This paper examines the opportunities and challenges of integrating conservation practice and the circular economy into practical planning processes. In recent years, the discussion of circular economy and its relevance in the sustainability debate has intensified. According to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, the transition to a circular economy is crucial to achieving the national and international environmental and climate goals as well as the global goals in Agenda 2030. Parallel to this, there is a long established heritage discourse that emphasizes the importance of preserving buildings and cultural environments as part of our cultural heritage. These two discourses have common goals, but they differ in how they present their respective arguments.

This study is an investigation of how fa?adism can be understood as an act of conservation and compensation in Sweden, through the definition of fa?adism as the act of retaining or reconstructing an existing fa?ade with the construction of a new building behind the fa?ade. The study is executed through an investigation and analysis of the definition of fa?adism, arguments for and against fa?adism related to authenticity, and through an analysis of how current legislation, policies and charters regarding conservation and/or compensation can support or counteract fa?adism. The first part of this study is executed through a literature study of fa?adism on an international level.

Local cultural environment planning in Sweden often comes to rely on municipal heritage plans. These plans are meant to facilitate management of local cultural values, work as a tool for local planning and increase awareness of cultural environments for the public. In the last decades public participation in planning has become more and more of the ideal strategy, challenging the idea of cultural environment planning as an expert-led field. The idea of the field as one that implicates public participation as a strategy has been fortified in Sweden through national goals, government bills and conventions. Nevertheless the implementation of public participation in municipal heritage plans remains quite uncharted. The aim of this study is to explore public participation in regards to how municipal heritage plans are developed and the perception of public participation in cultural environment planning amongst professionals, comparing bigger and smaller municipalities.