Centers for Urban Re-manufacture: Lessons from the CURE Pathfinder Project

Paper in proceeding, 2019

The reuse and remanufacturing of materials in urban areas is an important step towards
closing local material cycles. Despite high potential, the use of these materials is currently hampered
by various reasons, such as lack of coordination or insufficient exchange between the actors. There is
no central point of contact at city level for bundling competencies in this field. The importance and
possibility of establishing a central Center for Urban Re-manufacture (CURE) for sorting, storing and
preparing for reuse and re-manufacturing of these materials was investigated in Gothenburg and
Berlin, in a EIT Climate-KIC Pathfinder project. This article summarizes the findings and lessons of
that project, which include an initiative review, market analyses, and participative workshops in both
cities. The studies show that Gothenburg had a strong local authority engagement in the topic, while
Berlin counted with several independent organizations already providing reuse services. The project
managed to generate interest in this topic among local actors in both cities, which will hopefully result
in the future establishment of some type of CURE in these locations. The article concludes that a
combination of bottom-up and top-down engagement is needed to provide material recovery services
at a city scale, involving stakeholders from across the existing material value chains.