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https://doi.org/10.24306/plnxt/129Published
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Copyright (c) 2026 Jeff Anderson
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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Keywords:
circular cities, circular regions, circular economy, food system, indicators, circular public spaceAbstract
The transition towards circular cities and regions requires monitoring approaches that extend beyond sectoral and material-flow-based metrics. Existing frameworks for assessing urban circularity remain fragmented and predominantly quantitative, often overlooking sociocultural and territorial dimensions. This article addresses this gap by conceptualizing circular public space as a transversal sociocultural indicator of urban circularity. The study adopts a qualitative comparative research design and examines two initiatives within the urban food system of Porto, Portugal: Good Food Hubs (local organic markets) and Community Composting Islands (community biowaste valorisation). The analysis is structured around the space-flows-actors framework and supported by participant observation, structured surveys, material-flow data, and documentary sources. The findings reveal convergent socio-spatial patterns across the analysed cases, including territorially anchored circular flows, citizen participation, multi-actor cooperation, and the collective appropriation of public space for regenerative purposes. These patterns support the identification of circular public space as an emergent socio-spatial configuration through which circularity becomes visible in everyday urban life. Rather than directly measuring circularity, circular public space operates as an indirect sociocultural indicator that complements conventional monitoring frameworks and offers municipalities, urban planners, and researchers a means of assessing how circularity is socially produced and territorially embedded.
The article is a part of the upcoming special issue "Circular Cities and Regions – Planning for Sustainable Social and Inclusive Communities".
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