From Extraction to Regeneration: Can Circular Thinking Rewire How Cities Use Resources?

Over the past three years, Kiel has quietly become a laboratory for a different way of thinking about the circular economy. Through the European project Creative Circular Cities (CCC), the city has explored how creativity, culture and citizen participation can help transform circularity from an abstract policy goal into something people experience in their everyday lives.

Rather than treating circularity solely as a question of waste management or industrial efficiency, the project has asked a broader question: how can cities help people build new relationships with materials, products and resources? In Kiel – one of the municipalities involved in Creative Circularity Cities – the answers have taken shape through student design challenges, repair festivals, creative workshops, public discussions and collaborations between municipalities, universities, local organisations and businesses.

Right now, the EU’s circularity rate stands at around 12%, meaning that nearly 88% of materials used in Europe still come from virgin resources. This serves to underline how fundamental regional collaboration and national policies are in the process of transitioning from extraction-based economies to regeneration. The urgency of a systemic approach to circularity is further emphasised by current consumption behaviours: humanity is consuming ecological resources about 70–80% faster than ecosystems can regenerate them; global material consumption exceeds 100 billion tonnes annually, and only a small fraction of those materials return to the economy as secondary resources. In the absence of joint efforts to scale circular economy practices, the demand for natural resources could increase by another 60% by 2060. 

And while the Circular Economy Act is being prepared, aiming to establish common rules for circular solutions across the EU, local experimentation is still fundamental in creating long-term behavioral changes within communities.  

Bringing together six Baltic Sea Region municipalities – Kiel (DE), Aarhus (DK), Turku (FI), Tallinn (EE), Riga (LV), and Gdynia (PL) – the European project has created space for cities to test practical solutions, exchange experiences and develop new approaches that connect creative industries, public authorities and local communities. For Kiel, this collaboration translated into activities that invited citizens of all ages to experience circularity firsthand. 

One example is Goldmine, a five-day intensive course developed with students from the Industrial Design department at Muthesius University of Fine Arts and Design. Working with metallic waste sourced from the scrap trade, students were challenged to create entirely new products from discarded materials. The project made a simple point visible: circularity begins at the design table, where decisions about materials, durability, reuse and value are already being made.  

Learning also moved beyond the university. Through the annual Repair & Upcycling Festival at Anscharcampus, Creative Circular Cities brought together children, families, students, makers and local initiatives for hands-on workshops that made circularity accessible and enjoyable. Participants repaired bicycles and household items, built musical instruments from waste materials, experimented with recycled printing techniques, upcycled marine litter, created sea-grass cushions, extended the lifespan of laptops through Linux installations, explored solar energy, swapped clothes and discovered local zero-waste initiatives.

Previous editions attracted more than 750 participants per festival and offered more than 30 workshops, creating a space where citizens, local initiatives, creative professionals and sustainability actors could learn from one another. 

Alongside these practical initiatives, Creative Circular Cities was also present locally in spaces for dialogue and advocacy around the need for – and importance of – circular solutions for a more sustainable living. During the Waterkant Festival, project partners, together with experts from business and public policy, discussed how pilot initiatives like those developed in Kiel can influence wider strategies for circular development. The discussion focused on understanding what cities can learn from experimentation and how these lessons can inform future policymaking.

As Indra Levite, Project Manager of Creative Circular Cities, explains:

“Circular economy is not just an ecological necessity, but also an economic opportunity, and cities have the potential to lead this transformation. Through Creative Circular Cities, we are seeing how local action, when connected across borders, can begin to change the logic by which resources move through our societies. It’s also incredible to witness how change happens when multiple parties are being involved: institutions, municipalities, artists, and members of our local communities; people who, in the long run, will benefit from these approaches themselves.”

Kiel’s experience suggests that the circular transition cannot be driven by infrastructure and regulation alone. It also depends on education, creativity and community participation, giving people the needed frameworks to rethink how they use, repair and value resources in everyday life. 

As Creative Circular Cities reaches its conclusion, the project’s legacy continues to support Kiel’s broader zero-waste ambitions and inspire other municipalities across the Baltic Sea Region, through partnerships and practical, scalable formats of cooperation. Together, these local experiences look to confirm the premise of a 3-year regional exploration: that circular thinking can take root at a city level, but it cannot stop there. 

About Creative Circular Cities

Creative Circular Cities (CCC) is a transnational project co-funded by the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme and the European Union. The project explores how culture and the creative industries can help cities move from linear consumption to circular lifestyles. Across six Baltic Sea Region cities, Kiel, Aarhus, Turku, Tallinn, Riga and Gdynia, CCC develops and tests tools, models and local activities that connect circular economy with creativity, citizen engagement, business development and policymaking.

In Kiel, CCC project is implemented with local partners including Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Schleswig-Holstein, Anscharcampus and Zero Waste Kiel e.V.

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