Transition to a Circular Pedagogy
La transizione verso una pedagogia circolare
Esoh Elamé
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Edile e Ambientale (ICEA), Università degli Studi di Padova (Italy) – esoh.elame@dicea.unipd.it
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1471-5923
Georgios Nikolaou
Department of Sciences of Education and Social Work, University of Patras (Greece) – gnikolaou@upatras.gr
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3460-1141
This paper constitutes the call for papers for the Volume 23, issue S2, of Formazione & insegnamento (ISSN 2279-7505). It serves as a placeholder and as the first version of record for the editorial. We invite all Authors to cite this journal entry in the bibliography of their full papers. Once the issue is ready, it will be replaced by the final version of the editorial, which will expand on the current text. Please see the full text (below) for all details.
Questo contributo costituisce la call for papers per il Volume 23, fascicolo S2 di Formazione & insegnamento (ISSN 2279-7505). Ha lo scopo di fare da segnaposto e di rappresentare la prima version of record dell’editoriale. Invitiamo tutti gli Autori a citare questo contributo nella bibliografia dei loro articoli completi. Una volta completato il fascicolo, questo testo sarà sostituito dalla versione finale dell’editoriale. Si prega di consultare il testo a seguire per tutti i dettagli.
Elamé, E., & Nikolaou, G. (2025). Transition to a Circular Pedagogy. Formazione & insegnamento, 23(S1), 8002. https://ojs.pensamultimedia.it/index.php/siref/article/view/8002
Circular pedagogy, European African Diaspora, Inclusive circular economy
Pedagogia circolare, Diaspora Africana in Europa, Economia circolare inclusiva
The Author declares no conflicts of interest pertaining to the scientific content and wording of this contribution. Being an editorial, this paper is not subject to double blind peer review.
The publication of the journal issue is supported by EurAdice (“European African Diaspora for an inclusive circular economy”), project No. 101102547 and funded under Call ESF-2022-SOC-INNOV (European Commission, European Social Fund). EurAdice is coordinated by the University of Padova.
February 27, 2025
February 28, 2025
February 28, 2025
June 30, 2025 (no papers accepted beyond this date)
The concept of the circular economy, whose origins date back to various schools of thought in the 1960s — a period of profound transformation — began to be developed conceptually by environmental economists Pearce and Turner in the 1980s. This notion goes beyond the simple recovery of waste and is now situated within an international context marked by growing mobilisation around climate change. ADEME defines the term as:
“An economic system of exchange and production which aims to increase efficiency in the use of resources and reduce our impact on the environment. It involves decoupling resource consumption from the growth of gross domestic product (GDP), while ensuring a reduction in environmental impacts and an increase in well-being” (ADEME, 2018, p. 2).
The circular economy, which continues to gain popularity, today represents a challenge to the dominant neoliberal economic model, better known as the linear economy, based on the tetralogy “extract, produce, consume, discard.” It questions the overexploitation of natural resources by the linear economy and likely represents a solution to address the Earth’s limited capacity to regenerate the resources necessary for human life, while seeking to minimise waste production as much as possible. There is now a global urgency to develop new methods of responsible production and consumption. Furthermore, the circular economy must not contribute to the hiding of issues linked to the remediation of polluted soils and the necessary extraction of hazardous waste from certain materials prior to their recovery.
Today, the circular economy is the subject of public policies, regulations, strategies, programmes and projects in numerous countries and international institutions. This includes the European Union, China, Japan, Chile, France, Brazil and Colombia, among others. On the conceptual and theoretical level, there is a growing body of literature on the circular economy. However, so far, there has been little discussion of the direct correlations between circular economy and migration, circular economy and human rights, or circular economy and dialogue between civilisations. Clearly, we are faced with a circular economy that must be interculturalised (Esoh Elamé, 2022). It is also worth noting that in recent years, literature has emerged on circular cities (Vialleix & Mariasine, 2019; Archambault & Hervet, 2020). Working on circular cities enables the redefinition of territorial organisational actions to make them sustainable human settlements.
The European Union has begun to organise itself to gradually implement its public policies in the field of the circular economy. It has become aware that economic growth and the depletion of natural resources must be systematically linked in order to preserve ecosystems. The transition from the linear to the circular economy involves both developing and industrialised countries.
African countries are rich in informal circular economy initiatives. These civic practices concern the circulation of materials and feed into the socio-spatial perspective of the transition towards an institutionalised circular economy. These are local and urban circular economy initiatives born from the social engineering of communities and their traditions, which at present are not dependent on state roadmaps or, even less, on local authorities. African countries struggle to formally appropriate the circular economy. There is a lack of dynamic exchange networks, which could resemble or give rise to “industrial symbioses” (Diemer, 2016).
It would therefore be appropriate to intensify efforts for collaboration and industrial cooperation between European and African companies in the field of the circular economy. Initiatives supporting circular economy efforts between Africa and the European Union are possible provided there is an effective public policy in this area, supported by committed and dynamic human capital. However, it must be acknowledged that many obstacles will inevitably arise along the path of transition for both Africa and the European Union towards a circular economy.
This call is part of the project “European African Diaspora for an inclusive circular economy,” acronym EurAdice, No. 101102547, Call: ESF-2022-SOC-INNOV, funded by the European Commission and coordinated by the University of Padova.
