Circular Economy and the City: Theory and Practice

About

In this course, you will participate in active and creative workshops and excursions, and you attend lectures from experts about the essentials of the Circular Economy, how it tackles social and ecological problems, and which innovations in business, policy, and civil society are important for the Circular Economy. We will pay special attention to how human and non-human beings can live together in urban environments, with real-world examples from the city of Amsterdam.

To transition towards the Circular Economy, this course empowers you to apply the insights of experts and professionals on circular business and policy, and it motivates you with examples from art and the experimental spirit of the city. From Monday to Friday, the course offers morning lectures, excursions, and workshops. Next to lectures from academic experts we will also be taught by frontrunners in circular business, policy and civil society. To rethink our relationship with nature, we will engage in shinrin-yoku, a Japanese practice of embedding in nature. To broaden our scope of action we will visit a zooperative, a novel organizational form where human an non-human beings cooperate for mutual benefit. You will also be invited to seek out other examples of circularity such as Repair Cafés, community gardens, green roofs, or waste management facilities.

At the end of this course you will have learned and shaped what the circular economy is and what it may be in the near future. The course draws on previous work conducted by the (guest) lecturers as part of a community focusing on people at the heart of circularity in the symbiotic city. This community consists of researchers and professionals and was kick-started by Het Groene Brein.

Course leader

Katinka Quintelier

Target group

The course is open to students at the Master’s level or students in a Bachelor’s Honours Programme. The course is also open to practitioners with a background in or at least basic knowledge of the circular economy, environmental sustainability, social sustainability, or how to create business, policy, and a society that is socially just and environmentally sustainable. The course will be taught at Master student level.

Course aim

By the end of this course, you will:
• know, understand, and explain social (economic, political, cultural, market, regulatory) barriers and enablers of the circular economy
• know, understand, and explain the reasons for the transition towards the circular economy
• know, understand, and explain the different strategies as methods to enhance material circularity
• have research skills to reflect on social innovations for circularity
• design your own social innovation for circularity
• have research skills to analyze social innovations for circularity

Fee info

Student or PhD candidate: €1250, student or PhD candidate at any Dutch university or partner university of VU Amsterdam: €1125 Student, PhD candidate or employee of VU Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC, or an Aurora Network Partner: €938, Non-student: €1500