The Circles Project: Making Cities Better Places to Live
We are a research association, collaborating across a number of universities, cities and international organizations. Our aim is to make cities better places to live by developing and applying the Circles approach.
The Circles Project is convened by the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University, Sydney, and the Berlin Senate Chancellory. It is associated with Metropolis, the World Association of Major Metropolises. But its base is much broader. It is a collaborative network of colleagues and associates who have been working together in various capacities since 2007 to contribute practically and theoretically to a more sustainable planet.
Circles of Sustainability is a method that originally developed through collaboration between Metropolis, the UN Global Compact Cities Programme, the Senate Chancellery for the Governing Mayor of Berlin, and other organizations such as the Cultural Development Network, and World Vision.
We live in a world with increasing pressures of global climate change, globalization, urbanization, and intensifying social change. Hence, the method is used for handling the complex processes of assessing sustainability and for managing projects for socially sustainable outcomes. This means that the method is intended to handle seemingly intractable problems.
It seems that the more complex the problem, the less that contemporary approaches are useful. In response, we need more sophisticated and subtle approaches for acting upon sustainability issues. ‘Sustainability’ is in danger of becoming an empty phrase. Circles of Sustainability provides a possible way out of these limitations. In short, the Circles approach is intended to make cities better places to live.
Organizational Groups
Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University
Paul James (Co-convenor), Liam Magee (Co-convenor), Juan Francisco Salazar, Jakki Mann (Project Manager), Tim Ström, and Jessica Weir.
Berlin Senate Chancellory
Thomas Honeck (Convenor) and Camille Toggenburger.
Critical Reference Group
Principals
Paul James, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University, Australia
Liam Magee, Institute of Culture and Society, Western Sydney University, Australia
Barbara Berninger, Head of the Division EU and International Affairs, Berlin, Germany, and Regional Secretary Europe, Metropolis.
Arnaud Diemer, Observatoire des Représentations du Développement Durable (OR2D), Université Clermont Auvergne, France
Juan Salazar, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University, Australia
Tim Ström, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University, Australia
Global Associates
Michael Abraham, Berlin, Germany
Malcolm Borg, Director, Heritage Enterprise, Zejtun, Malta
Corrine Cash, Waterloo, Canada
Federico Cugurullo, University of Manchester, United Kingdom
Sunil Dubey, Metropolis Country Director, India
Thomas Honeck, Berlin, Germany
Elizabeth Kath, Director of Communications, Global Reconciliation, Australia
Kathy McConell, Co-ordinator, Food Alliance, Australia
Giulia Maci, Co-founder, Urbego, Copenhagen, Denmark
Jakki Mann, Circles Project Manager, Melbourne, Australia
Ramon Marrades, Co-founder, Urbego, Valencia, Spain
Michele Melchiorri, Consultant at United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, Milan, Italy
Harald B. Ramm, Berlin, Germany
Annalotta Roos, Gothenburg, Sweden
Nick Rose, National Coordinator of the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance, Australia
Charlene Sequeira, Indian Network on Ethics and Climate Change, India
John Smithies, Director, Cultural Development Network, Melbourne, Australia
Tamara Stenn, SIT Graduate Institute, Vermont, United States
Camille Toggenburger, Project Officer, Policy Transfer Platform, Berlin, Germany
Ulrich Graute, UN Habitat, Nairobi, Kenya
Hebe Verrest, AISSR, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Linda Williams, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
Global Advisors
Ien Ang, Professor of Cultural Studies, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University, Australia
Eduardo Manoel Araujo, Curitiba, Brazil
Mahmoud El Burai, Director of Dubai Real Estate Institute, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Peter Christoff, Resource Management and Geography, University of Melbourne, Australia
Robyn Eckersley, Professor of Environmental Politics, University of Melbourne, Australia
Brendan Gleeson, Director, Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, University of Melbourne, Australia
Paul Komesaroff, Professor of Medicine, Monash University, Australia
Stephanie Trigg, Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor, University of Melbourne, Australia
Jagan Shah, Director, National Institute of Urban Affairs, India
Andy Scerri, Virginia Tech, United States
Manfred Steger, Professor of Sociology, University of Hawaii, United States
John Wiseman, Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, University of Melbourne, Australia
Nicholas You, Founder, UN-Habitat World Urban Campaign Steering Committee, Nairobi, Kenya