Cities and the urban economy both depend heavily on natural resources, and contribute to the depletion of those. In the process of building our cities, we need to transform our approaches by using circular materials and reducing our energy and material consumption. In that way we can shift towards a circular urban economy.
The challenges of a circular urban economy are manifold and the Cities Hub can tap into various existing initiatives to provide access to knowledge about various dimensions including circular building, circular consumption, circular mobility, etc. An example is the work on the Circular Built Environment that is carried out by a TU Delft based network of researchers. Our projects and activities seek inspiration in work from international organizations including the Ellen Mc Arthur foundation.
Cities Hub Initiatives
Interdisciplinary Thesis Lab: Circular Building Materials and (re)Manufacturing Hub
Students from Leiden, Delft and Erasmus University develop their thesis research around one central guiding challenge for this Interdisciplinary Thesis Lab: What are the potentials and challenges for a Circular Building Hub? This challenge is formulated by a team of professionals from the municipality of Leiden, municipality of Alphen aan den Rijn, Economic Development Board Alphen, Bouwend Nederland and the province of Zuid-Holland. This lab facilitates the interaction between academics, professionals and the students in a series of lectures, workshops and feedback-sessions at individual and group level.