Page 269 - Sustainable Cities and Communities Design Handbook

Urban Circular Economy: The New Frontier Chapter j 12 243

up, as they focused on turning the municipality’s weaknesses into strengths.
The valley had clean air and unspoiled land: why not become a sustainable
tourist destination by introducing renewable energy and implementing organic
farming? The citizens were given an offerdif the public authorities funded an
upgrade of the roads, sewers, aqueducts, and street lighting, would the citizens
be willing to repair and renovate their ancient stone houses?
This first step was successful, and although some of the funding for ren-
ovations came from the European Union, the majority of it came from the
citizens themselves. Like most urban planning, the plan relied on citizen buy-
in, which occurred once the citizens accepted the vision between themselves.
The Environmental Education Center was created to educate the local young
generation about organic agriculture, renewable energy, and sustainability.
Organic farming practices were taught to the local farmers. And this involved
encouraging the farmers to stop using chemical fertilizers. As the farmers
learnt that organic products could be sold at a higher price, and they could get
help with EU grants for organic farms, they became interested in certifying the
farms as organic. People returned to the municipality to be involved in organic
farming, beekeeping, and cheese-making. Today there are 108 organic farms
including organic porcini mushrooms, chestnuts, cheeses, honey, fruit, vege-
tables, meat, and dairy products. Good restaurants opened. Artists and
craftspeople arrived. The Vara valley is now known as the “Organic Valley,”
and in 1999 it became Europe’s first valley to be certified for environmental
management under ISO 14001. To supply the municipality with renewable
electricity, four wind turbines were installed on a ridge 1100 m above sea level
where the average annual wind speed is 7.2 m per second. These turbines
generate 8 million kWh of electricity per year, three times the amount needed
by the municipality, which is fed into the local grid. The electricity produced
from the wind turbines reduces carbon emissions by 8000 tons per annum. The
wastewater treatment plant has a 4-kW photovoltaic system, and the munici-
pality pool is heated by solar power as well. The shift to renewable energy has
added 140 jobs, stabilized the population, and added an additional $500,000 in
annual tax revenues for the municipality.
Although small and medium municipalities may seem not so relevant in
terms of the number of people involved in the circular transformation, they can
still provide, even on a limited scale, very interesting examples on how to
address a circular economy approach in large urban areas. We can clearly see
that with a combination of vision, strategy, technology, capital investment, and
most importantly, political and social will, these transformations are possible.

REFERENCES AND SOURCES
l Closing the loop: an EU action plan for the circular economy, European
Commission e 2015.
l Urban biocycles, Ellen MacArthur Foundation e 2017.