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Title Indicator development as a site of collective imagination? The case of European Commission policies on the circular economy
ID_Doc 3146
Authors Volker, T; Kovacic, Z; Strand, R
Title Indicator development as a site of collective imagination? The case of European Commission policies on the circular economy
Year 2020
Published Culture And Organization, 26, 2
DOI 10.1080/14759551.2019.1699092
Abstract In recent years the concept of the circular economy gained prominence in EU policy-making. The circular economy promotes a future in which linear 'make-use-dispose' cultures are replaced by more circular models. In this paper, we use the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries to ask how an imaginary of circularity has been assembled and stabilized, which imaginative resources were drawn on, and how goals, priorities, benefits and risks haven been merged with discourses of innovation, sustainability and growth. Drawing on policy documents and interviews with policy officers of the European Commission, we argue that the monitoring framework and indicator development function as a site collective imagination in which desirable 'circular' futures are co-produced. These futures are imagined to provide novel opportunities for the private sector and to generate jobs and economic growth while at the same time improving the natural environment as measured by selected environmental indicators.
Author Keywords circular economy; indicator politics; sociotechnical imaginaries; centres of calculation; epistemic communities; environmental governance
Index Keywords Index Keywords
Document Type Other
Open Access Open Access
Source Social Science Citation Index (SSCI)
EID WOS:000511257000002
WoS Category Management
Research Area Business & Economics
PDF https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14759551.2019.1699092?needAccess=true
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