Circular Regeneration (architectural assets and urban space), focusing on urban regeneration and the long-term transformation of existing urban assets and heritage sites

This track addresses circular regeneration as a key paradigm for urban transformation beyond linear growth, demolition, and replacement models. It focuses on how circularity reorients urban development toward the long-term regeneration of existing buildings, heritage, urban spaces, and infrastructures, emphasizing continuity, adaptability, and the capacity of urban systems to evolve over time (Fusco Girard & Gravagnuolo, 2017; 2019; Gravagnuolo et Al., 2019; Scaffidi, 2019).

Circular regeneration is understood not only in terms of material efficiency or environmental performance, but as a spatial and socio-economic process that activates new forms of value within existing urban fabrics (Marin & Meulder, 2018; Pintossi, & Brocato, 2021; Schröder et al., 2023). Contributions may explore how adaptive, incremental, and regenerative strategies enable the trans- formation of underused or obsolete spaces into platforms for social and economic innovation, supporting new forms of entrepreneurship, collective use, and local production.

The track invites critical reflections on circularity as an open-ended process, in which urban transfor- mation is shaped by changing actors, practices, and governance arrangements. Design-based research, empirical studies, and practice-led contributions are particularly encouraged to reflect on how circular regeneration redefines urban value, resilience, and territorial development across different contexts and scales.

Circular Constellation (actors, entrepreneurship and urban networks), addres- sing social entrepreneurship, creative practices, recycling-based activities, and bio-based economic models

This track addresses circular urban transformation through the lens of networks, actor constella- tions, and innovation processes, with a specific focus on social entrepreneurship, creative practices, recycling-based activities, and bio-based economic models (Carta, 2007; Carta et Al., 2017; Scaffidi, 2024). It explores how circular design and regeneration are enabled by the interac- tion between public, private, civic, and hybrid actors operating across sectors, scales, and territo- ries (Hossain et Al., 2020; Calzati & De Regibus, 2021).

Circularity is understood here as a relational, socio-economic, and entrepreneurial process, in which value is generated through cooperation, knowledge exchange, and new forms of creative, social, and bio-based entrepreneurship (Carta et Al., 2017; Matei & Matei, 2012; Dorobantu & Matei, 2015; Scaffidi et Al., 2024). Contributions may examine how social innovation, social enter- prises, creative industries, recycling-oriented initiatives, and bio-based ventures contribute to circular regeneration by activating local networks, building urban value chains, and fostering inclusive, place-based, and sustainability-oriented innovation.

The track invites critical reflections on how urban networks and entrepreneurial ecosystems shape circular transformation over time, paying particular attention to the role of intermediaries, grass- roots initiatives, community-led enterprises, and institutional actors. Contributions are encoura- ged to analyse how diverse actor constellations support resilient, adaptive, and socially embed- ded forms of urban transformation, especially through creative reuse, circular production, and bio-based practices across different territorial contexts.

Circular Processes (engagement, governance and urban strategies), exploring governance frameworks, participation, and the critical dimensions of circular urban transformation.

This track focuses on governance as a central and contested dimension of circular urban transfor- mation. It investigates how circular approaches both challenge and expose the limits of conventi- onal planning, regulatory, and management models, calling for more adaptive, collaborative, and participatory governance frameworks capable of supporting long-term regeneration processes (D’Alessandro et al., 2020; Fratini et al., 2019; Marin & De Meulder, 2018, Savini, 2019).

At the same time, the track explicitly addresses the critical dimensions of circularity, including risks of selective implementation, and the gap between circular narratives and actual transforma- tion drivers (Williams, 2019; Savini, 2025). Circular governance is framed as a dynamic, experi- mental, and often fragile process, one that reconfigures institutional roles, decision-making mechanisms, and power relations, while also revealing tensions between innovation and regulati- on, flexibility and accountability, inclusion and control (Korhonen et al., 2018; Scaffidi, 2022, Savini, 2023).

Contributions may explore co-production practices, hybrid public–private–civic arrangements, and new forms of partnership, while critically assessing their capacity to genuinely enable social innovation, collective action, and shared responsibility for urban resources. Particular attention is encouraged towards governance failures, institutional inertia, uneven participation, and conflicts emerging from circular strategies.

The track welcomes contributions that critically examine how governance frameworks can both enable and constrain circular regeneration, addressing issues such as institutional learning, policy experimentation, regulatory lock-ins, and misalignments between design strategies and governan- ce structures. From this perspective, circularity extends beyond spatial and material considera- tions to become a governance practice whose promises, contradictions, and outcomes must be critically interrogated in the planning and transformation of contemporary cities.