The circular economy in urban projects

Abstract

Over the last decade, the concept of the circular economy (CE) has gained momentum among practitioners, politicians, and scholars because of its promise of achieving sustainability goals. However, there is still a need to demonstrate and assess the positive environmental impacts of the CE. With respect to the building sector, the CE is still a relatively new topic. To date, research has tended to focus primarily on the macro-scale (cities or eco-parks) and the micro-scale (manufactured products or construction materials). Nevertheless, the often- neglected built environment is also expected to play a crucial role in the transition towards a CE due to its high contribution to various environmental burdens. This paper contributes to this growing area of research by reviewing four cases of ‘circular neighbourhood’ projects in Europe. First, a conceptual framework analysis is defined and applied to the cases. Second, CE initiatives and actions are identified and classified using interviews and document analysis. Third, the use of assessment tools within these CE projects is investigated. The results demonstrate a diverse representation of the CE paradigm and the growing role played by the assessment tools.

Combining circular and LCA indicators for the early design of urban projects

“…A number of circular urban projects are also experimenting innovative CE practices. A wide variety of practices are tested, even though attention is mostly placed on construction and demolition waste management, valorization, reuse of buildings, elements and materials and eco-construction (Appendino et al 2019).…”

“…It is also necessary to inform about circular actions that present the higher environmental benefits. Because of their diversity and lack of maturity, such evidence is missing, as well as appropriate methods to assess circular actions (Appendino et al 2019).…”

Circular Economy of Cultural Heritage—Possibility to Create a New Tourism Product through Adaptive Reuse

“…In recent years, the circular economy has occupied development creators, national politics, entrepreneurs, associations, and legislators, with more researchers in different fields dealing with the issues of the circular economy from different aspects (Murray et al 2017;Korhonen et al 2018;Lewandowski 2016;Vukadinović 2018;Appendinoa et al 2021;Šverko Grdić et al 2019Šverko Grdić et al , 2020. The circular economy is the basis for achieving sustainable development, which should provide solutions for the problems of living environments and the lack of natural resources, based on three principles: reduce, reuse, and recycle (Zhao et al 2012;Tišma et al 2017).…”