Challenges to the Circular City: Conceptual Remarks on Industry-Retail-Urban Symbioses

This article discusses critical integrative and symbiotic aspects of local circular economy policy. We start by a brief introduction to primary ontological layer of urban circularity known as urban metabolism, proceed to its connection with economic sectors, and as a final step address urban circularity as a local policy making issue. Our aim is to provide conceptual and theoretical views of the idea of circular city. Our discussion reveals that understanding the local level CE
policy agenda and its challenges requires multi-level and multi-sectoral view of circular city. We argue that the idea of an industry-retail-urban symbiosis contains significant heuristic value in the making of a circular city, as it provides conceptual framework for understanding the multi-sector and multilayered nature of urban circularity.