Page 7 - U4SSC Case study: Circularity to promote local businesses and digitization, June 2020

Case Study 1 – Amsterdam: The circular district of Buiksloterham

Author:

Nikolaos Kontinakis

Introduction

Nowadays, cities around the world are facing several challenges. Amsterdam, the capital of the
Netherlands, is no exception: rapid urbanisation is adding pressure to create more liveable cities,
to manage natural resources more efficiently whilst protecting the environment, and to meet the
challenges of climate change. Increasingly, cities are recognising the importance of circular economy
as a means of addressing these issues and making cities healthy and enjoyable places to live.

Since 2015, Amsterdam has been discovering the opportunities for a circular economy in the city
and metropolitan area alike. The municipality of Amsterdam has implemented two programmes
geared towards the circular economy and thus far, over 70 circular projects have been completed.
These efforts have been recognized and evaluated in 2018, with the findings presented in Amsterdam
Circular: Evaluation and Action Perspectives. Two important advantages of the circular economy are
its affordability and its profitability. Still, the key stakeholders (governments and businesses) are in the
process of taking the initial steps towards the transition to a circular economy. As a forerunner of this
transition, Amsterdam now has the task of taking this transition to the next stage by scaling circularity
and standardising it. To do so, there is a need to structurally share the knowledge and experience from
the first years of experimenting and install a culture of cooperation. This way, we could learn from the
lessons and recommendations founded in the evaluation of the first three years of Amsterdam Circular,
summarized in action points that could serve as a guide to other cities contemplating a transition to
a circular economy.

There are five existing key municipal policy instruments: knowledge instruments, public procurement,
legislation, spatial planning and business support – these constitute the most prominent forms of public
intervention to support the circular economy.

It is important to emphasize that the transition to a circular economy is by no means an easy task and,
above all, will require municipalities to harness available governance instruments, the power and
technologies of urban innovation and an engaged business community.

Promoting circularity

Bringing circular economy into the ICT industry effectively targets two major fields: products and
equipment (waste and consumption), and internal operations and networks (energy and data). The
successful implementation of European Commission initiatives starts by engaging with suppliers, a
reality that has once more been confirmed by the project Buiksloterham.

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