The Creative Circular Cities project focuses on the integration of Cultural and Creative Sectors and Industries (CCSIs) into the circular economy transition at the municipal level. It aims to develop guidelines and tools that municipalities, business support organizations and NGOs can use to implement circular economy solutions.

The creative sector can be a producer of circular solutions, for example by designing products and services that follow circular principles and can be a powerful tool to change public perceptions and habits towards circularity.

At present, the CCSI's are not sufficiently integrated into city strategic plans for circularity, which tend to focus on traditional sectors. There is also insufficient support for the development of circular business models and the engagement with creatives and citizens is limited. Weak links between city governments, creative practitioners, businesses and citizens prevent the creation of a shared vision and collaborative action.

To address these challenges, 6 cities in the Baltic Sea Region - Aarhus, Kiel, Gdynia, Riga, Tallinn and Turku - are working together to co-create and test creative industry-led solutions for circular transitions. The project establishes incubation programs for businesses within the CCSI, promotes circular lifestyles through citizen engagement, and develops a CCC Starter Kit - a toolkit for other cities to replicate successful approaches. The project also aims to integrate circular economy principles into existing city strategies through multi-stakeholder collaboration.

The project's approach is already showing promising results in the six demo cities, with each city launching tailored pilot initiatives that combine creativity, citizen engagement and circular economy principles. Early results include co-creation arenas connecting stakeholders, training programs for sustainable business models, innovative reuse strategies piloted with Gdynia's bulky waste system and Riga's circular garden. The project also produced a generic model to guide cities in implementing circular transitions, while transnational CCC Labs in Turku, Aarhus, Kiel and Tallinn fostered collaboration and knowledge exchange. Through these activities, the project aims to create scalable models and policy tools that can inspire circular transformation across Europe.