Type of content*

Select whether the case is an article/report, business case or policy case.

You can select this according to which actor is mainly boosting the case study (experts, media, private sector, shops, cities...)

Article/Report: any knowledge and
expertise content, building the
evidence-base to support circular
transitions (e.g., a research initiative, a
journal article consisting of analysis or
insights, NGOs etc.). As the academic world has strict rules about plagiarism, make sure you put the link in the references when writing/paraphrasing some parts of an
academic article/report.

Business case: initiatives from the private
sector (e.g., a start-up that operates on a
circular business model, that has a take
back system for mobile phones etc.)

Policy case: municipal policies that are
directly linked to circular economy
activities (e.g., a circular action plan, a
regional tax break for recycling etc.)

Image

Upload an image of good quality that you
have permission to use (use Unsplash or
Flickr).

The image should represent as much as
possible your case (e.g., a relevant picture
taken in the city, a bike if the CS is about
bike sharing, or a simple picture of the city
at last)

Cases with images are more attractive and
memorable to readers, and therefore serve
as a bonus point to be approved.

Title*

Add a case study title. The title should
accurately represent the case, mentioning
the organisation, the strategy, and the
region as appropriate.

Organisation(s)*

Include all the actor(s) that were involved in the case study. There can be multiple
parties, especially for cases of industrial
symbiosis.

For policy cases, the organisation is a
municipality, regional or national
government.

Local governments must be labelled with
'Municipality of [name of the city]', while
regional or national governments as
'Government of [name]'

If two organisations cooperate, they must
be loaded separately, as they can also
undertake projects on their own (e.g., 'C40'
and 'Municipality of Amsterdam', not 'C40
and Municipality of Amsterdam')

You can type to search and select an
organisation that already exists on the
platform.
The option to add will have a '+' in the right
corner.

Location(s)

This is the location in which the case is
primarily operating. Usually this is a city, but it can also be a region or country. Please write in a location that is as close to the city
level as possible. For businesses, this is
usually the place where the business is
based.

To keep consistency and enable the
platform to know which city belongs to
which country you must choose a location
from our database. Type your location
name in the field and press 'Enter' to see
options from the GeoNames database.
The database covers all countries and most
cities of the world with a population of
30,000+. If the location that you are trying
to enter is not in the database try using a
nearby city.

You can specify one or several locations of
the case study.

Key elements of the circular economy*

This is our framework of the circular
economy. This is how we ensure that a case
study is indeed circular.

If you are struggling to assign a circular
strategy to your contribution this may be an
indication that you should ask yourself if the case study is really about the circular
economy. Check this page and its several
sub-sections to help you identify the most
relevant strategy.

We strongly suggest you pick the one key
element the case study refers the most to
(and its subsequent sub-elements).
Make sure to tick the main category
(Prioritise regenerative resource/Stretch the
lifetime etc.) before ticking the sub
categories.

Sustainable Development Goals*

In 2015, the Paris Agreement was signed. A
major blueprint came out of this: The
Sustainable Development Goals: 17
overarching goals-and 169 targets-that
governments are aiming to meet by 2030.

Significant progress has been made in terms of poverty, health and inequality, but there's still a way to go. This is where the circulareconomy comes in: by circulating resources multiple times, the circular economy tackles issues of scarcity and allows all to access what they need-without overburdening the earth.

If it's implemented in a holistic
way-affording attention to social
considerations and the fair distribution of
resources- it also offers a pathway for
achieving the SDGs; and the link between the
two is ever-growing. To read more about the
link between the SDGs and the circular
economy, click here.

Please select the SDG you think the case
study is aiming towards.

Summary*

In seconds, it provides the reader with an
overview. It gives the reader a good first idea
of what the case is about, whether it is
applicable to their situation and if the
solution attempted in the case is
implementable for them. It should be made
of a few sentences only, to inform the reader
on the topic in question, and stir their
curiosity, inspire them to look deeper into
the case.

A case study aims to tell a story: therefore, it
must have a beginning, middle and end, and
not be a patchwork of information randomly
stitched together. You should thus follow the
problem-solution-outcome narrative while
writing/editing.

Problem* (~5 lines)

The problem is explained in detail. The text either reflects on the impact of linear alternatives (e.g., the amount of
waste produced by conventional
construction materials, the state of the
circular economy in the sector you are
writing about) or on specific challenges of
the context in which the case takes place.

It details what problem this circular case study aims to solve. It's better if it directly relates to the case (i.e., a case about new insulation would address the specific problems of insulation materials rather than problems in construction overall).

Solution* (30 lines max)

The solution is explained in detail and
mentions the involved stakeholders and
scope of the solution. It explains how the
problem is solved.

This field outlines the case study itself (i.e.,
the approach and specific actions that were
taken).

It answers two questions: "What have the
actors done to address the challenges
previously identified?" and "What have the
actors done to make the economy more
circular?".

Ideally, it tells a qualitative story of how a
practitioner could improve their city or
business in the path that they have chosen.

Outcome* (5 to 10 lines max)

Outcomes are described in detail, show
critical assessment, and mention a way
forward and/or what has been learned from
the case. They clearly connect to other
sections.

This field must lay out the results of the actions taken, particularly regarding the
problems described above.

After reading this section, your reader should
know how this case helps them solve their
own challenges for which they came to the
tool. It's in this section that quantitative
impact figures and/or information should be
added (number of materials preserved,
mobile phones reused, jobs created, etc.).
This helps practitioners estimate their
benefits.

Additional info

Photo credit should be added in this section : 'Photo by ... on Unsplash/Flickr'.

Relevant links

Most cases are first published elsewhere.
Include the links to the readings you used to
write the case study. Most often, those will
be media reports, press releases from the
actors themselves, reports from notorious
organisations (e.g., the UN, OECD, etc.), or
the website of a participating organisation.
They must be uploaded to support the
writings of a case study, but also to provide
further resources. Sometimes, multiple
sources provide information about the same
case. A case study must link out to as many
sources as possible. It improves search
indexing and allows the reader to get a fuller
picture.

URLs should be as specific as possible. For
academic articles and reports, please make
sure that all links you used are available in
this section. In addition, you can refer to
these sources in the main text, (e.g., UNEP, 2016) and/or linking the sources.

Related articles on the Knowledge Hub

If you used some content from the
Knowledge Hub, include it in here.

Attachments

Attachments could be reports, images, or infographics related to the case study.

Impacts

Although multiple impacts can be chosen,
the main impacts that occur should be
marked.

As a guideline, ask yourself if you would
recommend the case to someone whose
main goal is to achieve impact X - if you
wouldn't, don't mark it.

Make sure to check the main category
(Economic impact/Social impact/Ecological
impact) before ticking the sub-categories.

Indicators

Please do not fill in anything in this section.

Industries

Add the industries related to your case study.

Make sure to tick the main sector
(Construction and Infrastructure/Materials
and Fuels etc.) before ticking the sub
categories.

Policies

Fill this out if governments (local, regional, national) are involved.

Make sure to tick the main action
(Regulate/Inform etc.) before ticking the sub
categories.

Tags

Add any additional tag words that would
help with findability (e.g., #biobased,
#foodwaste, #rental, #sharing etc.)