Circular Society Innovations for place-based equitable, inclusive & environmentally sustainable living

循环经济的倡导者将其作为线性经济（取-造-废）的一种更可持续的替代方案。虽然循环倡议的经济和环境效益是有针对性和大肆宣传的，但其社会影响仍然知之甚少，定义模糊，边缘化，特别是在社会公平和正义方面。循环倡议的结果取决于在“地方”表现出来的许多因素。然而，基于场所的循环倡议直到最近才开始有意地突出社会目标。有一个新兴的改革派议程，指的是“循环社会”——与循环经济相反——社会正义和福祉是核心，产出、结果和方法是包容性和参与性的。我们将这些要求转化为循环社会创新（CSI）过程所涉及的四个社会维度：突出谨慎的社会要求；2. 预见意料之外的社会后果；3. 设计明确的社交目标；和4。优先考虑创造就业和培训的质量，并重视非工作活动。CSI可以在通过城市农场关闭当地食品消费和生产循环的背景下出现；通过社区中心维修纺织品和电子电器，并将其重新用作用途；通过借阅图书馆扩大工具和设备共享；通过连接供需关系，重新利用建筑行业的“废物”；等等......。考虑这四个维度对于评估CSI项目中社会目标的嵌入性很重要。我们项目的目的是探索通过发展、实施和扩大CSI，使地方变得更加公平、包容和环境可持续的过程。我们的目标是：(1)评估政策、从业者和项目如何通过制定和实施基于地点的CSI来应对可持续性挑战；(2)评估可以共同创建哪些解决方案来扩展CSI；(3)为政策制定者、从业者和民间社会组织提出建议，以促进基于地方的CSI。我们的主要研究“地点”是大曼彻斯特（GM），就地方当局的权力下放和合作工作而言，可以说是英国最先进的地区，为学习扩大CSI规模提供了一个“试验台”。在通用汽车内部，有促进循环倡议和社区财富建设的新兴政策、从业者和项目。为了确定符合CSI标准的项目，我们将与非学术项目合作伙伴密切合作：大曼彻斯特联合政府；奥尔德姆、斯托克波特、曼城的地方当局；伦敦，地方政府循环经济网络；以及以社区为中心的地方经济国家智库CLES。我们将与英国更广泛的社区、相关机构和决策者合作，向芝加哥、图尔库和乌得勒支等CSI先锋地区学习并分享经验。我们将采用多种研究方法共同创造100个CSI项目的知识，其中50个我们将深入研究。知识将转化为基于证据的建议，供政策制定者和从业者扩大CSI规模，以实现基于地方的公平、包容和环境可持续的生活。地方和居住在这些地方的社区将是项目的主要受益者，但支持将通过“纵向参与性形成性评估”的过程直接提供给政策制定者、从业者和参与CSI项目的人员。通过支持关键利益相关者实施和扩大基于地点的CSI，这一过程将产生有影响力的结果。通过我们与利益相关者的深入接触，我们预计将产生多种相互关联的社会成果，以及通常与主流CE相关的环境和经济效益。

Advocates of the circular economy promote it as a more sustainable alternative to the linear (take-make-waste) economy. While the economic and environmental benefits of circular initiatives are targeted and trumpeted, the social implications remain poorly understood, vaguely defined and marginal, especially in relation to social equity and justice. The outcomes of circular initiatives are contingent on many factors that manifest themselves in 'places'. And yet, place-based circular initiatives have only recently begun to intentionally foreground social objectives. There is an emerging reformist agenda that refers to 'circular society' -as opposed to circular economy- where social justice and wellbeing are central and where outputs, outcomes and approaches are inclusive and participatory. We translate these imperatives into a set of four social dimensions that circular society innovation (CSI) processes involve: 1. Foregrounding discreet social imperatives; 2. Anticipating unintended social consequences; 3. Designing-in explicit social objectives; and 4. Prioritising the quality of job creation and training, and value non-work activities.CSI could emerge in the context of closing the loop of local food consumption and production through urban farms; repairing and repurposing textiles and electronic appliances through community hubs; extending tools and equipment sharing through lending libraries; reusing construction industry 'waste' by connecting supply and demand; and so on. Consideration of the four dimensions is important for evaluating the embeddedness of societal objectives within CSI projects. The aim of our project is to explore the processes by which places can become more equitable, inclusive and environmentally sustainable by developing, implementing and scaling CSI. Our objectives are to:(1) Assess how policy, practitioners and projects address sustainability challenges through the development and implementation of place-based CSI;(2) Evaluate what solutions can be co-created to scale CSI; and(3) Develop recommendations for policy makers, practitioners and civic society organisations to stimulate place-based CSI. Our main research 'place' is Greater Manchester (GM), arguably the most advanced region of the UK in terms of devolution and cooperative working across local authorities, offering a 'test-bed' for learning about scaling CSI. Within GM there are emerging policies, practitioners and projects that promote circular initiatives and community wealth building. To identify projects that meet our CSI dimensions, we will collaborate closely with our non-academic project partners: Greater Manchester Combined Authority; local authorities in Oldham, Stockport, Manchester City; ReLondon, the local government circular economy network; and,CLES, the community-focused national think-tank for local economies. We will engage the wider community, relevant agencies and decision makers in the UK, and learn from - and share learning with - international places in the vanguard of CSI, namely Chicago, Turku and Utrecht. We will employ a variety of research methods to co-create knowledge on 100 CSI projects, 50 of which we'll study in-depth. Knowledge will be translated into evidence-based recommendations for policymakers and practitioners to scale CSI for place-based equitable, inclusive and environmentally sustainable living. Places, and the communities that inhabit them, will be the main beneficiaries of the project, but support will be directed to policy makers, practitioners and those involved in CSI projects through a process of 'longitudinal participatory formative evaluation'. This process will generate impactful outcomes by supporting key stakeholders to implement and scale place-based CSI. Through our deep engagement with stakeholders, we anticipate multiple, inter-related social outcomes to be delivered alongside the environmental and economic benefits usually associated with mainstream CE.