Our report, Building Prosperity, focuses on Europe’s built environment and shows how a targeted set of strategies can unlock billions of Euros in economic opportunity for the continent, increasing resilience, competitiveness, and the prosperity of its cities, all while providing widespread benefits to society and nature.

A circular built environment is a catalyst for change. Europe’s cities are economic powerhouses. They’re also on the frontline of climate change and housing shortages. Transforming the region’s built environment using circular economy principles can achieve mutually reinforcing benefits for the economy, society, and nature. This transformation isn’t just a necessity. It’s a strategic move to unlock long-term prosperity.

The recently adopted Nature Restoration Law and ongoing revisions to key EU policies present critical opportunities to further embed and amplify the six circular economy strategies highlighted in this report. Policy revisions that are rooted in circular design and expand beyond waste collection and recycling can catalyse transformative change.

Existing spaces can become drivers of urban renewal.
Revitalising and redeveloping brownfield sites and vacant commercial plots – that are already well located for living, working, and entertainment – could theoretically address 90% of Europe’s housing demand by 2035. Additionally, households and local businesses will benefit from lower energy and water charges and more efficient infrastructure networks, worth EUR 22 billion annually. 

The greening of urban spaces makes them better places to live in the here and now and makes them more climate resilient for the future.
Increasing green cover and maximising nature in cities can simultaneously reduce urban peak temperature by 1–3^oC, boost wellbeing, and improve air quality – helping to future-proof urban landscapes against climate change and generating EUR 111 billion in revenue. It’s a low-tech, low-cost solution to high-impact challenges, and will be further supported by the urban ecosystem objectives of the recently adopted Nature Restoration Law.

This report highlights a set of calls to action specifically for policymakers, both at the national/EU level, and at the city level.

EU and national policymakers

1. Continue to encourage the broader application of well-designed economic instruments that will incentivise nature-positive construction projects in the long term. 
2. Ensure further interventions accelerate the transition by expanding the scope of targets within the existing policy framework beyond waste collection and recycling.
3. Invest public funds in research, development, and innovation for systemic solutions. 
4. Allocate funding to help cities and stakeholders develop innovative finance models to scale implementation.
5. Leverage upcoming policy revisions to strengthen circular economy in the built environment.

City level policymakers

1. Ensure publicly funded construction projects set the standard for nature-positive and circular outcomes.
2. Embed nature-positive and circular criterion in city-owned land management. 
3. Establish methods to streamline, fast-track, and simplify local planning processes for nature-positive and circular initiatives.
4. Map urban ecosystems and tree canopies to help maximise nature in cities.
5. Work with local industry to strengthen secondary material value chains.

Additionally, the far-reaching transformative shift that is required must be steered by clear and concrete measures to ensure a just transition inside and outside the EU. For example,  a nature-positive, circular economy offers a promising opportunity for job creation across all skill levels, but emphasis needs to be placed on the quality of these new jobs, working conditions, upskilling, and inclusivity.

Equally, it is important to acknowledge that increased liveability and desirability thanks to maximising nature in cities and revitalising urban land and assets  can lead to rising property values which, while beneficial for owners, can heighten affordability challenges for non-owners, and risk the displacement of existing residents, especially tenants. To mitigate these issues, policymakers must proactively implement just transition policies and interventions that ensure housing affordability that protect the interests of all community members, fostering inclusive growth and reducing inequality.