 Good morning, everyone. Thank you for being here and for having the patience to listen to all of us so I Think what is very important? I'm a Nariya Casabella. I already explained. I'm a principal at an architecture and Urbanism office called 1010 and I'm also teaching at the Faculty of Architecture And I find these two activities extremely complementary and Reaching each other but to start with with the title tinkering with our metabolism in your urban design and planning practice Yes, it's like You don't really know what you're doing. Actually. You are getting inspired by the work of Aristide but also of Circle economy we saw today by all the consultancy like a metabolic But you are not really aware of how far or in which way you can manipulate Integrate all these notions in our design The why we work with We would call it an urban metabolic approach. I mean I rather call it a systemic approach to territories because we wanted to shift the focus from a Purely reproductive vision of our built environment into a more productive idea of it Which is being articulated around flows and spaces and actors The second question that moves our kind of interest or motivates our interest for our metabolism Is because we want to leave to a certain extent the Urban supremacy behind so this way of looking into the landscape that is very much a human center and it's not really taking into account the complexity of Ecological assemblages that can be there and the third question we were Interested by in our metabolic approach was this enhancing collaboration this idea that if you want to transition to move into a different way of Producing and consuming you cannot do it alone, but you need to collaborate and Kind of build up a practice that is very much based on working with others So the work I'm going to be presenting here is very much Yeah, what I still was referring to as the industrial ecology perspective We've been working in many different commissions Like yeah water landscape in the southern part of Brussels or another industrial landscape in the northern part of Brussels We all also have developed projects around urban agriculture or large-scale agriculture, but here I chose to present a project that is a urban based and based specifically around port economies or economies that take place in Old port areas in cities So the the title of the project and also the context of the project is what do you need? So we answered a call by the international architecture biennial of Rotterdam asking to improve or trigger the Circularization of an urban development that was planned in this old port area Which is made of a few heavens is kind of an old urban port in Rotterdam That because the port is continuously upscaling and moving closer to the sea is to a certain extent Leave left behind So the question was how can you improve the circularization of this territory? How can you improve the? circularity dimension of area development And then we started answering this question this demand by saying, okay, this is a context sorry By asking ourselves, okay What we find nowadays is that there is a kind of a clash or a big contradiction or a gap You could also say it between the policy based or oriented visions of circularity and what happens actually on the ground so in a way We read a lot about policy documents and policy ambitions that are Kind of oriented towards or ambition in Further circularization of certain territories or industries, but actually the actors that Would be very much in charge of this transition this change are a bit left behind They are not sufficiently Organized they don't sometimes they lack the technical Capabilities in order to move forward They are disconnected from these policy visions. They are not sufficiently integrated into this conversation around policymaking so what we propose first We were gonna work from the place on so this was very much our Ambition to say, okay, this is a kind of an orphaned Port an urban Port area which has been in the meantime Colonized by many other activities that are not just exclusively Linked to to the port so we wanted to explore first of all The diversity of activities of industries of actors that were Locating there and why there exactly Understanding that this Kind of port areas are very much a pin on a network. Yeah, this is something that is gonna come afterwards, so we wanted to explore which kind of companies or Activities were taking place already on the side and also Inquiry the actors And for doing that we used The idea of inquiring them about three stories and a dream the three stories I think I have them here. The three stories were about Yeah Where are they in their industrial cycle are they growing are they shrinking? Do they want to grow? Which kind of circularity practices they already have implemented in the way of operating and Which kind of a spatial needs because we are I insist very much working from the spatial impact of the circularity and Fourth, what is the dream? What kind of a dream do they have about the future of the company? but also How can they translate this dream into a more circular approach in working with Yeah materials energy But also transport or the stocks they are using at the moment And then we were so I'm gonna skip this one. So just to The speed up and then next to this Kind of inquiry we did with it around 40 interviews with the local actors But actors that were not just limited to this study area But also working in the surroundings So we had to also buy interviewing a first selection of factors of around 15 actors We realized to which extent their activities were Connected to a wider network that was covering the whole of the Rotterdam region So we were forced to kind of enlarge especially our study area and then Coincidentally and that was a very nice coincidence metabolic was making a Metabolic scan of the city of Rotterdam and we had access to their kind of Overall analysis of the flows and the importance of certain flows. So this was an Unvaluable source of information for us to decide which kind of flows were more important in order to be Twicket on within the area of the Medvedevir haven't said to say, okay, there's the organic flow There is the consumer consumer items flow. There is the construction and demolition materials flow But okay, which one of all these flows that are being analyzed in the study of metabolic makes sense to be Tweaked or manipulated at the scale of Medvedevir haven't so we came down to three flows based also on the actors We could interview And one was the organic waste flow The other one was the construction demolition