What isCollaborative Governance
The transition to circular cities needs whole scale system reforms. Next to ambitious visions and strategies of urban development, it requires new regulations, investment, partnerships and a new body of knowledge and capacities. Above all, circular transitions require new forms of “democratised innovation” so that all actors in cities can access to and benefit from the opportunities that the circular economy will create.
In Reflow, we understand collaborative governance as a long term, systemic process of steering and coordination of all the different levers in cities – policy, regulation, funding, knowledge, collective intelligence, and many others – in such a way that allows distributed capacity, legitimacy and agency for (circular) change across public and private sectors.
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RCG Framework
In Reflow, we define Collaborative Governance for Circular Cities as an “open-ended infrastructuring process”: a continuous work of providing the means for circular action, discovering and learning within a loose steering and coordination framework that supports both present and future circular collaborations. This infrastructuring can be understood to operate at different scales and scopes and with different emphasis including:
- the STRATEGIC, focused on creating synergies and alignment across different actors and related agendas so that their resources can be made widely accessible and pooled towards collective impact;
- the OPERATIONAL, focused on building operational capacities and tools in a way that allows different circular experiments and activities to exist as a highly connected, systemic process;
- the RELATIONAL, focused on building trust, distributed agency and legitimacy, developing shared value.
Each emphasis can be fostered by combination and activation of different levers in a process that is iterative – thus facilitating the emergence of innovations at micro, meso and macro levels (from material to societal innovation) and over time.
This definition is built on the work of many authors, including Thorpe & Manzini 2018; Manzini 2015; Le Dantec and Di Salvo 2011; Bjorgvinsson et al. 2010; Simonsen et al. 2020.
RCG Levers
A set of instruments that creates leverage to steer the change of individuals and collectives towards circularity.

Baseline assessment
Define the system and its current state; …

Visioning
Craft a circular vision and associated g …

Roadmaps Strategies Action plans
Identify areas for interventions, plans …

Social, environmental, economic impact assessment & learning
Assessing impacts, evaluating alternativ …

Urban management of assets and material flows
Analysis and management of city-owned ph …

Prototyping and experimentation
Conduct pilots, experimentations, new pr …

Data & Tech
Data collection, value capture from ICT, …

Public procurement
Create new markets, support circular mat …

Economic and financial incentives
Support initiatives through funding, sub …

Fiscal measures
Discourage or incentivize certain behavi …

Legislation and regulation
Shaping bylaws that stimulate circular e …

Engaging and Convening
Enable stakeholders participation and co …

Innovative Partnerships
Involve multiple stakeholders in public …

Capacity building
Provide training, coaching and advisory …

Awareness raising
Activate citizens by challenging linear …

Communication
Disseminate learnings, activities, impac …