scholarly journals Circularity in the New Gravity—Re-Thinking Vernacular Architecture and Circularity

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 328
Author(s):  
Marwa Dabaieh ◽  
Dalya Maguid ◽  
Deena El-Mahdy
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Vernacular Architecture ◽  
Sustainable Construction ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
Construction Methods ◽  
New Policies ◽  
Private Investors

The mounting climate change crisis and the rapid urbanization of cities have pressured many practitioners, policymakers, and even private investors to develop new policies, processes, and methods for achieving more sustainable construction methods. Buildings are considered to be among the main contributors to harmful environmental impacts, resource consumption, and waste generation. The concept of a circular economy (CE), also referred to as “circularity”, has gained a great deal of popularity in recent years. CE, in the context of the building industry, is based on the concept of sustainable construction, which calls for reducing negative environmental impacts while providing a healthier indoor environment and closing material loops. Both vernacular architecture design strategies and circular economy principles share many of the same core concepts. This paper aims at investigating circular economy principles in relation to vernacular architecture principles in the built environment. The study demonstrates how circular principles can be achieved through the use of vernacular construction techniques and using local building materials. This paper will focus on Egypt as one of the oldest civilizations in the world, with a wide vernacular heritage, exploring how circularity is rooted in old vernacular settlements and how it can inspire contemporary circular practices.

scholarly journals Introducing a Degrowth Approach to the Circular Economy Policies of Food Production, and Food Loss and Waste Management: Towards a Circular Bioeconomy

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Hoehn ◽  
Jara Laso ◽  
María Margallo ◽  
Israel Ruiz-Salmón ◽  
Francisco José Amo-Setién ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Food Production ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Food Loss ◽  
Use Of Resources ◽  
Assessment Approach ◽  
New Policies

There is a growing debate surrounding the contradiction between an unremitting increase in the use of resources and the search for environmental sustainability. Therefore, the concept of sustainable degrowth is emerging aiming to introduce in our societies new social values and new policies, capable of satisfying human requirements whilst reducing environmental impacts and consumption of resources. In this framework, circular economy strategies for food production and food loss and waste management systems, following the Sustainable Development Goals agenda, are being developed based on a search for circularity, but without setting limits to the continual increase in environmental impacts and resource use. This work presents a methodology for determining the percentage of degrowth needed in any food supply chain, by analyzing four scenarios in a life cycle assessment approach over time between 2020 and 2040. Results for the Spanish case study suggested a degrowth need of 26.8% in 2015 and 58.9% in 2040 in order to achieve compliance with the Paris Agreement targets, highlighting the reduction of meat and fish and seafood consumption as the most useful path.

Sustainable Construction - Environmental Impacts Assessment of Architectural Elements and Building Services

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
pp. 77-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Moňoková ◽  
Silvia Vilčeková
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Sustainable Construction ◽  
Building Structures ◽  
Single Family ◽  
Architectural Elements ◽  
Ozone Formation Potential ◽  
Environmental Technologies

Increasing concerns about negative environmental impacts of building structures call for higher demands on the design of environmental friendly buildings. This article is aimed at assessing the overall environmental impact of buildings throughout its life cycle as well as on environmental impact of all building materials and building services for single-family homes. This analysis examines the role of utilized green environmental technologies for the following selected impact categories: GWP - global warming potential, EP - eutrophication potential, AP - acidification potential POCP and photochemical ozone formation potential expressed in kg CO2eq, PO43-eq, SO2eq and ethylene within the “Cradle to gate with options” boundary. The LCA assessment methodology and eToolLCD software have been used to model the effects of houses’ life cycle.

scholarly journals Comparison of Environmental Impact of Three Different Slab Systems for Life Cycle Assessment of a Commercial Building in South Korea

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (20) ◽  
pp. 7278
Author(s):  
Inkwan Paik ◽  
Seunguk Na
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Flat Plate ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Quantitative Model ◽  
Commercial Building ◽  
Construction Methods ◽  
Impact Reduction ◽  
Construction Techniques ◽  
Comparative Results

