SRS RN: Convergent Innovations in Regional CirCULAR Economies (CIRCULAR)

University Of Illinois At Chicago, Chicago IL

Investigators

Abstract

A research network organized around the goal of creating and implementing circular economy solutions could address growing social, economic, and environmental impacts facing regional systems. Using a case study based upon the city of Chicago and its surrounding urban-rural linkages, research network planning will explore the underlying system structures and interactions that give rise to unsustainable resource consumption and waste generation. The planning will also identify potential solutions grounded in the emerging field of circular economy. The planning team will engage interdisciplinary researchers and non-academic partners in a process to co-create a research agenda for transforming regional systems towards circular economy. The group also will explore convergent research mechanisms for the deep integration of knowledge, methods, tools, and expertise from diverse perspectives that can advance the study of regional circular economies. Finally, the team will devise a collaborative platform on which the scientific community and key stakeholders can share knowledge, translate findings, and enhance diversity and engagement. A planning activity will be undertaken to analyze how different actors in a regional circular economy affect the stocks, flows, depletion and regeneration of various types of capital, and how explicit identification of these flows might shape potential innovations. New thinking, technologies, and business models will be explored to tackle the circular economy challenge from the front end of the supply chain by re-designing products and developing resource sharing models and from the back end by closing material loops. The creation of circular economy business opportunities, especially in marginalized urban and rural communities, will be addressed through convergent approaches encompassing multi-capital flows, data science, and public policies with participatory co-design methods. This approach elevates the knowledge and experiences of diverse participants to that of subject matter experts so that any innovations developed will result in resource conservation and will meet community needs. The team's community partners are leaders in developing and implementing new models that seek to broaden the influence of circular economy-based solutions. Throughout the efforts of this planning activity, the importance of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion to the project's framing of circular economy will be emphasized. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.