CIRCULAR CITIES 2030
The Thought Experiment: What if we could accelerate the global transition towards a more sustainable "circular economy" with a Global World Fair Event?
The Challenge: A Global Green New Deal
Our World is in Crisis - Global Climate Change, Projected Sea-Level Rise, Resource Depletion,, Species Extinction, Environmental degradation, and Growing Social Inequalities are just some of the challenges confronting us today as a species!
As global citizens we have been put on notice - We have ten years to radically transform our global economy into a more "resilient" circular economy, or else! Temperatures are rising. Ice caps are melting. Our choice now is very simple - will we be proactive, or, reactive?
Reference: IPCC Fifth Assessment Report
This is what we know for sure - under our current "linear" take-make-waste "global economy" we have lost through resource extraction and environmental degradation a decline of upwards to 68% of wild-life and wild-places in just the last 40-50 years.
YES! The Sixth-Mass Extinction is upon us - now and the big question is "can we reverse this trend?" Reference: WWF Living Planet Report
Researching and reporting on the reality of climate change and species extinction is hard. Living life as if nothing has changed once a lesson is learned is even harder. If we are willing to take the science seriously we must begin to act as global citizens committing ourselves on every level towards the total redesign of just about everything our modern economy has to offer. This is a daunting challenge and it seems many of us are asking the same questions: "How are we going to radically transform the global economy without a bloody revolution? How are we going to actively engage every person alive in the urgency of this moment? What are we going to do?"
And then it happened: Covid19 - The Coronavirus! [The Great Global Reboot]
For the first time in modern history our global economy has been disrupted. How social distancing and forced closures have impacted our local economies is very dramatic, and this is just the beginning. How can we as Circular Economy Professionals use this moment in history as a catalyst to accelerate change on a unprecedented level through spontaneous collaboration, dedicating our collective action towards the total redesign of just about everything our modern economy has to offer?
The scope and vision needed to solve these problems seem insurmountable and yet, as reality has it written in its very code: if we can conceive of a plan of action, we can make it happen!
For over 150 years, The World Fair has awed and inspired an anticipating public. Since it's inception in 1791, The World Fair has been a conduit introducing all the wonders of invention human contrivance has had to offer. From the steam engine to mass assembly lines, The World Fair gave us a glimpse of the world of tomorrow, today.
It is now our time to set into motion the new co-creative chain-reaction of The Fourth Industrial Revolution [∞] :
All around the world people are becoming more attuned to the challenges confronting us today as a species - side effects directly linked to our Industrial Revolution. We are becoming deeply concerned about where everything we create goes when we're done with it. We are concerned about our children and the world they are to inherit. We think about supply-chains, industrial symbiosis, and sustainable industrial feed-stocks. We think about building robots to mine landfills, to plant trees, and to reseed coral reefs. We think about micro-grids and the undamming of rivers. We work towards remediating toxic soil and restoring habitat loss in super-fund sites. We think about relocating the means of production to the point of consumption. We think about vertical farming and inner-city food security. We imagine cities where mobility is shared and autonomous. We long for more time to play, to learn and exploration. We dream of creating peace on Earth and spreading good will towards all the living. Why? Because it makes evolutionary sense for us to do so.
Yes. Our world is in crisis - It is paramount that all mankind joins in on this quest towards the total redesign of just about everything this modern economy has to offer. We understand the fear many of us hold when the thought of economic change enters the arena of everyday living. It is unfortunate that many of us are unable to financially meet an advancing world with confidence. We want you to know that you will not be left behind.
Circular Cities 2030 will set the stage for A Global World Fair Event that will happen simultaneously in every city, town, and community around the world. Our inspiration is the adaptation of our built environment to better care for our living world. No one solution will be the silver bullet. Our goal is to ignite and inspire a comprehensive-collaborative plan of action that is both robust and open to change, and as investors and innovators unite with unified purpose we will set into motion a more equitable game.
