Circular Communities: Learning from Global Practices using the Circular Value Flower

Authors

Els Leclercq
Design & Publics | Circular Community Foundation, The Netherlands
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0605-7123
Mo Smit
Department of Architectural Engineering + Technology, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology | Circular Community Foundation, The Netherlands
https://orcid.org/0009-0008-1380-0353
Fátima Delgado Medina
Delft Centre for Entrepreneurship, Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology | Circular Community Foundation, The Netherlands
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4348-6421

Keywords:

community, circular and regenerative entrepreneurship, multiple value creation, collaboration, design

Synopsis

From local action to global inspiration: how communities around the world are shaping a circular future through collective, relational, and regenerative entrepreneurial practices. Building on the first edition of Circular Communities (2022), this second edition explores culturally diverse and community-led approaches to circular resource stewardship. These examples demonstrate how communities generate ecological, cultural, social, aesthetic and financial value by collectively closing resource loops.

In their new book, urban designer Els Leclercq, architect Mo Smit and regenerative entrepreneurship expert Fátima Delgado Medina expand on the Circular Value Flower: a value-based, relational model developed to analyse, communicate and design circular practices. This enables a holistic environmental approach by linking communities with the (urban) landscape and wider eco-system through resource stewardship.

Written for communities, spatial designers, policymakers, researchers, and practitioners, this book offers insights and instruments with which to design, collaborate, and act - supporting global circular practices and allowing these to flourish, connect, and grow into valuable networks.

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Author Biographies

Els Leclercq, Design & Publics | Circular Community Foundation, The Netherlands

Els Leclercq is an urban designer, researcher and teacher with extensive experience in academic research projects and urban design. She is co-founder of Design & Publics, a research and design practice dedicated to collectively exploring transformations of societal systems. In het participatory action research, she investigates how diverse societal actors - particularly citizens and governmental bodies - can collaboratively design a sustainable, just, and inclusive built environment. She is also co-founder of the Circular Community Foundation, which empowers communities around the world to generate multiple value by co-designing interventions aimed at closing research loops. Els is an accomplished lecturer and speaker and is author of several published articles, blogs, and books.

Mo Smit, Department of Architectural Engineering + Technology, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology | Circular Community Foundation, The Netherlands

Mo Smit is an architect and academic at TU Delft specializing in landscape-based construction, bio-regional architecture and circular settlement design. Her focus stems from her education and research activities in Indonesia, where she explored community-based ecological settlements, vernacular heritage, and low-tech building methods. Mo mentors students in developing forward-thinking, (eco-)systemic design approaches, preparing them to contribute to a sustainable built environment and healthy building culture. Mo recently started PhD research into the Value of Landscape-based Construction, focusing on understanding the potential value of re-installing bio-regional value chains for hybrid timber (frame) housing construction. She is co-founder of the Circular Community Foundation and of Stichting Bouwtuin, a research-driven design & build collective.

Fátima Delgado Medina, Delft Centre for Entrepreneurship, Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology | Circular Community Foundation, The Netherlands

Fátima Delgado Medina is an Ecuadorian lecturer and researcher at TU Delft's Centre for Entrepreneurship. Since 2008, she has worked alongside Indigenous peoples, smallholder farmers, and grassroots and social enterprises across Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia, supporting community-led regenerative entrepreneurship practices. Her research explores decolonizing sustainability and entrepreneurship, climate action, circular communities, and decolonial participatory design, drawing on relational worldviews such as Sumak Kawsay, Ubuntu, and Tri Hita Karana to reimagine how value, land, and livelihoods are understood. She challenges Northern-centered narratives of entrepreneurship and innovation by centering the epistemologies, knowledge systems, and territorial practices of underrepresented communities.

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World map with the Circular Value Flower

Published

July 23, 2026

Data Availability Statement

Ethical constraints: Due to ethical concerns, supporting data cannot be made openly available. For further information about the data and conditions for access, see the reference list within the book.

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ISBN-13 (15)

978-94-6518-395-4

Publication date (01)

2026-07-23

How to Cite

Leclercq, E., Smit, M., & Delgado Medina, F. (2026). Circular Communities: Learning from Global Practices using the Circular Value Flower. TU Delft OPEN Books. https://doi.org/10.59490/mt.262