In line with its ambitious and inclusive 2029 climate neutrality strategy, Turku wants to support a fair circular transformation of economic systems that benefits all city residents. The newly released Circular Turku Roadmap map shows how this can be done using three dimensions: access, participation and opportunity. For instance, supporting regional and circular food production holds the potential to increase access to food for all and to ensure fairer incomes for producers. Putting vacant spaces back in use offers opportunities for improved access to affordable and liveable public spaces. The dismantling and handling of reclaimed construction materials and components from demolition sites is more labour-intensive than conventional practices and therefore opens up a chance to create new employment opportunities for city residents.
The newly released Circular Turku Roadmap is the first of its kind to include a social risk assessment for the planned interventions to ensure the Circular Turku transition is fair and inclusive. When designing the Circular Turku Roadmap, this simplified approach helped to map how the planned interventions could benefit each of the three social equity dimensions and which pre-conditions would ensure a fair and inclusive circular transition.
To ensure a just transition across all priority sectors, the roadmap also recognises the importance of partnering with universities, training centres and social organisations to provide upskilling opportunities to regional stakeholders. In addition, including social economy actors as main drivers of resource recovery processes and sharing models holds the potential to provide new employment opportunities to residents in need. In the coming months, the city of Turku will continue to work with community organisations and youth groups to ensure circular economy practices are designed from the bottom up and benefit all residents, based on the findings outlined in the roadmap.
Source: Cities Today
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