Socio-circular ecosystems – Social innovation, circular strategies, and the built environment

Although the environmental and economic metrics of circularity are well established, its social dimension remains insufficiently systematised. European policies recognise the role of the circular transition in processes of inclusion, equity, and well-being, yet in the literature the social value of circularity is often addressed within fields such as social housing, co-design, and social enterprise. The paper proposes the concept of the Socio-Circular Ecosystem (SCE), understood as a spatial and relational system in which actors operating at different scales share and jointly manage tangible and intangible resources. Applied to European cases, this interpretative framework enables the identification of organisational and spatial configurations of SCEs and their capacity to activate circular processes, generate social value, and develop new housing and settlement models.