The environmental impacts of the construction stage should be considered since a large amount of building materials are used to construct a building at this stage. Studies on the improvement of construction techniques or the application of newly developed construction methods for reducing the environmental impacts are relatively scant compared to other topics of studies. This study aimed to assess and compare the environmental impacts of the ordinary solid slab, the flat plate slab and the voided slab system during the construction phase. A process-based quantitative model was adopted to evaluate the environmental impacts and the comparative results were analysed to demonstrate the significant characteristics of the environmental impacts of the construction of slab in a building. The assessment results show that the environmental impacts from the ordinary solid slab are the highest and the voided slab system is the lowest among three slab systems. As the slab system of the studied building was replaced, it was shown that the environmental impact indicators showed the decreased tendency. Based on the results of environmental impact reduction from the ordinary solid slab, the flat plate slab and the voided slab system, the voided slab system would have the least environmental impact in all indicators.

scholarly journals Selection Criteria for Building Materials and Components in Line with the Circular Economy Principles in the Built Environment—A Review of Current Trends

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 49
Author(s):  
Kamel Mohamed Rahla ◽  
Ricardo Mateus ◽  
Luís Bragança
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Selection Criteria ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Technical Aspect ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
Industry Waste ◽  
Current Trends

A growing concern is given to the environmental impacts caused by the construction industry. Waste generation, resource consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions are the main drawbacks of the rapid urbanization that the world is witnessing. As a response to these pressing issues, policymakers and academia are exploring the concept of Circular Economy (CE) to manage resources better and achieve resource efficiency while eliminating waste. One of the strategies to implement CE in the built environment is to select the appropriate building materials and components from the early stages to carry out the concept's principles along the value chain and create a closed-loop system. Therefore, this study aims at identifying selection criteria for building elements according to CE principles through a review of the latest research. Results have shown that little has been concretely achieved in terms of a paradigm shift to CE since the main focus of the literature is still the use of recycled products and the recyclability of building materials and components at their end-of-life. Although the present study is solely focused on the technical aspect of building materials and components, it outlines current adopted criteria to bring about a circular built environment and highlights the need for a more innovative approach to attain higher circularity levels.

scholarly journals Circular economy in built environment and real estate industry

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janis Zvirgzdins ◽  
Kaspars Plotka ◽  
Sanda Geipele
Keyword(s):  
Real Estate ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Resource Depletion ◽  
Sustainable Construction ◽  
Real Estate Industry ◽  
Global Issues ◽  
Materials Research ◽  
Whole Life Cycle

The concept of circular economy have gained a popularity in the scientific areas for the past decades due to raising influence of climate change, overpopulation, deforestation, resource depletion, urbanization, pollution and other global issues. Real estate is crucial aspect for every human being, because majority of people spend majority of their lifetime in buildings which are mainly located in cities. Purpose of the study is to reflect how built environment and real estate industry can benefit from the features of circular economy concept while promoting the practices of sustainable development. Authors have carried out a study based on the methodology of literature review and state of the art review to show how features of circular economy can support practices of sustainable construction. Results show that the construction processes can be supported by features of circular economy throughout the whole life cycle of construction project including logistics, supply chains, design, manufacturing process, exploitation and maintenance of real estate and reusing the building materials. Research indicates that urban circular economy contributes to the development of sustainable societies. Additionally, efficient implementation of circular construction requires profitability for majority of stakeholders.

Comparison of Coastal Green Dwellings' Ecological Strategy Take Seaweed House and Oystershell Loculus for Example

2013 ◽  
Vol 368-370 ◽  
pp. 425-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhen Yu Wang ◽  
Wei Tong
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Vernacular Architecture ◽  
Green Building ◽  
Ecological Strategy ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Cultural Origins ◽  
Building Life Cycle ◽  
Maximum Saving

With the development of science and technology, rapid urbanization makes the survival of the human environment seriously polluted and destroyed. In the new century, with the issue that how to achieve the maximum saving ,to protect environment, to reduce pollution in the whole building life cycle and to make the harmonious between architecture and nature, Green building operating emerged. Vernacular architecture is an significant type of green building, this paper illustrates Seaweed House in Jiaodong of Shandong province and Oystershell Loculus in Quanzhou of Fujian province to perform a comparative study of cultural origins, building materials and ecological characteristics of the coastal green dwellings£¬in order to use the methods of vernacular architecture for reference to green building.

