‘Mattering’ the circular economy: Tackling the Achilles’ heel of sustainable places via adopting a critical-relational perspective

Aksel Ersoy*, Arnoud Lagendijk

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

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Abstract

The transition towards a circular economy (CE) is seen as vital for developing sustainable places. CE is used as a new buzzword, as well as an inducement to innovate and change socio-economic practices, by a diverse set of actors to meet sustainability and other goals. Genuine transformation, we argue here, requires those practices to seriously alter discourses and metrics. We adopt a material critical-relational perspective, drawing on the assemblage notion of (counter)actualisation. Our contribution is both conceptual and empirical. Conceptually, we develop an assemblage-based framework featuring practices, discourses and metrics. Empirically, we apply this to national CE policy and local initiatives in the Netherlands. Our results point out both passions and challenges to come to a genuinely transformative discourse and use of metrics.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)565-576
Number of pages12
Journal Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society
Volume17
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

Bibliographical note

Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care
Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.

Keywords

  • critical-relational perspective
  • topology
  • circular economy
  • actualisation
  • metrics

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