The role given to citizens in the transition to a circular city: the case of Trondheim in Mid-Norway

The circular economy has become a guiding concept for policy and action plans across different territories and government levels. A circular economy involves a transition to societies with reduced material throughput, avoiding sink of material into nature as waste and reducing the dependence on raw materials. Policies and action plans for the promotion, support and achievement of a circular economy can be found for the national and local levels of governance. In Europe, emphasis is now set on the local or regional level, under the assumption that proximity and reduced scale might lead to success in efficient management of material flows and improved collaboration between actors in different sectors. As a result, there are now many European initiatives working under the concept of the circular city or region, framing localized actions and actors as leverage points for larger necessary changes in the transition towards sustainable societies. In parallel, this concept is starting to appear in academic literature, it has been studied from policy and plans for urban development as cases of cities, researching on proposed strategies, levers and assessment indicators, while offering frameworks and suggestions for intervention and regulation. An aspect that motivates the focus on the city is the aggregation of people, materials and activities in one place, but little attention is paid to the role played by people as citizens. This study questions the role given to citizens within the literature about circular cities and in the case of the city of Trondheim in the larger region of Trøndelag in Norway. The case is constructed from empirical qualitative data collected from 17 interviews with participants from the municipality and county council, the waste management sector and the private sector. These interviews are part of a qualitative study conducted to identify the current state and future imaginaries of the circular economy in this region. Norway does not yet have a national circular economy policy, but circularity is already practiced to some extent. In Trondheim, the circular economy is included in the waste management plan with targets for reduction of waste and recycling. In the interviews, the topic of consumption emerges in perceptions about how citizens use resources, what they know and what they value. The local authority at the municipal level has started to work on consumption reduction without fully embracing it, considering the impact it can have on the commercial sector, in expectance of a national policy or a local political mandate to deal with consumption as part of the actions for waste reduction. This understanding of the relation between the citizens’ role and consumption reduction is also reflected in the reviewed literature on circular cities. As a conclusion from this study, it is advised to include reduction in consumption as a goal in planning for the transition to a circular city from the perspective of citizens. This requires a focus on knowledge and skills to deal with local materials and avoidance of fast paced acquisition of new products.