, Sciendo, vol. 14(3), pages 266-277, September.
    12. Alan Murray & Keith Skene & Kathryn Haynes, 2017. "The Circular Economy: An Interdisciplinary Exploration of the Concept and Application in a Global Context," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 140(3), pages 369-380, February.
    13. Gupta, Shivam & Chen, Haozhe & Hazen, Benjamin T. & Kaur, Sarabjot & Santibañez Gonzalez, Ernesto D.R., 2019. "Circular economy and big data analytics: A stakeholder perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 466-474.
    14. Gokula Manikandan Senthil Kumar & Sunliang Cao, 2021. "State-of-the-Art Review of Positive Energy Building and Community Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-54, August.
    15. Peraphan Jittrapirom & Valeria Caiati & Anna-Maria Feneri & Shima Ebrahimigharehbaghi & María J. Alonso González & Jishnu Narayan, 2017. "Mobility as a Service: A Critical Review of Definitions, Assessments of Schemes, and Key Challenges," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 2(2), pages 13-25.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ari-Veikko Anttiroiko, 2023. "Smart Circular Cities: Governing the Relationality, Spatiality, and Digitality in the Promotion of Circular Economy in an Urban Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-41, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kristoffersen, Eivind & Mikalef, Patrick & Blomsma, Fenna & Li, Jingyue, 2021. "Towards a business analytics capability for the circular economy," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    2. Concepción Garcés-Ayerbe & Pilar Rivera-Torres & Inés Suárez-Perales & Dante I. Leyva-de la Hiz, 2019. "Is It Possible to Change from a Linear to a Circular Economy? An Overview of Opportunities and Barriers for European Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Companies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-15, March.
    3. Yasanur Kayikci & Yigit Kazancoglu & Nazlican Gozacan‐Chase & Cisem Lafci, 2022. "Analyzing the drivers of smart sustainable circular supply chain for sustainable development goals through stakeholder theory," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7), pages 3335-3353, November.
    4. Andreea Loredana Bîrgovan & Elena Simina Lakatos & Andrea Szilagyi & Lucian Ionel Cioca & Roxana Lavinia Pacurariu & George Ciobanu & Elena Cristina Rada, 2022. "How Should We Measure? A Review of Circular Cities Indicators," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-16, April.
    5. Katherine Mansilla-Obando & Fabiola Jeldes-Delgado & Nataly Guiñez-Cabrera, 2022. "Circular Economy Strategies with Social Implications: Findings from a Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-16, October.
    6. Modgil, Sachin & Gupta, Shivam & Sivarajah, Uthayasankar & Bhushan, Bharat, 2021. "Big data-enabled large-scale group decision making for circular economy: An emerging market context," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    7. Agnieszka Dudziak & Monika Stoma & Arkadiusz J. Derkacz, 2022. "Circular Economy in the Context of Food Losses and Waste," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-21, August.
    8. Aurore Darmandieu & Concepción Garcés‐Ayerbe & Antoine Renucci & Pilar Rivera‐Torres, 2022. "How does it pay to be circular in production processes? Eco‐innovativeness and green jobs as moderators of a cost‐efficiency advantage in European small and medium enterprises," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 1184-1203, March.
    9. Usama Awan & Robert Sroufe & Muhammad Shahbaz, 2021. "Industry 4.0 and the circular economy: A literature review and recommendations for future research," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 2038-2060, May.
    10. Katelin Opferkuch & Sandra Caeiro & Roberta Salomone & Tomás B. Ramos, 2021. "Circular economy in corporate sustainability reporting: A review of organisational approaches," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(8), pages 4015-4036, December.
    11. Kristoffersen, Eivind & Mikalef, Patrick & Blomsma, Fenna & Li, Jingyue, 2021. "The effects of business analytics capability on circular economy implementation, resource orchestration capability, and firm performance," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    12. Maryam Hina & Chetna Chauhan & Rajat Sharma & Amandeep Dhir, 2023. "Circular economy business models as pillars of sustainability: Where are we now, and where are we heading?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(8), pages 6182-6209, December.
    13. Magdalena Rusch & Josef‐Peter Schöggl & Rupert J. Baumgartner, 2023. "Application of digital technologies for sustainable product management in a circular economy: A review," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3), pages 1159-1174, March.
    14. Patrick Grüning & Justina Banionienė & Lina Dagilienė & Michael Donadelli & Marcus Jüppner & Renatas Kizys & Kai Lessmann, 2021. "The Quadrilemma of a Small Open Circular Economy Through a Prism of the 9R Strategies," Bank of Lithuania Working Paper Series 96, Bank of Lithuania.
    15. Cui, Yongfeng & Liu, Wei & Rani, Pratibha & Alrasheedi, Melfi, 2021. "Internet of Things (IoT) adoption barriers for the circular economy using Pythagorean fuzzy SWARA-CoCoSo decision-making approach in the manufacturing sector," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    16. Pedro A. B. Lima & Gessica M. K. Jesus & Camila R. Ortiz & Fernanda C. O. Frascareli & Fernando B. Souza & Enzo B. Mariano, 2021. "Sustainable Development as Freedom: Trends and Opportunities for the Circular Economy in the Human Development Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-26, December.
    17. Rosangela de Fátima Pereira Marquesone & Tereza Cristina Melo de Brito Carvalho, 2022. "Examining the Nexus between the Vs of Big Data and the Sustainable Challenges in the Textile Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-17, April.
    18. Kamble, Sachin S. & Belhadi, Amine & Gunasekaran, Angappa & Ganapathy, L. & Verma, Surabhi, 2021. "A large multi-group decision-making technique for prioritizing the big data-driven circular economy practices in the automobile component manufacturing industry," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    19. Ziyuan Chi & Zhen Liu & Fenghong Wang & Mohamed Osmani, 2023. "Driving Circular Economy through Digital Technologies: Current Research Status and Future Directions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-28, December.
    20. Rohit Agrawal & Vishal A. Wankhede & Anil Kumar & Sunil Luthra & Donald Huisingh, 2022. "Progress and trends in integrating Industry 4.0 within Circular Economy: A comprehensive literature review and future research propositions," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 559-579, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:21:p:11732-:d:663369. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.