Marjanovic, Marjan; (2025) Governing circular economy transitions in shrinking cities and regions. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

The circular economy has recently gained prominence as an alternative strategy for urban and regional governments worldwide to transition to a more sustainable future. However, its application to shrinking cities and regions remains largely unexplored. A significant research gap exists in connecting broader structural transformation processes that underpin shrinking cities and efforts to manage them with the approaches to govern circular economy transitions. This study aims to fill this gap by examining the relationship between urban shrinkage and the circular economy through a governance perspective. It seeks to understand why and how the efforts to manage urban shrinkage influence the adoption and pursuit of circular economy transitions in shrinking cities and regions. The study is guided by interpretive and deliberative perspectives on governance and public policy analysis and framed by Evolutionary Governance Theory, a novel framework that combines poststructuralist thought, neo-institutionalist perspectives, and social systems theory. Focusing on two shrinking European regions, Parkstad Limburg (Netherlands) and Satakunta (Finland), the study employs diverse methods to reconstruct their governance paths, including path mapping, process tracing, and comparative analysis. This approach reveals how actors, institutions, and discourses co-evolve under conditions of urban shrinkage and subsequently influence the adoption and pursuit of circular economy practices. The findings indicate that the unique characteristics of the circular economy concept, historical governance legacies, and strategies for managing urban decline interact in complex ways to shape circular transitions in the study regions, which happens under the circular construction agenda in Parkstad and the industrial circular economy in Satakunta. The study concludes that the circular economy discourse serves as a fitting tool for reinforcing longstanding governance objectives rooted in various historical dependencies while simultaneously advancing ongoing efforts to address urban shrinkage. Therefore, rather than creating new development trajectories in contexts of structural shrinkage, circular economy adoption primarily strengthens existing pathways, facilitating both growth and smart shrinkage objectives.

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