Waste to energy at the neighborhood microscale in the urban regeneration of Madrid peripheries: Towards effective circular neighborhoods

Abstract

This chapter introduces a discussion about the feasibility of a circular neighborhood regeneration model, which considers waste to energy production at the neighborhood level. Taking the airport neighborhood in Madrid as a real case study, it considers that one possible strategy to achieve social linkage to neighborhood regeneration in an economically feasible fashion is to implement energy production at a local scale, based on the recycling of organic fraction of urban solid waste (OFUSW). Firstly, it identifies and assesses the benefits of waste to energy processes at this micro level, showing that: it minimizes the impact of waste transport to distant places, where it is currently treated; it helps to cover part of the households’ energy demand, utilizing a source of renewable energy, which also means a lower cost to assume by resident families’ budgets; and finally, it highlights a fundamental issue, which is the active involvement of neighbors in the physical enhancement of their neighborhood, in exchange for tangible and concrete benefits. Furthermore, this chapter tries to clarify the public management strategies that can be carried out to modify neighbor-consumers’ behavior towards circular economy, taking into account participatory processes included in neighborhood regeneration.