The circular economy is over: The scalar politics of circular production

The circular economy is failing. Starting from this premise, this article advances a new pathway for research in circularity studies: a degrowth perspective that focuses on phasing out linear production by prioritising wellbeing. The article develops this perspective by challenging the scalar politics of circularity. It argues that the circular economy tends to re-localise value chains, creating new circuits of production. To critique this rescaling process, urban research needs to develop a territorial perspective on circular flows, one that analyses how the circular economy affects the wellbeing of ecosystems and inhabitants at the regional scale. The article argues that, to be useful, this perspective needs to understand the agents of phasing out, namely the workers in the circular economy and their allies in environmental movements and state institutions.