Dear Colleagues,

Production is affected by the rise of resource consumption which is exceeding planetary boundaries more and more in the current globalised linear economy (IRP, 2019). These global trends claim to redesign the current production and consumption in order to be more future-oriented on the way to sustainable development (Williams, 2019). The need for and the potential of innovation has never been greater.

We are witnessing an increased interest in the Circular Economy as an essential model contributing to sustainable development and wellbeing (EMF, 2015). Such phenomena present an opportunity for emerging design and managerial approaches to activate innovative paths. In order to achieve this, a holistic frame and reference is required (Hjorth and Bageri, 2006), where the depth of understanding of the complexity comes from the number of variables and relations created in the environment. Tackling sustainability is a vital consideration in the design and management of products, services and technologies.

Against this backdrop, Sustainability is announcing a Special Issue dedicated to the emerging approaches in design and management in order to foster a Circular Economy. This Special Issue will provide an outlet for cutting-edge praxis research by scholars who provide insights into theoretical and practical developments in these domains.

We invite interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and codisciplinary analyses that address the development of circular economies through innovative approaches in design and management. We are particularly interested in scholarly analyses, especially rigorous case study analyses that generate novel and innovative insights around the following topics:

-        Systemic and strategic design approaches for circular economy;
-        Emerging managerial approaches for circular economy;
-        Environmental and social strategies of governance;
-        Codesign for sustainability;
-        Policy design to address circular economy practices;
-        Processes design for output–input optimization.

References:

EMF (2015). Delivery the circular economy: a toolkit for policymakers. Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

Hjorth, P., & Bagheri, A. (2006). Navigating towards sustainable development: a system dynamics approach. Futures, 38(1), 74-92.

IRP (2019). Global Resources Outlook 2019: Natural Resources for the Future We Want. Oberle, B., Bringezu, S., Hatfield-Dodds, S., Hellweg, S., Schandl, H., Clement, J., Cabernard, L., Che, N., Chen, D., Droz-Georfet, H., Ekins, P., Fischer-Kowalski, M., Liu, B., Lu, Y., Lutter, S., Mehr, J., Miatto, A., Newth, D., Obershelp, C., Obersteiner, M., Pfister, S., Piccoli, E., Schaldach, R., Schungel, J., Sonderegger, T., Sudheshwar, A., Tanikawa, H., van der Voet, E., Walker, C., West, J., Wang, Z., Zhu, B. A report of International Resource Panel. United Nations Environment Programme. Nairobi, Kenya.

Williams, J. (2019). Circular Cities: challenges to implementing loopung actions. Sustainability, 11(2), 423.

Prof. Silvia Barbero
Prof. Alberto Petroni
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• sustainability
• managerial approaches
• systemic design
• circular economy