material flow and the last one was the textile Because we discovered that the amount of textile waste that is being dispatched from Rotterdam To the world and mostly to southern African countries is as big as the inflow of textile of the whole city So we were kind of amazed by this kind of these queries, okay, and then of course energy energy was kind of Undercurrent that was Percolating through our whole study the second thing we did but maybe I'm gonna just show you before I forget Yeah, I didn't bring the passport. No Sorry, I was looking because they from the interviews. I thought I had yes Sorry to be a bit Disorganized but I was explaining we did a series of interviews and what we try to do is to Translate the contents of these interviews in what we call a circular passport. So we made a passport for every one of the companies we Interviewed in which we kind of what you see here is a bit We made a small description where they are physically Located and then the kind of physical needs circular ambitions But this was extremely important in order to communicate to other actors as well So while we were interviewing actors also located outside Medi here haven't to show them what the other companies were busy with Okay, so As I explained in the beginning our ambition or the question that was put on our plate was how can we? Further circularity within this Area of matter if you haven't and of course the first thing we thought is thinking very much from the point of view of architects is that you need to Create facilities That would put all these actors together that would help them to collaborate to know from each other which kind of Secondary flows they are working with or there would be interested in and these facilities what we call facilities We said okay depending on the level of ambition of the city and the port, but also of the international Biennial About circularity and how to develop it especially you could have a Kind of facilities or the creation of facilities that are considered like a quick be wins or seats and these quick wins Starting from the interviews we made with the actors could be from enlarging The storage space or creating shirt the storage facilities because suddenly for instance when you are dealing with Organic waste you have a bigger amount of a bigger volume of organic waste and you cannot handle it Because you don't have enough space to handle it, but this volume is not a continuous volume So you need a kind of buffer space you can use in order to Locate it or accommodate it, but also this could be one but also could be about a logistical rambola So a space where you can break down the goods In entering the city into a smaller package packages and by breaking these down You can maybe Customize them or add value locally to this product So some of the interventions or these facilities could be rather quick To implement some of them Would rather consolidate or entrench some of the Dynamics we discover on site circular dynamics So for instance a link to the three flows we focus on we talked about Be a hub so a be a hub where companies like room collect or subu So two companies that are locally based and that are currently collecting most of the organic waste that is being generated in Rotterdam and companies furthermore who try to use the secondary flows and Desserts without mixing them up in order to be able to generate products that are having Higer other value for instance from the pulp of mangoes that are entering the the harbor There are so go is creating new textiles or a room collect is developing a specific Digestate that can be used in the production of bio bio plastics So but we thought okay. It's interesting to have a bio hub facility in which all these companies that are experimenting with Bio waste could locate and be working under the same environmental permit But also could share some facilities like a lab or or a storage space so on so forth Textile refinery same thing material bank same thing. I mean, I'm not gonna start explaining all these things because it will take us the whole money, but The second thing we did was okay So we need to add or create or identify what are the actual needs of the actors Operating on site, but at the same time there was a plan a master plan that was made by Delva landscape again I think next time you should invite Delva In order to explain what they do so they were developing a master plan that was absolutely not that was in a way totally ignoring the kind of economic or Dynamics or circular dynamics that were existing in the area So in a way or work at a certain moment consisted on analyzing this special plan and coming up with Interventions that would have adapt this you would say a normal waterfront development of a port area with a lot of housing to answer and Create place for the existing companies that were operating locally After the identification of the facilities And the the flows we organize a series of talks with actors or representatives of these major three major flows so textile construction and demolition materials and Bio waste in order to dive into more concretely in what into what their needs were and We also discuss with them what we called a flow charts They are not really this material nice material Diagrams that metabolic and circular circular economy showed us this morning But they what our ambition was was okay We are gonna look into the flow for instance organic waste again And look at the companies that are locally based or within the network of the companies that are locally based In which part they are active and discover what are the missing links in the in the flow chart so in which way these facilities could become a Improvement to the existing situation so to have really Intervened in this missing or in this gap. So this is what we did here you see the companies that are already active on on site and the missing links and next to that we also started to think about the labor that is behind this secularization of the economy so the can of Expertises or crafts that you need in order to bring about this change because by talking to all these Local firms what we discovered is that not only They I mean the kind of activities they develop require Highly skilled workforce, but also what they saw is that maybe some of these Professionals were still missing in the way they were organizing their Supply chain or value chain. So this is also what we did is to identify within every one of the flows which kind of Professions could be created also as a way of raising awareness of this type of economy that is very urban Here is just a model of