Amsterdam’s circular economy at a world-ecological crossroads: postcapitalist degrowth or the next regime of capital accumulation?

Thompson, Matthew, Cator, Charlotte, Beel, David, Rees Jones, Ian ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1682-9134, Jones, Martin and Morgan, Kevin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2933-2231 2024. Amsterdam’s circular economy at a world-ecological crossroads: postcapitalist degrowth or the next regime of capital accumulation? Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 17 (3) , pp. 535-550. 10.1093/cjres/rsae022

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Abstract

This article conceptualises the circular economy as a space of immaterial, as well as material, metabolic flows mediated by capitalism and planetary urbanisation. World-ecology provides us with the critical lens to view the circular economy as part of an emergent regime of accumulation that may supersede neoliberalism. However, if each regime entails new frontier zones for appropriating cheap natures and dumping wastes, then the circular economy—as a strategy for revalorising waste—presents a possible structural limit to capitalism’s further expansion. Moreover, when combined with notions of degrowth and doughnut economics, the circular economy may provide an imaginary and set of prefigurative practices that point towards a postcapitalist economy. Through a case study of Amsterdam—a city aiming to be fully circular by 2050—we examine this contradictory crossroads, problematising the idea of circularity within capitalism and exploring the potential of postcapitalist alternatives within the circular economy.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Geography and Planning (GEOPL)
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
ISSN:	1752-1378
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	6 August 2024
Date of Acceptance:	19 June 2024
Last Modified:	10 Dec 2024 15:44
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/171181

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