Speakers
Description
The Circular Economy (CE) has emerged as a promising framework for addressing environmental challenges, lauded for its potential to reduce waste, enhance resource efficiency, and foster economic growth. However, its adoption often aligns with the hegemonic discourse of climate capitalism, which commodifies environmental problems to sustain the capitalist status quo. This article critically examines CE as an "empty signifier" within planning and policymaking, applying Political Discourse Theory (PDT) in conjunction with Marxian and Lacanian approaches to deconstruct its ideological underpinnings and practical applications.
Drawing on examples from global policies, urban planning strategies, and institutional reports, the study reveals that CE, at least in planning and policymaking, is not a neutral or apolitical tool but a mechanism deeply embedded in neoliberal agendas. The pervasive usage of CE in planning and policy-making often prioritises market-driven solutions and economic expansion over genuine environmental sustainability, effectively depoliticising ecological crises. Theoretically, the analysis bridges Marx’s concept of commodification and Lacan’s notions of desire and drive, illustrating how the utilisation of CE in plans and policies generates both surplus value and surplus enjoyment. This dual dynamic not only reinforces the capitalist exploitation of environmental resources but also obscures the systemic contradictions inherent in climate capitalism.
The article argues that CE’s appeal is embedded in its capacity to provide a fantasy of sustainability, offering planners and policymakers a sense of professional gratification and political kudos while avoiding the structural changes necessary for transformative environmental action. By recycling waste into commodities and framing this process as progress, CE perpetuates the illusion of sustainability without addressing the root causes of environmental degradation.
Through critical discourse analysis, the article interrogates the global proliferation of CE concepts such as circular cities and urban circularity, highlighting their role in shaping technocratic solutions that prioritise economic competitiveness and city branding. Case studies of urban policies underscore the contradictions of these approaches, where aspirations for circularity often depend on unsustainable practices of resource extraction and waste management.
The findings urge a re-evaluation of CE’s theoretical and practical implications, emphasising the need to challenge its integration into climate capitalism. While CE holds promise as a conceptual framework, its implementation within the current economic paradigm risks exacerbating ecological crises rather than mitigating them. The article concludes by advocating for a critical reassessment of the political and ideological dimensions of CE in planning, calling for a shift from market-driven solutions to approaches that address the systemic drivers of environmental harm.
This research contributes to the growing body of critical scholarship on CE and climate capitalism by providing a nuanced understanding of how environmental discourses are appropriated to sustain economic growth. It also offers theoretical insights into the role of empty signifiers in planning, emphasising the importance of exposing and resisting the commodification of environmental challenges in pursuit of meaningful and equitable climate solutions.
| Keywords | Climate capitalism; Circular Economy; Political Discourse Theory; Commodification; Surplus-value; Surplus-enjoyment |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
