Project overview
From Niche to Centre - City Centres as Places of Circular Lifestyles
City centres have long been busy places where people meet, shop and consume. This started to change fast when the Corona pandemic and growing online trade forced many shops to close. The NiCE project re-vitalised fading city centres by making local trade and consumption more circular and sustainable. The partners developed innovative urban development approaches, which focus on the creation of multifunctional resource centres and on utilising empty spaces for circular offers.
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2,22m €
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Project Budget
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80%
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of the Budget is funded by ERDF
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8
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Countries
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9
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Regions
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9
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Partners
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4
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Pilots
Duration
Start date
End date
Project progress
About the project
Between 2023 and 2026, the NiCE project helped cities across Central Europe promote circular lifestyles through practical pilot actions, digital tools and policy recommendations.
The NiCE project addressed two key challenges: transforming city centres into places that make sustainable lifestyles easier for citizens while revitalising these areas through circular approaches. Throughout the project, partners worked to reshape consumption patterns by promoting more sustainable behaviours and supporting the transition towards a circular economy.
The project developed and tested educational, inspirational and knowledge-exchange formats for municipalities, regions, providers of alternative consumption services, citizen associations and policymakers. It also piloted innovative business models for re-use centres in partner cities and produced practical guidance to help local and regional authorities develop strategic frameworks that support circular consumption and more sustainable urban development.
Project partnership
Project partners
Lead partner
German Environment Agency
Department III 1 - Sustainable Products and Sustainable Consumption, Circular Economy
Address
Wörlitzer Platz 1 06844 Dessau-Roßlau
Country
Germany (DE) Web
http://www.umweltbundesamt.de/en
Project partner
Total partner budget
190,844 €
Total partner budget
267,509 €
Total partner budget
228,900 €
ENEA-SSPT (Department for Sustainability)
Total partner budget
192,169 €
Address
Innowacyjna 9/11 95-050 Konstantynów Łódzki
Country
Poland (PL) Web
https://www.proakademia.eu/en/
Total partner budget
242,617 €
BME Department of Environmental Economics and Sustainability
Address
Magyar tudósok körútja 2 H-1117 Budapest
Country
Hungary (HU) Web
http://www.bme.hu/?language=en
Total partner budget
247,943 €
Total partner budget
264,769 €
Total partner budget
200,000 €
Roadmap
1
OUR CHALLENGE
City centres are changing. Traditional retail and consumption patterns are under pressure, while more sustainable and circular alternatives are emerging. Many of these initiatives remain isolated or accessible only to a limited group of people.
NiCE addressed the gap between existing circular initiatives and everyday urban life. The project explored how cities can make circular lifestyles more visible, accessible and attractive, while supporting vibrant and sustainable city centres.
2
OUR VISION
NiCE promoted a shift towards more circular ways of living, including reuse, sharing, repair and more sustainable consumption. Through its pilots, tools and knowledge-exchange activities, the project explored and tested ways to make these practices easier to discover, access and adopt, while connecting sustainability with attractive and vibrant urban environments.
3
LEARNING FROM PRACTICE
Eight cities tested circular approaches in different urban contexts. Through idea competitions, multi-stakeholder cooperation and the active involvement of target groups, project partners worked closely with pilot cities in transnational tandems to design, implement and test four pilot actions in different settings:
1) Approaches to promoting the re-use of spaces in city centres for circular activities and services.
2) Implementation and operation of multifunctional Resource Centres under living lab conditions through the re-use of spaces in city centres.
3) Linking sustainable online commerce with city centres, for example through multifunctional micro hubs or retail as a service concepts.
4) Activating citizens to adopt circular lifestyles, including solutions for circular water management.
4
TURNING EXPERIENCE INTO TRANSFERABLE SOLUTIONS
The experience gained through the pilots was turned into practical knowledge that can be used beyond the individual cities.
NiCE captured lessons learned and transformed them into guidance, tools and resources that help other cities and organisations understand, adapt and apply circular approaches in their own context.
The project therefore moved from individual local experiments towards solutions with potential for wider transfer and uptake.
5
SHARING KNOWLEDGE & SUPPORTING UPTAKE
NiCE shared the knowledge, examples and experience generated by the project beyond the original pilot cities.
Through the pilots, online seminars, workshops, study visits and Virtual Exhibition, the project created opportunities for cities, organisations and other stakeholders to discover new circular approaches, exchange experiences and learn from the solutions tested by NiCE.
The project also supported dissemination and transfer, helping bring the results to wider audiences and encouraging other cities and organisations to explore how circular approaches could be adapted to their own local context.
6
WHAT REMAINS
NiCE has created a lasting pool of knowledge, tested approaches and practical resources for cities and organisations working towards more circular and sustainable urban centres.
Although the project has ended, its experience, tools and solutions remain available for further use, adaptation and transfer. The partnerships, local actions and new ways of thinking developed through NiCE can continue to support the transition towards circular lifestyles and more sustainable city centres.
News
Events
Pilot actions
Outputs
NiCE Strategy Framework to enable circular lifestyles in cities
Based on a) a joint assessment of existing political measures, action and development plans, strategies and programmes, b) good examples that support circular lifestyles in cities and c) our needs analysis findings, we have developed in transnational workshops a strategy framework for promotion and establishment of circular lifestyles in cities/ city centres. It provides guidance a guidance for local and regional public authorities.
In addition, the project partners developed a circular lifestyle Monitor Tool, which help to quickly analyse status quo, challenges, and potentials for circular lifestyle in cities. Hence, it complements the Strategy Framework. The Monitor Tool is designed for municipality departments specialising in strategic planning, environmental planning and city property management. It can also be used by NGOs and other specialised institutions. The tool enhances the community-based-planning in municipalities by the selection of target for circular lifestyle and definition of concrete measures, indicators.
Type of output: Strategies and action plans
View solution
NiCE Solution Box to establish circular lifestyles in cities
Our NiCE Solution Box supports establishing circular lifestyles at central places in cities and the re-use of local space and resources.
It is based on pilot experiences and the evaluation and comprises:
1) Methodology Kit on stakeholders' engagement in circular lifestyles. The Kit comprises the applied methods how to initiate a participartory process with local stakeholders to reactivate spaces for circular offers and how to engage local actors and citizens to change behaviour;
2) Guide: How to build, run and sustain a multifunctional resource centre;
3) A Guide about how to link sustainable e-commerce with city centres. This guide is for SMEs and municipalities to bring retail channels together for the benefit of all;
4) Circular Water Kit addressing water re-use and water saving in cities.
Type of output: Solutions
- Methodology Kit on Stakeholders Engagement
- How to Run a Multifunctional Resource Centre
- How to Link Sustainable E-Commerce with City Centres
- Circular Water Kit
NiCE Action Plans for promoting circular lifestyles
Based on our Strategy Framework and learnings from pilot experiences, we have jointly developed three local action plans with the cities Brzeg Dolny (PL), Dessau-Roßlau (DE) and Graz (AT).
In addition, we also developed a model action plan, which can be used by other cities to develop their own approaches.
The action plans support the uptake of NiCE solutions and provide practical guidance for cities seeking to develop more circular city centres by re-using local spaces and local resources for circular offers.
Type of output: Strategies and action plans
Project videos
Project documents
NiCE Policy Paper
Project images
NiCE
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Project on social media
Project contact
Dr Laura Spengler
Email: laura.spengler@uba.de