Henderson, Z; Morgan, B and Watson, J (2019) Implementing the circular economy in buildings: Processes of sensemaking in design and delivery. In: Gorse, C and Neilson, C J (eds.) Proceedings of 35th Annual ARCOM Conference, 2-4 September 2019, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK.
Abstract
Resource consumption is inextricably linked to growing populations, economies and living standards. The twentieth century saw global consumption of raw materials rise twice as much as population growth (OECD, 2018). However, this trend is at odds with the finite nature of key resources and the fragile ecology on which the planet depends (Jackson, 2009).A promising approach to improving the productivity of resources lies in the principles of the Circular Economy, a closed loop model that keeps products and materials at their highest utility for as long as possible (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2017). Applied to the built environment, it fundamentally challenges the traditional processes of design, requiring buildings to become more than form, structure and space (Arup, 2016). Built assets need to be dynamic to accommodate future change or social aspects of sustainability, such as the sharing resources or space.However, no explanation exists about how processes will need to change across the industry to accommodate a Circular Economy. How can the industry adopt a longer-term view of design that maps past, current and potential future usages of assets, while accounting for less tangible impacts on human wellbeing, health, employment and social equality? This paper focuses attention on the ideation and design phases of a project. At this stage, while the design process itself is not materially intensive, the resulting decisions can have the largest impact on overall consumption (McDonough and Braungart, 2008). Therefore, how can designers of the built environment make sense of and account for a longer-term view of design in practice?This paper explores these questions by presenting two qualitative case studies where elements of circularity have been implemented in the built environment. Through analysis of these cases, this paper will identify some critical success factors including the role of different design and decision-making processes in projects.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | design; decision theory; sustainability; circular economy |
| Index terms: | critical success factor, accounting, decision theory, consumption, resource consumption, built asset, social aspect, well-being, population, built environment, design phase, decision-making process, productivity, employment, circularity, ecology, circular economy, designer, sensemaking, design process, case study, maps |
| Subjects: | environmental resource management, environmental science, professional practice, economic analysis, profession, data collection methods, mental health and wellbeing, consumer economics, sustainable materials, design methods, control systems, demography, asset management, sociology, decision analysis, cognitive psychology, infrastructure and transport systems, management, spatial and geospatial analysis, sustainable design |
| Topics: | Human Resources, Design Practice, Urban Studies, Sustainability, Risk Management, Roles and Professions, Stakeholder Management, Research Practice, Project Management, Business Strategy, Health and Safety |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here