of the some of the pilot projects we developed so we develop as I was explaining these bio waste Hub material bank for the construction and demolition Materials and here textile refinery so there were pilot projects that I insist were discussed with With the actors in three different working sessions Here is a general map of the area in which these pilot projects are located here the construction material bank here the textile refinery and there the biohub of course this map is enters into a profound Discrepancy with the master plan that is happening at the moment This is an image of the exhibition there in the middle You can see the three pilot projects that were developed Exhibited These are some Images of the different workshops we organized in these workshops We also collected the the kind of products or residual flows that are existing locally in order to show it To the to the public into this exhibition that is open to everyone But also as a kind of a material starting question in order to discuss with the local actors about the future And then for instance in the agri-food so the bio waste Hub They were all saying there are already incubators in the area. There is a lot of innovation There is a lot of creativity, but actually what we need is The possibility of growing into into that so upscaling that was a very clear Demand of the company so for instance Alexander Princeton is a company behind a company that is specialized in the creation of cleansing products based on Citric waste Another of the kind of working sessions we organized was the construction of material and Sorry the Construction and demolition material and then we of course had people around the table Local actors like the bow Academy, which is a kind of a company that is based in Marifid heavens Which is salvaging a material from the rest of the city But also training people in order to dismantle Elements that come from the demolition sites for instance but also learning how to reuse all these materials and the but also the The the main actors in the construction sector in in In the Netherlands and then we have a quote by Elmar who is sitting here around Elmar Williams In which he is kind of claiming there is a lot of there are a lot of things happening already on the smaller scale So we have bow Academy, but also Birmann for instance BC in Marifid heavens But we need to upscale this solution. So it was very much about again upscaling growing and the third and last Workshop we organized was about the textile and there the conclusions were somehow Surprising because it was the conclusion to which we arrive is okay You need to go beyond the material recycling of a textile so they can See when workshops you find in the area that are customizing all these Textile secondary flow and you need to move into the real question, which is about The acrylic or artificial fibers so that we need to maybe think of a possible collaboration with a petrochemical sector that is settled down in the Rotten port in order to start thinking of how to recycle all these pet bottles and order plastics into a acrylic textile So the result of all these trajectory was a series consisted of a series of recommendations that were articulated Into three documents one was about the opportunity map So within the existing area what kind of special opportunities you can identify a coalition Map so which kind of actors you need to put together in order to further circularity locally and a road map in order to explain to the City of Rotterdam who was commissioning also this study and the port of Rotterdam how they could move Forward and then all that was synthesized in an action Plan in which you see already that depending on the on the floor you are dealing with so agri-food construction material and textile the type of Intervention of the type of steering action that all these policy Actors should be playing it's totally different. So for instance for the agri-food is really about the scaling up So the role of the municipality and order actors in the circular economy should be to rather to facilitate What is already happening in the case of the construction and the munitions sector is that the role would be rather that of an Accelerator so because there are enormous amount of initiatives in all scales in all construction materials So you just need to accelerate that in order to put all these good vibes together And in the textile it was rather the role of a researcher developers You really need to study. What is the actual opportunities linked to this to this flow? Locally and then yes, I'm with that. I'm gonna finish So this was the water and then the how we were talking about Yeah, three possible. So we were talking about the importance of having someone who would be curating the whole circularization process locally and Someone who could Yeah, okay, doesn't matter who could be whose work could be organized throughout three different documents so a Document which is a charter in which you would put all the actors together and define together what kind of ambitions exist then a business Principle which is kind of working out which kind of business models business models could be Develop locally and then the last one is the operational Manual is to say, okay, which kind of concrete actions do we need to set up put up into place in order to act at this civilization I Just wanted. Yeah, this is an image of a different project We kept to we kept on working around Port areas thanks to the Commission by Ovan we were for the last year busy with studying Circular city port or circularity in Orban port areas and this is a bit the result of of of this exploration, which was an exploration Commission And is to say what we learn very much from these exercise in Muriff year heavens is that Circularity and circular economy as a kind of application direct application of an urban metabolic analysis of the flows Going traversing an urban system is very much based on a collaboration as I was explaining and collaboration is not just among the different actors, but also among different Places that are endowed or endowed with different qualities and different possibilities So what we discovered very strongly in the Muriff year heavens is that because of its position between Big industrial port and the city these opened up a lot of new possibilities that for instance a port like Russell does not have so this kind of Brought us into the definition of a kind of a port Ecosystem in which you need a series of very different building blocks that are gonna interact and build together This circular ambition, and I think this is all