This website is designed for the exploration of ideas. It is a work in progress and is therefore constantly evolving - it is dedicated to the Sciences: to the artists & engineers engaging reality -
Are you ready to take a vision quest in design revolution?
This is where the fun begins! Let's Play "Not Work" in a Utopian High-Tech Enterprise:
From Linear to Circular Cities:
This poster "Circular Cities - Restorative and Regenerative by Design" was designed in collaboration with Smart City Expo & Circular Summit. It is a great visual introduction to these ideas we are about to explore:
Sources: Cities in the Circular Economy: An Initial Exploration [8]
What is a Circular city?
"A Circular City seeks to regenerate prosperity, increase livability, while aiming to decouple the creation of value from the consumption of finite resources."
Circular Cities are The Applied Logistics of a Circular Economy
The Goal: closing the loop
The Circular City Challenge is based on three principles:
- Regenerate Natural Systems
- Design out Waste and Pollution
- Keep Products, Components, and Materials in use at their highest value
Co-Creative:
As cities become more circular they will become more unique, evolving into bio-regions of Industry & Trade, from this creativity will respond with spontaneous action as the access points to the means of production become more localized.
A circular economy is by nature an inclusive economy. It is both restorative and regenerative by design. Our objective is the total redesign of everything the modern economy has to offer in an effort to re-stabilize Earth's ecosystems, while creating a world of abundance for all Earth citizens.
To be continued: This is where the fun begins!
Resources: [8]
Circular Economy in Cities: is a suite of online resources which provide a reference point for policy makers.
Climate Change & the Built Environment
Climate Change & the Clean Energy Revolution
Climate Change & the Clean Energy Revolution
The Impact of Climate on Cities
"In social science, the term built environment, or built world, refers to the human-made surroundings that provide the setting for human activity, ranging in scale from buildings to parks. It has been defined as "the human-made space in which people live, work, and recreate on a day-to-day basis."
In the age of climate change & resulting sea level rise every city, town, and community located at or near sea level is now one perfect storm away from having to be rebuilt. This is as true today as it was yesterday.
The biggest challenge we face is how complex our social order has become. It is easy to say "we are going to redesign everything" but, what exactly does that mean? Every new process introduced, every new disruptive innovation will have a ripple effect throughout our current social order and resulting built environment.
As new technologies are unveiled, older technologies will go the way of the dinosaur. It is up to us as artists & engineers to design new systems that are inclusive and open to change.
Circular Cities 2030, as a Global World Fair Event, gives us the time-line. As a date, 2030 is not so-far-off into the future that we loose sight of our goals. It is close enough to the now that as active participants we will get to enjoy the fruits of our labor.
But, most importantly, our children who are scared and have taken to the streets in protest will have every opportunity they need to join in on this process. This is a co-creative process that requires the attention of all Earth citizens.
Let's throw a party and clean up this mess.
References: The Impact of Climate on Cities
This is where the fun begins!
To be continued:
Climate Change & the Clean Energy Revolution
Climate Change & the Clean Energy Revolution
Climate Change & the Clean Energy Revolution
One of the saddest truths there is to learn while researching the carbon cycle and resulting anthropomorphic climate change is that "we the people" lost our clean energy option because alcohol (ethanol) got us drunk. We lost HEMP (Cannabis) because it got us high.
It was taxation, over regulation, and the moral mismanagement of prohibition that allowed fossil fuel the upper edge.
There is no better example in the history of the "Sin Tax" than during the civil war when the United States imposed a tax on alcohol (ethanol) at $2.00/gal to help pay for the war, while Kerosene, a new product, was taxed at $0.10 cents/gal.
Clean energy - Ethanol/Alcohol - didn't stand a chance in the "New World" unfolding, and sadly, as a result, U.S. policy became the gateway towards anthropomorphic climate change.
As a result, 150 years of burning Fossil Fuel has created the perfect storm for our northern forests when paired with Hydro-Power, which through the destruction of anadromous fish runs & surrounding habitats have effectively depleted our forests of one their most important natural nitrogen/nutrient exchanges.