The aim of this call is to propose analyses that help better understand the challenges and opportunities of the circular economy in both EU and African countries. The conference highlights the progress made in recent years in conceptualising the circular economy in order to make it a true driver of change in the face of climate challenges. The various contributions should address the circular economy in Europe and Africa. The priority topics of this call are:
· Interculturalising circular thinking (the cultural and intercultural dimensions of the circular economy)
· The circular economy in the European Union: economic, social, environmental and cultural issues
· The circular economy in Africa: economic, social, environmental and cultural issues
· Migration and circular economy in Europe
· Circular economy practices within migrant communities
· Decentralised cooperation/city diplomacy and circular economy
· Human rights and circular economy
· Circular economy and humanitarian aid
· Public policies supporting the circular economy
· Informal circular economy practices in Africa
· Good practices of the circular economy in Africa and EU member states
· Circular economy and sustainable cities
· Circular cities
· Circular economy and smart cities
· Urban governance mechanisms and instruments and the circular economy
· Sustainable urban planning and the circular economy
· Laws and regulations promoting ecodesign and waste recovery
· Prevention and recovery of organic waste
· Extending the lifespan of products
· EcodesignReuse, recycling in furniture, construction and textiles
· Circular economy and soil contamination
· Circular pedagogy: integrating the circular economy into education
All contributions with an empirical, theoretical or conceptual dimension are welcome. They should aim to enrich the current scientific literature on the circular economy, going well beyond environmental issues alone. They should also help foster in-depth discussions aimed at making the circular economy the economy of sustainable development.
3.1. Timeline
Full texts of contributions must be submitted no later than 30 June 2025. The planned publication window ends on 30 November 2025. Any extensions will be announced in updates to this call. The Editorial Board commits to processing articles within the deadlines stated at the bottom of the review process description. The Editorial Board reserves the right to close the call early if, before the deadline, a critical mass of contributions successfully passing peer review allows the issue to be “closed”. Contributions not selected by the guest editor or submitted after the deadline may be considered for a regular issue.
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3.3. Review process
The publication of this special issue complies with the journal’s usual peer review policies, which include:
· Double-blind review
· External and independent reviewers, with no conflicts of interest with the authors
· Qualified reviewers (PhD holders or with a high qualification, assessed by the Editorial Board based on CV)
· Use of the PKP OJS management system
The preliminary editorial screening (desk review) aims to assess whether the proposal meets the minimum criteria for submission. For more information on reasons for desk rejection: https://ojs.pensamultimedia.it/index.php/siref/libraryFiles/downloadPublic/91
3.4. O papel do guest editor
The guest editor works alongside the Editorial Board in the following phases:
· Preliminary evaluation of submissions (to assess compliance with the call’s scope)
· Recommendations for selecting external reviewers
· Final recommendation based on reviewers’ reports
· Drafting of the editorial
· Dissemination and promotion of the call
· Communication with authors
3.5. Discrepancies
In case of discrepancies between this text and the journal’s official policies, the latter shall prevail.
References
Archambault, S., & Hervet, B. (2020). Chapitre 15. La ville durable, circulaire par nature. In O. Ortega (Ed.), Fabriquer la ville durable (pp. 207–216). Le Moniteur.
ADEME. (2018). Economie circulaire. http://www.ademe.fr/expertises/economie-circulaire
Bauwens, T., Hekkert, M., & Kirchherr, J. (2020). Circular futures: What will they look like? Ecological Economics, 175, 106703. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2020.106703
Diemer, A. (2016). Les symbioses industrielles : Un nouveau champ d’analyse pour l’économie industrielle. Innovations, 50, 65–94.
Elamé, E. (2023). The sustainable city in Africa facing the challenge of liquid sanitation. John Wiley & Sons.
Elamé, E. (Ed.). (2022). Sustainable intercultural urbanism at the service of the African city of tomorrow. John Wiley & Sons.
Henry, M., Bauwens, T., Hekkert, M., & Kirchherr, J. (2020). A typology of circular start-ups: An analysis of 128 circular business models. Journal of Cleaner Production, 245, 118528. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118528
Fondation Ellen MacArthur (FEM), & McKinsey & Company. (2012). Vers une économie circulaire (Vol. 1): Arguments économiques en faveur d’une transition accélérée. Founding Partners of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. https://www.quebeccirculaire.org/data/sources/users/11/vers-une-economie-circulaire.pdf
Gallaud, D., & Laperche, B. (2016). Circular economy, industrial ecology and short supply chains. Wiley/ISTE.
Kirchherr, J., Reike, D., & Hekkert, M. (2017). Conceptualizing the circular economy: An analysis of 114 definitions. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 127, 221–232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2017.09.005
Maillefert, M., & Robert, I. (2017). Nouveaux modèles économiques et création de valeur territoriale autour de l’économie circulaire, de l’économie de la fonctionnalité et de l’écologie industrielle. Revue d’Économie Régionale & Urbaine, 5, 905–934. https://shs.cairn.info/revue-d-economie-regionale-et-urbaine-2017-5-page-905
Vialleix, M., & Mariasine, L. (2019). Villes et territoires circulaires: De la théorie à la pratique. HAL. https://hal.science/hal-02356952v1
Pearce, D. W., & Turner, R. K. (1989). Economics of natural resources and the environment. Harvester Wheatsheaf. https://doi.org/10.56021/9780801839863