Circularity in Action: What Copenhagen Taught Us in 2025

In late April 2025, nineteen professionals from across the United States spent eight days learning how two Scandinavian cities turn big sustainability goals into everyday reality. We met designers, planners, policymakers, and entrepreneurs. We biked, walked, and talked our way through projects that make circularity practical, visible, and good for people.

This is a look at what we saw and why it matters for anyone working to build better cities.

Infrastructure that teaches

Copenhagen does not tell people to bike. It makes biking the easiest choice with safe lanes, elegant bridges like the Snake, and direct connections to transit. The city communicates values through design that is everywhere and easy to use.

Reuse at city scale

From Nordhavn’s adaptive reuse to Carlsberg City’s floodable parks, reuse and resilience show up in master plans, not only in pilots. At the Tscherning House, 89 percent of materials were reused or recycled with a verified life cycle impact. The result felt both modern and deeply human.

Clear limits, clear progress

At BLOXHUB we heard how Danish partners align around shared carbon budgets for buildings, measure performance per square meter, and debate targets in the open. The lesson was not perfection. It was transparency and iteration.

Systems that close loops

Denmark’s deposit return system covers more than sixty thousand SKUs with recycling rates above 90 percent. Malmö’s Varvsstaden catalogs materials for reuse across a district. These are simple ideas made effective by good data, clear roles, and steady coordination.

Nature as a design partner

Fælledby, an all-timber neighborhood built on a former landfill, is designed for biodiversity and community well-being. Water plazas and green streets double as flood infrastructure. Public swimming in the harbor is a daily reminder of clean water outcomes.

What participants took home

• Practical patterns to adapt locally: material mapping, design for disassembly, carbon per square meter benchmarking, deposit return principles, and multifunctional public space.

• A trusted peer network that spans sectors and regions. Many left with collaborators for policy templates, campus demos, and reuse directories.

• A clearer playbook for moving from ideas to implementation. Start with visible wins, publish the metrics, invite industry and philanthropy to the same table, and keep the public experience front and center.

“Each delegation reminds us that circularity is not a distant goal but a living system that can be built one decision, one partnership, and one project at a time. Walking through Copenhagen and Malmö, you see how policy, design, and community all reinforce one another. That is the real value of these trips. They expand what people believe is possible and send them home ready to make it real in their own cities.”

- Christopher Moken

Why these delegations work

They are not conferences. They are guided field studies with expert hosts, hands-on tours, and generous time for discussion. The pace is intentional. We see, we ask, we reflect together, and we translate what works into our own contexts.

Highlights from 2025

• Presentations from State of Green, the City of Copenhagen, and CONCITO on national-to-local climate alignment

• BLOXHUB expert sessions on circular building, carbon accounting, and industry adoption

• CopenHill waste-to-energy and its emerging carbon capture plans

• Fælledby all-timber neighborhood and nature-positive design

• Dansk Retursystem’s deposit return operations

• Malmö’s Varvsstaden Material Bank and Form/Design Center

Thinking about joining us next spring

We return to Copenhagen in April 2026 for another week of learning with a cohort of 20 peers. The program combines expert presentations, site visits, a long city bike tour, and time to connect with fellow practitioners. It is ideal for professionals in planning, design, policy, operations, education, advocacy, and circular business.

If you are exploring how to turn circular principles into real projects, this experience is designed to help you see the pieces, meet the people, and leave with an actionable path.

Learn more and view the application: https://www.circularsanantonio.org/tours

Eligibility includes residents of the United States, Canada, and the European Union. Spots are limited so we encourage early applications.