Locally and globally, socially and ecologically, physically and virtually, in materials and in data – a circular economy needs many perspectives to be successful. Amsterdam is a pioneer in strategically translating the concept of circularity into practical methods, tools, and projects in the city.

In the first essay, Peter van Assche argues for radical circular architecture – a choreography of material transitions akin to solids into liquids and gases and back again. Eveline Jonkhoff introduces the reasons why a circular strategy is necessary for a city like Amsterdam and describes how it was created with many of the city’s colleagues, companies, and residents. To develop the framework of this strategy, she collaborated with British scientist Kate Raworth, author of Doughnut Economics, who follows with a new article in which she argues that the interconnectivity of people – both locally and globally, socially and ecologically – determines the form of progress. Raworth then shows the first circular portrait of Amsterdam, made with the city and international partners. Juan-Carlos Goilo analyses how information as an actor in cities such as Amsterdam or islands such as Curaçao functions very differently thanks to the global data economy, producing new colonial relationships as a matter of course. Goilo closes by showing the first images of the Amsterdam circular economy monitor made in collaboration with the design agency Beautiful Minds.

Image credits

Icon image: donut

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