Circular Grassroots Webinar Series

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The Circular Grassroots project convenes a series of four webinars focusing on (1) metabolic contributions, (2) environmental conflicts and contestation, (3) value creation beyond monetary valuation, and (4) spatial governance regimes associated with grassroots initiatives for just post-growth cities. 

The webinar series brings together insights from the Circular Grassroots research project, funded by the Driving Urban Transitions (DUT) programme, alongside perspectives from grassroots activists, municipal officers, politicians, and leading researchers in the field. Contributions draw on experiences from four European frontrunner cities—Amsterdam, Barcelona, Nantes, and Gothenburg—while also engaging a broader range of voices and expertise. 

Participation in the webinars is open to researchers, grassroots practitioners, and municipal decision-makers with an interest in circular urban economies, post-growth transitions, and innovative governance arrangements. 

Each webinar is 1 1/2 hours, on zoom, and feature presentations from researchers and practioners, discussants and panel discussions, and a final section where the discussion is based on questions from the audience.

Webinar 1: Grassroots metabolisms

Monday 2nd February 2026, 15-16.30 CET
https://gu-se.zoom.us/j/9638882020 

The notion of social metabolism is quite well known in ecological economics, and is of extreme relevance for the circular economy.  It can be applied for biotic and abiotic materials, and for different spatial scales and domains, such as the urban or the agrarian. Grassroots actors and initiatives contribute to make the circular economy more efficient.  This webinar presents three cases of grassroots metabolisms, looking at waste pickers, natural spaces and human-shaped agroecosystems. It shows how the circular economy cannot be apolitical as it is embedded by actors who can be superexploited paperless migrants, while exposing the theoretical and ethical limitations of an anthropocentric approach. In turn, it proposes how a historical perspective can underscore this fact with the example of how, if a circular metabolism is needed, then working with nature can allow it, and the evidence can be found in the past. 

Panellists:
Daniele Vico, University of Barcelona.  The contribution of Barcelona waste pickers to metal recycling in a context of capitalist super-exploitation. 
Daniela Perrotti, University of Louvain.  Circularity always happens in a multispecies space. Or why should we care of other-than-human life in sociometabolic accountings.  
Enric Tello, University of Barcelona.  What can we learn from agroecology on a closed-loop circular economy. A historical perspective 

Discussants: Jean-Baptiste Bahers, University of Nantes

Moderator: Claudio Cattaneo, University of Barcelona

Webinar 2: Environmental Conflicts and Grassroots Contestation

Book Launch Event: “Contested Waste: Environmental Conflicts and Waste Picker Resistance in the Global South”

Wednesday 26th, February 2026
14:00 CET (08:00 New York · 09:00/10:00 Uruguay · 18:00 India)
Zoom Webinar: https://gu-se.zoom.us/j/9638882020 

This webinar is a launch event of the book “Contested Waste: Environmental Conflicts and Waste Picker Resistance in the Global South” edited by Federico de Maria, Daniel Vico and Lucía Fernández. The book examines socio-environmental conflicts involving waste pickers in the Global South, uncovering the systemic injustices that underpin contemporary waste policies. Driven by the privatisation of waste management, these conflicts expose the “recycling paradox”: while waste pickers make critical, uncompensated contributions to sustainability, they are further excluded. This book analyses how modern waste policies marginalise waste pickers, triggering conflicts in cities across Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Drawing on over 70 conflicts documented in the Global Environmental Justice Atlas, the book explores how privatisation, incineration, and waste enclosures displace informal recyclers and worsen the sustainability crisis. These processes exemplify “Capital Accumulation by Dispossession,” as waste streams are enclosed and privatised, excluding waste pickers, and “Capital Accumulation by Contamination,” as environmental burdens are shifted onto marginalised communities. The book also showcases waste pickers’ resilience as they organise to fight for justice and equitable waste systems. 

Essential for scholars, policymakers, and activists in environmental justice, development, and urban studies, this book reveals the structural drivers of waste conflicts and the transformative power of grassroots resistance in shaping sustainable and inclusive urban futures.

Panellists/Editors:
Federico Demaria, University of Barcelona
Daniele Vico (University of Barcelona, former ILO
Lucía Fernández Gabard, WIEGO

Discussants:
Nohra Padilla, National Association of Recyclers, Colombia
Manisha Anantharaman, Sciences Po, Paris
Casper Edmondsm, ILO

Moderator: 
Federico Parra, WIEGO, Colombia

Webinar 3: What Gets Valued? Circular Grassroots Beyond Monetary Value

Monday, 2nd March 2026, 15.30-17.00 CET
Zoom Webinar: https://gu-se.zoom.us/j/9638882020 

Grassroots initiatives for sustainability, such as food-saving and repair movements, play a crucial role in advancing more just urban transformations. Beyond their environmental contributions, these initiatives generate forms of value that are central to the urban fabric, strengthening social capital, agency and empowerment, skills and knowledge development, creativity, care, wellbeing, and environmental awareness. 

This webinar explores the diversity of values produced by urban grassroots initiatives, how these values are distributed among participants, and why making them visible matters for public recognition, institutional support, and governance. It also critically examines what is gained, and what is lost, when grassroots initiatives are narrowly assessed or questioned through monetary valuation. 

Panellists:
Ulrika Holmberg, Centre for Consumption Research. School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg
Blanca Callén, Department of Social Psycology, Autonomous University of Barcelona)

Discussants:
Bruno Chies, Activist, Solidarity Fridge, Sweden 
Claudio Cattaneo, Researcher, University of Barcelona 
Diana Ghinea, Politician, Green Party, City of Gothenburg 

Moderator: María José Zapata Campos, School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg

Webinar 4:  Grassroots Practices and Spatial Governance

Monday 23rd March 2026, 12.00-13.30 CET
Place: Zoom https://gu-se.zoom.us/j/9638882020

Circular grassroots initiatives play a critical role in enabling just post-growth transitions in cities and in advancing genuinely circular urban economies. These initiatives are often highly resourceful and resilient, creating value from what is otherwise considered waste, while operating with minimal financial and material resources. Despite their contributions, grassroots initiatives frequently face significant challenges in accessing and securing space, which is often obtained through temporary or negotiated arrangements with local governments and other stakeholders.

In response, new models for accessing, managing, and governing grassroots spaces are emerging across European cities. This webinar explores these evolving regimes of spatial governance, ranging from simple and transitional arrangements to more sophisticated and long-term models. It critically examines what is required for local governments to relinquish control while effectively supporting grassroots initiatives without co-opting them. 

Key questions addressed include:
- What resources are necessary to support grassroots spatial governance (e.g. knowledge, funding, time, staffing, and physical space)?
- What conditions and criteria shape access to space?
- Which control mechanisms and transparency guarantees are needed to ensure accountability?
- What barriers hinder grassroots initiatives from assuming responsibility for facilities?
-What roles do intermediaries play in enabling and sustaining these governance arrangements?

Panellists: 
Daniel Pardo, Caixa d'Eines i Feines, Barcelona
Álvaro Porro Gonzales, Barcelona Activa
To be announced, Göteborg's platform for social sustainability
Nantes initiative, to be announced

Discussant:
Federico Savini, University of Amsterdam

Moderators:
Blanca Callén, Department of Social Psycology, Autonomous University of Barcelona
Patrik Zapata, School of Public Administration, University of Gothenburg

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