Edinburgh Napier University

  A critical management challenge is the move to circular design thinking. Moving away from the “take-make-consume-dispose” linear model of resource consumption (Rasi et al., 2023) to systems that are regenerative and restorative. This is necessary to not overshoot our ecological ceiling (a planetary pressure) to ensure humanity can thrive in a just and safe space (Raworth, 2018). We continue to produce waste that is not disposed of in an environmentally responsible way (Kazancoglu et al., 2021) and to take “virgin” raw materials without regard of many that are finite in nature. A circular economy and supply chains replace this linear thinking with closed-loop systems of material flows by merging a number of various operations, such as maintenance, repair, reuse, refurbishing, remanufacturing, and recycling (Mishra and Hopkinson, 2018). Value is recovered by continual re-use & re-manufacturing of parts/materials as opposed to recycling and energy recovery (Tura et al., 2019). This has two critical implications for systems thinking and communities. (1) We argue that the concept of circularity be grounded in systems ideas, theory, and practice and (2) it is in people and communities’ interest that human activity ought not to deplete resources available as common goods. An initial systematic literature review identified only a small number of contributions that discuss circularity from a systems lens with most contributions in Environment and Earth science and a limited amount in the management literature. Therefore, firstly we ask “What are the principles of circularity and how can systems theory help provide a conceptual basis for further development?” and secondly, with business, governments and communities themselves competing for resources such as clean water, rare earths, oil & gas etc., then “what are the consequences of depleting resources as a common good on often marginalised communities and the future of life on earth?”. This involves several complexities such as ownership, power structures and culture etc., that need to be reconciled upon reflection of boundaries. Further avenues for research are suggested to advance the concept of circularity as a systems concept and importance of the interdependence and impact of business systems with communities and nature.