Spatial Analysis of Leading Circular Economy and Living Lab Cities

Abstract

This study presents the preliminary results of the “Cities as Living Labs — Increasing the impact of investment in the circular economy for sustainable cities” study by Santonen et. al.(forthcoming) which is to be published in late summer 2017. From innovation system and policy development point of view, it is vital to understand the impact and added value of EU-funded projects especially in context of the complex societal challenges such as circular economy in cities. By using publically available data sources the aim of this study is to A) map cities which have elaborated and implemented urban strategies relating the circular economy either by themselves or with the help of EU- project funding and B) to describe how these cities mobilise and interact with Living Labs. As a result, a strong correlation with urban strategy and EU-project activities was detected. Also, a weak correlation between Living Lab maturity and EU-project funding as well as Living Lab maturity and Urban strategy activities were detected. The TOP 10 cities executing urban strategy in circular economy, acting as a forum for EU-projects or having Living Lab activities is presented, which revealed that city of Barcelona was by far the leading city in Europe.