scope:

This Supplement defines circular cities and determines the terminologies that deal with it. It provides clear definitions and conceptualizations of circular cities and the definitions of the corresponding keywords/entities/topics that are associated with circularity in cities.

A recent bibliometric analysis uncovered some of this terminology:

Circular city; circular economy; modelling; spatial competition; commuting costs; land use; agglomeration; spatial differentiation; location choice; etc.

Moreover, a recent bibliometric analysis showed some of the recent trends that must be confirmed and analysed deeper. Urban heat mitigation, spatial competition agglomeration, circular city horizontal product differentiation, cultural heritage and local interactions are only some of these trends that can help industry and policy makers define their strategies to align to the ones that relate with their cases. Trends are highlighted with literature review and bibliometric analysis on scientific repositories (i.e., Web of Science and Scopus).

This Supplement is expected to help cities identify the context of circularity and the trends for improving sustainability and achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 11 and the related targets.

The main elements examined in this Supplement are:

1) The definition of circular cities

2) The determination of a conceptual architecture of circular cities

3) The identification of recent trends in circular cities.