Urban areas account for around 50% of global solid waste generation. In the last decade, the European Union has supported numerous initiatives aiming at reducing waste generation by promoting shifts towards Circular Economy (CE) approaches. Governing this process has become imperative. This article focuses on the results of a governance analysis of six urban regions in Europe involved in the Horizon 2020 project REPAiR. By means of semi-structured interviews, document analysis and workshops with local stakeholders, for each urban area a list of governance challenges which hinder the necessary shift to circularity was drafted. In order to compare the six cases, the various challenges have been categorized using the PESTEL-O method. Results highlight a significant variation in policy contexts and the need for these to evolve by adapting stakeholders’ and policy-makers’ engagement and diffusing knowledge on CE. Common challenges among the six regions include a lack of an integrated guiding framework (both political and legal), limited awareness among citizens, and technological barriers. All these elements call for a multi-faceted governance approach able to embrace the complexity of the process and comprehensively address the various challenges to completing the shift towards circularity in cities.

The main goals of the article are: (a) presentation of the wine traditions of the region in the context of the concept of path dependence and wastescapes, as well as their impact on the spatial, social and promotional aspect of wine making; (b) identification and characteristics of the vineyards in Lubuskie Region in 2021; and (c) linking wine traditions with creating the identity of the region and implementing activities supporting its development. A case study was performed in accordance with the triangulation of research methods and techniques: (1) analysis of existing data and relating them to the activities of vineyards; (2) covert participant observation technique; and (3) qualitative field interviews with vineyard owners or managers. The vineyards of the Lubuskie Region are an important tourist attraction and local wines enrich the local food offers. However, the scale of production, still being rather small, comes with higher costs of obtaining the final product. At the social level, wine-growing activity presents a great deal of value and importance, and appears to be a reflection of positive endeavours. Wine making in the region is a complex example of contemporary cultural and social processes that are only just beginning to be observed in area.

This article seeks to propose a waste-management model based on qualitative and quantitative research. Specifically, an analysis of the flow of municipal waste was carried out, with the case involved being that of the biodegradable waste generated in households of Poland’s Łódź Metropolitan Area, which is heterogeneous from the points of view of both settlement structure and land use. The analysis of flows of waste then served an evaluation of the system of waste management in the study area, while also representing an important input into a process of identification of problems and possible solutions via so-called PULL (“Peri-Urban Living Lab”) workshop methodology. Indeed, the research detailed here was participatory throughout (from the stages of problem identification through to conclusion-drawing). All of these stages to the work were kept cohesive through the use of an advanced tool allowing for both analysis of the given area and the devising of strategies by which circular economy could be developed. Specifically, GDSE (GeoDesign Decision Support Environment) programming—devised within the framework of the REPAiR Project—offered opportunities for flows of different kinds of materials and raw materials across space to be identified. It also served in the implementation of Eco-innovative solutions (EIS), as were developed jointly in cooperation with participants of the PULL workshops. The article offers a synthetic presentation of the results of different stages to the research, along with a synthesis relating to the waste-management context, with particular account taken of the development of the circular economy.