Circular approaches to urban water demand management: insights from a scoping review

This scoping review aims to investigate the contributions of the literature on the application of the circular economy in urban water demand management, identifying the primary characteristics of the published studies, such as geographical distribution, temporal evolution, thematic approaches, and areas of application. The search was conducted in the Scopus and Web of Science databases. The results indicate that the water circularity approach is an emerging field of study, with a limited but growing number of publications. There was a predominance of strategies focused on the reuse and recycling of wastewater, while actions to reduce consumption still appear less pronounced, revealing opportunities for advancement in future research. The results show that the direct integration between water circularity and the Sustainable Development Goals is established in the literature and that circular water demand management as an integrated strategy is gaining prominence in scientific research.