What would a human-centred 'social' Circular Economy look like? Drawing from Max-Neef's Human-Scale Development proposal

The Circular Economy (CE) has emerged as a concept to radically transform how resources are used and managed, with promise to solve the ecological turmoil of the prevailing linear economy. Circularity has since been framed as an important concept to contribute to achieving sustainable development. Thus, the CE is increasingly being adopted as key a strategy by various stakeholders, including large corporations and political institutions. Despite seemingly high interest and growing uptake demonstrated by an influx of new business models and policy guidance, there is concern amongst scholars that current interpretations fail to consider the social impacts and implications of this circular shift. There is a notable lack of theoretical contribution to address this void, and without robust theorising this can be an obstacle to effective and transformative practice. This research contributes to addressing this problematic shortcoming by utilising an existing development framework to identify a theoretically grounded direction for the formation of an alternative Social CE. We use the key features of Max-Neef's Human Scale Development (H-SD) proposal to illustrate how reframing the CE to take account of this perspective can provide a basis for articulating and developing a compelling social narrative. We argue that human needs satisfaction should be both the objective of a Social CE, but also embedded into the means as to how it is achieved. Grassroots initiatives that enable self-reliant communities should balance the current disproportionate influence wielded by powerful institutions and businesses. Equilibrium is required between different components and actors, including between humans and the environment, which ultimately represents a version of circularity that adheres to the limits of the biosphere.

Automated summary

The Circular Economy (CE) is seen as a solution to the ecological problems caused by the linear economy. Despite the growing interest and adoption of the CE, there is concern that the social impacts are not adequately considered. This research proposes an alternative Social CE that takes into account the satisfaction of human needs and aims to balance power dynamics.