To secure a good quality of life for present and future generations, societies must learn to meet human needs while staying within planetary boundaries. Climate change and resource depletion make it essential to move from a linear, fossil-based economy toward a circular bioeconomy that relies on renewable resources.
Human needs, however, are not fixed. They vary across age, gender, income, education, and other demographic factors—and they evolve over time. An ageing population, migration, or rising incomes all shape the demand for housing, food, transport, and other essentials. Meeting these changing needs requires natural resources, which are themselves limited. The central challenge is therefore to satisfy diverse and dynamic human needs within the Earth’s ecological limits.
BALANCE addresses this challenge by bridging two disciplines that have often worked separately: industrial ecology, which studies natural resource flows, and demography, which examines population change. By integrating these perspectives, the project develops a framework to better understand how human needs translate into sustainable resource use.
Using case studies on food and housing in Norway, BALANCE demonstrates how this framework can inform strategies for a circular bioeconomy. The ultimate goal is to equip policymakers, businesses, and civil society with tools to coordinate actions that balance human well-being with the sustainable use of natural resources.
