Page 21 - A U4SSC deliverable - Guidelines on tools and mechanisms to finance Smart Sustainable Cities projects

What are SSC projects?

SSC projects aim to improve some, or all, of the three dimensions of SSCs, as described above.

For example, projects may implement a “circular city” approach. An overview of this approach is
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given below.

Box 3: Overview of the “circular cities” concept

A circular economy in a city aims to create a sustainable system at the city level that allows
for the long life, optimal reuse, refurbishment, remanufacturing and recycling of products
and materials.

Four components constitute the key variables in the circular city implementation framework,
that is, the necessary components that are needed to implement circularity in cities:

1. city assets and products, which encompass various city infrastructures, city resources,
city goods, and services available for use/consumption in the city;
2. circular action items, a set of specific, outcome-orientated actions that can be applied to
city assets and products that include sharing, recycling, refurbishing, reusing, replacing,
and digitizing;

3. circular city outputs, i.e. outputs of circular action items applied to city assets and
products; and
4. circular city enablers, including various supplementary and complementary items, which
catalyse and support the implementation of circular city approaches. 5

Projects implementing this approach can affect the economy (e.g. by improving the recycling
infrastructure), the environment (e.g. by reducing energy consumption), and society and culture
(e.g. by improving public health through reduced emissions).

Usage of the ICTs can be also beneficial for various types of SSC projects. For example – the
collaborative platforms provide an opportunity for the citizen to participate in planning the urban
design of their cities (Box 4).

U4SSC: Guidelines on tools and mechanisms to finance Smart Sustainable Cities projects 3