scholarly journals Cultural Sustainability and Vitality of Chinese Vernacular Architecture: A Pedigree for the Spatial Art of Traditional Villages in Jiangnan Region

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (24) ◽  
pp. 6898 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Liu ◽  
Zaiyi Liao ◽  
Yongfa Wu ◽  
Dagmawi Mulugeta Degefu ◽  
Yiwei Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Vernacular Architecture ◽  
Fixed Time ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
Data Resource ◽  
Construction Methods ◽  
Spatial Design ◽  
Traditional Construction ◽  
High Level

Presently, the rapid urbanization in contemporary cities in China has resulted in more buildings of low cultural value and high energy consumption. Many traditional Chinese villages exhibit special spaces that have been optimally adapted to the climatic and environmental features of the area using vernacular methods. The buildings in these villages can maintain the environment more sufficiently for the intended programs and consuming a lower level of resources. The construction technics and the artistic features in these spaces are invaluable and inspiring for contemporary architectural practices. This study aims to establish a pedigree of the artistic features exhibited in traditional Chinese villages to support sustainable development. This is to be achieved through thoroughly exploring the spatial design of these villages archived in a big-data resource. The pedigree integrates the dynamics (cultural changes over a certain period of time) and static (spatial features at a fixed time) of how the spaces in these villages have evolved. It is concluded that both a high level of sustainability and exceptional artistic quality have been achieved over a long history in many of these villages where traditional construction methods and design principals were employed.

scholarly journals Earth as construction material in the circular economy context: practitioner perspectives on barriers to overcome

2021 ◽  
Vol 376 (1834) ◽  
pp. 20200182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Claude Morel ◽  
Rabia Charef ◽  
Erwan Hamard ◽  
Antonin Fabbri ◽  
Chris Beckett ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Circular Economy ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Construction Material ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Vernacular Architecture ◽  
Sustainable Construction ◽  
High Tech ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Local Soil ◽  
Earthen Architecture

The need for a vast quantity of new buildings to address the increase in population and living standards is opposed to the need for tackling global warming and the decline in biodiversity. To overcome this twofold challenge, there is a need to move towards a more circular economy by widely using a combination of alternative low-carbon construction materials, alternative technologies and practices. Soils or earth were widely used by builders before World War II, as a primary resource to manufacture materials and structures of vernacular architecture. Centuries of empirical practices have led to a variety of techniques to implement earth, known as rammed earth, cob and adobe masonry among others. Earth refers to local soil with a variable composition but at least containing a small percentage of clay that would simply solidify by drying without any baking. This paper discusses why and how earth naturally embeds high-tech properties for sustainable construction. Then the potential of earth to contribute to addressing the global challenge of modern architecture and the need to re-think building practices is also explored. The current obstacles against the development of earthen architecture are examined through a survey of current earth building practitioners in Western Europe. A literature review revealed that, surprisingly, only technical barriers are being addressed by the scientific community; two-thirds of the actual barriers identified by the interviewees are not within the technical field and are almost entirely neglected in the scientific literature, which may explain why earthen architecture is still a niche market despite embodying all the attributes of the best construction material to tackle the current climate and economic crisis. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The role of soils in delivering Nature's Contributions to People’.

scholarly journals Analysis of Factors Affecting the Circularity of Building Materials

Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (23) ◽  
pp. 7296
Author(s):  
Joanna Sagan ◽  
Anna Sobotka
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Solid Waste ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Sustainable Construction ◽  
Building Structures ◽  
Construction Waste ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Waste Minimisation

A circular economy requires closed circuits of consumed resources. Construction generates approximately 50% of solid waste globally, which is difficult to manage. The aim of this article was to identify the factors that determine the development of circular construction in the context of waste minimisation in the life cycle of building structures. The identification of cause-and-effect relationships by means of the DEMATEL method allows the problems of construction waste management to be taken into account in the context of the development of sustainable construction and fulfilling the principles of the circular economy.

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