See: Salmon to Forest Nutrient Cycling.
Yes. Our world is in crisis: Global Climate Change, Resource Depletion, Environmental Degradation, Species Extinction, Growing Inequalities are just some of the challenges confronting us today as a species.
Our global energy transition is one of our biggest challenges that we face today when it comes to addressing these problems.
What is a Micro-Grid?
A Micro-Grid is a localized group of electricity sources and sinks (loads). They typically operate connected to and synchronous with the traditional centralized grid (macrogrid).
Our goal is localized solutions that disconnect and maintain operation autonomously.
In the age of Climate Change, our goal is to promote & develop a diverse micro-grid to maintain a local resiliency in the advent of sever weather and/or other natural disaster & resulting outages.
Ideas to Build On: EXPO 2015 Milan - Enel's Smart Grid For a City of 100,000
This is where the fun begins!
To be continued:
Climate Change & Life on Earth
Climate Change & the Clean Energy Revolution
Climate Change & Life on Earth
What is the Sixth-Mass Extinction?
The science speaks for itself: under the current Global Economic System we have successfully wiped out over 40% of all wildlife on Earth in just the last forty years:
"This ongoing extinction of species coincides with the present Holocene epoch (approx. 11,700 years), and is mainly the result of human activity."
The biggest challenge we have as a species is the restoration of our home environment - Planet Earth.
I like to think of the Circular Economy when applied to our built environment as the foundation on which we will cultivate our ability as a species to respond to this extinction event with the assertion that our mission statement "we are going to redesign everything" is guided by the inspiration towards Healing Earth through Design.
We have a lot of work to do!
Let's throw a party to regenerate life on Earth!
This is where the fun begins!
To be continued:
Social Enterprises
Fourth Industrial Revolution
Climate Change & Life on Earth
People. Planet. Profit.
Finance in a Circular Economy:
A social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in financial, social and environmental well-being; this may include maximizing social impact alongside profits for external shareholders.
Social Entrepreneurship is the use of start-up companies and other entrepreneurs to develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. This concept may be applied to a variety of organizations with different sizes, aims, and beliefs.
Social entrepreneurs are either non-profits, or blend for-profit goals with generating a positive "return to society" and therefore use different metrics.
Social entrepreneurship typically attempts to further broad social, cultural, and environmental goals often associated with the voluntary sector in areas such as poverty alleviation, health care and community development.
Source: Wikipedia
A new age of Finance is upon us!
This is where the fun begins!
To be continued:
Fourth Industrial Revolution
Fourth Industrial Revolution
Fourth Industrial Revolution
What is the Fourth Industrial Revolution:
"The Fourth Industrial Revolution is the fourth major industrial era since the initial Industrial Revolution of the 18th century. It is characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital and biological spheres, collectively referred to as cyber-physical systems.
One of the biggest challenges in establishing circular supply chains is localization. We must disrupt the global shipping industry as it exists.
Carl Sagan described the crisis:
"We have cut the whales off from themselves. Creatures that have communicated for tens of millions of years have now effectively been silenced."
I know. I know. So dramatic. Still, the global economy is devastating life on Earth.
In order for us to save our oceans - if that is even possible - we must begin to localize the means of production of everything.
The Ultimate Goal -
Parks over Ports: Transforming Trade Routes into Tourist Traps.
Ideas to build on
Designing Reality: How to Survive & Thrive in the Third Digital Revolition
Drawing on the history of digitization and exploring the frontiers of research, Designing Reality outlines a vision for a future radically transformed by digital manufacturing - FAB LAB
From Global to Local: The Making of Things and the End of Globalization
This is where the fun begins!
