BlueCity — circular-economy incubator (Rotterdam)

Since 2015, BlueCity has converted a vacant tropical swimming-pool complex on the Maas in Rotterdam into a circular-economy hub that anchors the city's wider circular strategy.

The initiative aims to model a 'blue economy' in which one entrepreneur's waste becomes another's raw material, incubating a cluster of complementary circular businesses within a single repurposed building.

BlueCity incubates a community of entrepreneurs and startups — producing outputs such as fungi-based dyes and ecological insulation — and is complemented by the Makers District (M4H/RDM) testbed run with the Port of Rotterdam. The building's own renovation reused most materials locally.

BlueCity has become a recognised model for circular and blue-economy initiatives, incubating more than 55 resident entrepreneurs, with 90% of the renovation's materials reused locally.

It offers a tangible, replicable demonstration that a single repurposed building can incubate a circular-economy cluster and support a city's broader circular strategy through public–port–startup collaboration.