It is aimed at organisations, teams and individuals working to rethink how businesses operate, from how value is created to how relationships and resources are organised.
Developed by Dr Emma Fromberg at the Centre for Sustainable Business, Nature's Playbook: Ecological Design Thinking for a Circular Economy uses prompts based on natural systems, such as how ecosystems maintain balance, form relationships and adapt to change, to help teams rethink how materials, products and processes can be reused, rather than discarded. In practice, this can mean identifying new ways to work with suppliers and local partners or finding opportunities to turn existing waste streams into inputs for new processes.
The tool has recently been tested in a pilot workshop with participants from retail, consulting, manufacturing and the public sector and helps teams reframe sustainability challenges and develop new approaches to circularity.
The project builds on four years of doctoral research exploring how ecological thinking can support more systemic approaches to business innovation. It comes at a time when many organisations face growing pressure to reduce waste and rethink how resources are used but struggle to translate high-level ambition into day-to-day decisions.
What people mostly found is that it helped them to think differently about existing circularity challenges and draw inspiration from natural systems. In addition to that, also to turn that shift in perspective into practical ideas they could take back into their organisations and start applying straight away.
Dr Emma Fromberg, Centre for Sustainable Business at King's Business School
Cross River Partnership, a London-based public-private partnership delivering environmental and transport projects across the capital, took part in a pilot workshop using Nature's Playbook to explore how ecological thinking could inform its approach to complex urban challenges.
The Ecological Design Thinking workshop encouraged us to think differently and more experimentally about complex challenges. It broadened our perspective and helped us think more holistically about the systems we work within. I left with new approaches that I'm already applying in my work.
Ross Phillips, Sustainable Transport Manager, Cross River Partnership
Nature's Playbook has been selected for support through King's SPARK Innovation Fund, which backs research with strong potential for real-world impact. The funding will support further development of the tool, including international expansion and translation into Mandarin.
The tool is also gaining early international traction. A digital presentation during Shanghai Fashion Week, as part of a circular economy side event. The Circular Transformation Summit attracted strong engagement from industry audiences.
Following the pilot, plans are underway to launch an open programme, alongside bespoke workshops for organisations seeking to apply circular economy principles in practice.
