Digitally enabled diverse economies: exploring socially inclusive access to the circular economy in the city

Abstract

Technology is increasingly reshaping social relations and transforming associated urban spatial configurations. Advancements such as digital social platforms and mobile apps have helped to connect social actors, empower citizens, and enable diverse circular economy practices in cities. Paradoxically, technology is also contributing to loneliness, anxiety, and depression among urban populations, and raises nuanced questions about access and inclusivity in increasingly digitized urban settings. In this contribution, we consider the possibilities and challenges inherent in applying digital technologies to leverage the development of inclusive and diverse circular economic spaces around a city’s reuse, repair and recycling infrastructure and drive socio-ecological transformations of urban spaces. We conclude that uneven access to digital tools potentially reinforces existing urban social inequalities, and that emphasis must be placed on understanding how technologies should be more effectively designed and leveraged for a socially inclusive circular economy in the city.