Course content:

A linear economy extracts resources at increasing rates – currently humanity uses resources that would require 1,5 Planet Earths to keep up each year – without consideration of the environment in which it operates. The concept of the circular economy promises a way out. Here products do not become waste. The circular economy promises to keep products and goods at their highest utility and value at all times and is restorative and regenerative by design. The course covers a range of critical questions from conceptual and practical perspectives: What is the relationship between the circular economy and growth? Who (business leaders, industrial designers, NGOs, social entrepreneurs, etc.) venture into the spaces of circular economy? What might their business models look like? How is environmental impact of production and consumption measured and assessed? And ultimately, does circular economy create value and prosperity for the current generation that is not at the expense of the opportunities for future generations?

 

Course structure:

The course consist of three parts:
Part I: ECOLOGY & ECONOMY
In this introductory part of the class, we shall discuss ways of questioning the relationships between classical market economies and ideas about unlimited growth on one hand and the natural environment and ideas about finite resources and planetary boundaries on the other hand. We shall also address how to use the core concepts from this class in the design of methodologies for students’ choice of case materials/object biographies. 

Part II: VALUATIONS of the CIRCULAR
This second part of the class shall interrogate challenges for circular goods by way of thinking through the value and valuation of materials.

PART III: GOVERNING CIRCULARITY
This last part of the class addresses sites, modes and objects of governance with the rationale to achieve transitions/transformations.

 

For the preliminary assignment you can choose between two options:

1) Watching the world’s first feature-length documentary film on the circular economy Closing the Loop, released on 22 April 2018 (Earth Day). Free open-access viewing on YouTube:
http://www.closingtheloopfilm.com/
Begin to think about your favorite circular product or service and present it in class.

 

2) "In the heart of the great Pacific, a story is taking place that may change the way you see everything"; is the pitch for a 1:37:45 long-documentary-film available as a free public artwork. If you can't afford so much of your time, kindly watch the 3-minute trailer here:
https://www.albatrossthefilm.com/

 

After watching the teaser/film, check out Dell's initiative to clean up the oceans entitled "Breaking Cycles" and present in the first class how Dell's intervention fits the idea of circular economy.
https://www.dell.com/learn/dm/en/dmcorp1/corp-comm/ocean-plastics

 

Class 1: Introduction: Getting in and out of the Loop
Class 2: Defining the Circular: Butterflies, Cradles and Doughnut Economics
Class 3: Circular Clusters: Where does a Circle begin?
Class 4: How to Study Circularity?
Class 5: Measuring Circularity: How to Distinguish Goods from Bads?
Class 6: Marketing Circularity: How to design markets for collective concerns?

 

Feedback activity: Term paper proposals for a "circular object biography" are evaluated, revised and returned.

 

Class 7: From linear to circular: Governing Transitions
Class 8: Governing the Oikos
Class 9: Governing the Oceans
Class 10: Green Governmentality
Class 11: A World without Waste?

Preliminary Assignment: To help students get maximum value from ISUP courses, instructors provide a reading or a small number of readings or video clips to be read or viewed before the start of classes with a related task scheduled for class 1 in order to 'jump-start' the learning process.

 

Course timetable is available on https://www.cbs.dk/uddannelse/international-summer-university-programme-isup/courses-and-exams

 

We reserve the right to cancel the course if we do not get enough applications. This will be communicated on https://www.cbs.dk/uddannelse/international-summer-university-programme-isup/courses-and-exams in March 2021.