The construction sector is one of the most resource intense and environmentally damaging industries in the world. A promising approach to counteract this is to use principles of the Circular Economy (input reduction, reuse, and recycling) to ensure the continuity of value of a building’s materials. Thus, we translated the learnings of an in-depth case study analysis including four buildings and their construction processes into a definition and framework for circular construction. We conceptualise buildings as circular systems that produce reusable components or biodegradable materials by practices operating across a building’s lifecycle. These practices do not only include material and design aspects to close biological and technological loops, but also immaterial practices such as knowledge and expertise, locality, management and skills, and information. We argue that these organisational aspects that go beyond the current state of the art are critical enablers for circularity in construction. This perspective is relevant for practitioners in the field and allows for a new and holistic look at buildings as ‘waste generators’ or, in a positive scenario, as ‘material depots’. Designing for recycling and reuse will require architects to build collaborations and knowledge across and beyond material value chains.
This article shows what kind of urban spaces are produced by circular systems. The focus is on the socio-spatial dimension of closed material loops in two neighbourhoods (e.g., reuse of grey water, recycling of waste, provision of renewable energy). Although the Circular Economy (CE) narrative is increasingly part of urban transformation policies, there are considerable implementation gaps in how regenerative or self-sufficient systems are operationalised in practice. I argue that the application of circularity principles in the urban context requires conceptual clarification to be useful for urban theory and praxis. Therefore, I provide a political ecology perspective of circular urban systems by analysing two cases: Block 6 in Berlin and Schoonschip in Amsterdam. I explain how such systems were established, who benefits from them, and what kind of socio-spatial conditions they produce. Methodologically, I use several qualitative research methods in the framework of a case study analysis. The results show that the incremental and publicly financed low-tech development of circular systems is socially compatible while privately funded high-tech developments result in stronger levels of sustainability but are reserved to a small exclusive group of people and provoke gentrification processes.
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