Browse Research

This paper, Cities in the Circular Economy: An initial exploration, outlines some of the challenges cities are facing in today’s linear economy, explores the alternative of a ‘circular city’, and collates our research to date on the benefits of a circular economy for cities.

In the paper, Enhancing the quality of life in Polish cities with energy and resource efficient revitalization, authors examine the added value of resource-efficient revitalization and reshaping Polish cities into attractive, healthy and economically vital communities.

This report, City-Level Decoupling: Urban resource flows and the governance of infrastructure transitions applies the International Resource Panel report, Decoupling Resource Use and Environmental Impacts from Economic Growth to cities. The core argument of the Decoupling Report was that a transition to a green economy will depend on finding ways to sustain economic growth rates without escalating rates of resource use. To achieve this decoupling, appropriate sustainability-oriented innovation will need to be initiated, promoted and applied on a large scale. The report discusses some emerging trends within cities that demonstrate that it is possible to decouple urban development and rising rates of resource consumption, in other words, resource decoupling.

The Nature Conservancy's Envisioning a Great Green City:The Nature Conservancy’s vision for a sustainable urban century helps imagine cities that are not apart from nature—but a part of nature.

The study, Circular Economy in India: Rethinking growth for long-term prosperity, focuses on three areas key to the Indian economy and society: cities and construction, food and agriculture, and mobility and vehicle manufacturing.