To be continued:
AI & The Circular Economy
Fourth Industrial Revolution
Fourth Industrial Revolution
Two emerging mega-trends:
"Artificial intelligence (AI) can play an important role in enabling this systemic shift. AI is a subset of the technologies enabling the emergent ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ era, and deals with models and systems which perform functions generally associated with human intelligence, such as reasoning and learning.
"AI can complement people’s skills and expand their capabilities. It allows humans to learn faster from feedback, deal more effectively with complexity, and make better sense of abundant data."
Most importantly, it helps us make sense of ALL the data. Again, we have evolved into such a complex social order that it is hard sometimes to make sense of all this information. Nature. Technology. When all life on Earth is suffering - we should know that it is time to innovate.
AI will free set the human mind free.
Source: Google Cloud
This is where the fun begins!
To be continued:
Transportation & Logistics
Inner City Food Security & Urban Agriculture
Inner City Food Security & Urban Agriculture
Wait? What happened to my personal vehicle?
The Future of Transportation in our urban areas and city centers will be Electric, Autonomous & Shared.
Gone are the days when we will be required to transport thousands of pounds of resources just to get us from here to there on a whim.
As a bicyclist, this is one of my favorite disruptions. I can't wait for the day when we begin building parks over parking lots, incorporating pedestrian and bike paths everywhere.
Here's the thing: we need to de-pave our built environment as much as possible. We need green infrastructure. We need de-industrialization. This is a Utopian High-Tech Enterprise after all:
See: The future of Transportation
This is where the fun begins!
To be continued:
Inner City Food Security & Urban Agriculture
Inner City Food Security & Urban Agriculture
Inner City Food Security & Urban Agriculture
Feeding the World in the 21st Century:
Steps Local Communities can take towards localizing food production:
- allow urban farms and community gardens throughout our cities.
- Allow residents to sell food grown on their property.
- Recognize farmers markets and allow them to flourish where ever there is public demand.
- Allow dedicated food production in rooftop greenhouses.
Vertical Farming? Yes. Please!
This is where the fun begins!
University of Washington
The Circular City + Living Systems
Sustainable Industrial Feed-stocks
Inner City Food Security & Urban Agriculture
Sustainable Industrial Feed-stocks
What are Circular Sourced Solutions (CSS) A Sustainable Industrial Feed-Stock is one defined as a renewable, biological material that can be used directly as a fuel, converted to other forms of fuel or energy.
Biomass Feed-Stocks are plant and/or algal (other) organic materials used to derive fuels like ethanol, butanol, biodiesel.
One of the key components of a sustainable feed-stock is its sourcing
Circular Supply Chains -
Cities need local solutions to offset their global footprint. Hemp & Ethanol are two bio-regional industrial feed-stock solutions.
This is where the fun begins!
To be continued:
Throwaway Society
Throwaway Society
Throwaway Society
Throwaway Living
In August 1955, Life Magazine ran a story on how Disposable Items Cut Down on Household Chores. The picture above describes the new found freedom in the use and disposal of just about anything -
To be continued:
Plastics
Throwaway Society
Throwaway Society
Plastic Planet:
It is estimated that upwards to 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic have been created since the early 1950s, when industrial production of synthetic materials began, according to researchers in Amercia.
Plastic waste is increasingly hard to ignore, with an estimated 150 million tonnes of plastic currently present in the world’s oceans, "leakage" adds at least 9.1 million tonnes more each year — a figure that is said to be growing by five per cent annually — the Ellen MacArthur Foundation report calculates there will be 850-950 million tonnes of ocean plastic by 2050, versus total fish stocks of 812-899 million tonnes.
To be continued:
Food & Beverage
Throwaway Society
Textiles & Fast Fashion
The rise of fast food culture:
To be continued:
Textiles & Fast Fashion
Consumer Goods| Electronics
Textiles & Fast Fashion
To be continued:
Consumer Goods| Electronics
Consumer Goods| Electronics
Consumer Goods| Electronics
To be continued:
Construction Materials
Consumer Goods| Electronics
Consumer Goods| Electronics
To be continued:
