Smart Cities & The Circular Economy

How can collaboration and networked crowds push the quest for a more sustainable, circular economy? Ken Webster, Head of Innovation at Ellen MacArthur Foundation elaborates on the opportunity for new thinking and new business models through the circular framework.

We can’t keep running on a linear economy, rooted in unemployment and scarcity, Webster argues. What we really need for truly democratic process is a shift toward abundance – with effective flows of energy, materials and information – decoupled from resource wasting activities and leveraging the power of internet and digital based opportunities.

This general notion of a circular economy with built-in feedback is built on the backbone of ICT. It’s a shift in how we think and learn, in terms of entire ecologies not so singularly – to reflect the complexity of our world. It will also require a shift from selling goods to selling services and performance, a shift to renewables, and a celebration of diversity – to move toward an economy which is restorative by design.

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• business models
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