Juste Rajaonson

The project examines the CE vision, governance and practices at a municipal level.

It focuses on three key CE sectors: food, energy (including transportation) and waste (Keblowski et al 2020). Two key research issues are raised:

1. How do stakeholders understand CE as a concept and what is their understanding of CE practices and assessment in a city and region like Saint-Hyacinthe?
2. How is CE governed and practiced by different political and social stakeholders?

The questions will be explored from the perspectives of the concepts of the socio-technological vision and the governance of the socioecological transition.

This project is led within the context of the latest report by the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement, entitled L’état des lieux et la gestion des résidus ultimes, which identifies circular economy as the first strategy to implement to reduce ultimate waste in Québec.

Based on an approach rooted in urban geography and political science, it aims to develop operationalizable tools for the design and implementation of area circular economy initiatives by local and regional governments. With these tools, cities will not only be able to identify optimal areas of excellence adapted to their particular territorial contexts but also target public interventions (e.g., zoning) to create conditions conducive to the circularity initiatives they seek to set in motion.

The project explores the key question of the processes, policies and instruments that could enable cities and regions to design and deploy circular economy policies tailored to their spatial and socio-economic contexts.