Realizing a circular built environment: awareness and use of policy instruments at the local level

In recent years, the circular economy for the built environment (CEBE) has emerged as a solution for creating low-carbon built environments. This has led to the development of various policy instruments at different levels of European governance. Although ambitious CEBE targets have been established at the EU and national levels, it remains unclear how these targets are implemented at the local level and translated into policy actions that promote circular transformation. This article assesses local stakeholders' awareness of and use of CEBE policy instruments in two European urban regions in France and the Netherlands. The analysis draws on a categorization of policy instruments across governance levels, complemented with 17 interviews and a survey. Respondents included governmental representatives at the local and regional level, construction firms, developers, urban planning companies, consulting companies specialized in sustainable construction and social housing corporations. The findings reveal a gap between ambitious European and national policies and local stakeholders' limited awareness of available instruments. Local stakeholders mainly know about regulatory and soft instruments, especially when they directly affect their local practices. Local stakeholders are proactive in building networks and performing pilots. We conclude with recommendations to link local pilot projects and experiences to higher-level governance frameworks to improve policy coherence and scale up or replicate successful pilots. • Local stakeholders show an awareness gap about circular economy policy instruments. • Stakeholders' awareness increases with the proximity of policy instruments. • Metropolitan stakeholders are very proactive in building networks and piloting. • Barriers lie in local network structures and policy instruments' complexity. • Vertical and horizontal brokered networks could mitigate the awareness gap.