Thermodynamic Effect of High-Rise Reinforced Concrete Typology on Asian Cities: Effect of Socioeconomic Obsolescence Factors on Thermodynamic Complexity

Abstract

The construction of reinforced concrete (RC) apartments played a crucial role in accommodating the substantial increase in urban populations during the post-war period in Asian cities. However, the RC process in these regions exhibits limitations in terms of the building’s life cycle duration. These limitations arise due to two main factors: the inherent hybrid nature of RC and the insufficient measures for addressing inner rebar corrosion, as well as the lack of adequate control over the management of the “structural class” amid rapid economic expansion. This study examines the impact of rapid urbanization and economic growth on the construction industry, with a specific focus on the utilization of concrete buildings. Drawing on Odum’s urban energetics theory, macroeconomic data are analyzed to investigate the patterns and implications of widespread concrete construction during the late 20th century, particularly in Asian countries. The findings are then compared with earlier periods of economic expansion in other countries, aiming to provide a comprehensive understanding of the interplay between urbanization, economic growth, and the use of concrete structures. The application of Odum’s theory enhances the analytical process, offering valuable insights into the dynamics of the macro urban energy system. In this assessment, four countries are selected based on the stage of their urban economic expansion. The selection is determined using the recent changes observed in three key factors: (1) urban concentration, (2) GDP growth rate, and (3) gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) on housing volume. The assessment identifies the point in time when production, represented by the GDP growth rate, surpasses consumption, represented by GFCF on housing volume. Through this assessment, it becomes possible to make macro-scaled predictions about the urban energy system, even with limited archival data available.

1. Introduction

Construction industry conventions in the post-war period set for housing the rapidly increasing urban population focused on reinforced concrete (RC) high-rise residential buildings as a tool for social services to provide affordable housing stocks, control the overall housing market price, and gain political popularity. However, this building typology and its subsequent construction methodologies were adopted by the East Asian private residential apartment industry and converted into different formats, which, a generation later, proliferated under the influence of different economic and political construction and distribution systems [1].

The Club of Rome, which is a global think tank that deals with various international political issues, raised considerable public attention in 1972 with its report “The Limits to Growth” [2]. This report identified the following five variables to predict the future conditions of the Earth’s ecological system: world population, industrialization, pollution, food production, and resource depletion. The notion of the Earth as a single ecological system was used as a premise by the 1973 Stockholm Convention to prepare their landmark principles [3]. After rapid economic and population growth, societies often face various challenges upon reaching a state of stability. These include issues like uncontrolled urban sprawl and the construction of vulnerable buildings, which may require demolition due to the lack of an effective social control system. Notably, in numerous cities in Republic of Korea and China that have recently experienced population growth, the following significant urban design problem emerges: the repetitive construction of basic and unrefined concrete apartment complexes that disrupt the cohesive urban landscape. These structures appear detached from their surroundings, presenting a negative impact on the overall urban system. However, this path of urban residential development and distribution systems with accumulated knowledge is being repeated with the application of identical methods in cities with similar regions that are being developed, aided by rapid urbanization and economic growth.

Cities, especially those that have recently experienced rapid growth, accumulate structures that are unusually carbon intensive but non-durable. The problems of our current shortsighted urban design and management systems can be re-evaluated by understanding the large-scale energy systems of cities over a long period. In the past, growth strategies have driven societies forward with unprecedented consequences for exploiting fossil fuels and their subsequent momentum.

The construction of reinforced concrete (RC) apartments played a significant role in accommodating the rapid urban population growth witnessed in Asian cities during the post-war period. However, the use of RC in these regions poses challenges due to its limited life expectancy within the building’s life cycle. Two primary factors contribute to this limitation: the hybrid nature of RC and the lack of effective measures to address inner rebar corrosion, along with inadequate management control over the “structural class” amidst rapid economic expansion.

This study focuses on the impact of rapid urbanization and economic growth on the construction industry, specifically highlighting the utilization of concrete buildings. Drawing on Odum’s urban energetics theory, we analyze macroeconomic data to explore the patterns and implications of widespread concrete construction during the late 20th century, particularly in Asian countries. In this research, the selection of the four countries is driven by a specific rationale, which is further explained in Section 6 of this study. By comparing these findings with earlier periods of economic expansion in other countries, this research aims to gain a comprehensive understanding of the interplay between urbanization, economic growth, and the use of concrete structures.

2. Urban Energetics Theory

All inputs to the system can be described in terms of energy. The thermodynamic laws of the world govern multiple energy systems that undergo dynamic transformation processes. Bataille and Hurley describe this inter-connectivity between the overall system’s mechanism and its individual parts within the larger system boundary [4]. He addresses the importance of understanding our economy as a form of system that properly considers thermodynamic bases, which, in turn, expands the conceptual boundary of our energy systems. Therefore, when we assess the issues about the recent rapid urbanization, the driving and diminishing sources of growth for the urban energy system as well as the expectations after growth that have ceased, must be considered. All inputs to the system can be described in terms of energy. The world’s thermodynamic laws govern multiple energy systems that undergo dynamic transformation processes.

Pointing out that cities are a special kind of ecological system, Odum et al. suggested a comprehensive investigational approach from the point of view of the biosphere that supplies resources and environmental services [5,6]. Therefore, when we assess the issues regarding recent rapid urbanization, the driving and diminishing sources of the urban energy system’s growth, as well as expectations after growth has ceased must be considered. Cities that expanded over a short period failed to consider various long-term implications. Ultimately, design boundaries must be expanded along the temporal axis to absorb the shock resulting from unplanned future changes. The norms regarding specific types of building proliferation in a society are influenced by factors such as the effect of politics on construction patterns, intuitive impressions that the general public has regarding the building type, the effect of various historical and cultural factors, and the impact of economic variables.

Construction industry conventions in post-war societies focused on RC high-rise residential buildings as a tool for social services to provide affordable housing units; this process controlled the overall housing market prices and gained political popularity [1]. However, this building typology and its subsequent construction methodologies were adapted by the East Asian private residential apartment industry and converted into different formats that increased under the influence of various economic and political construction and distribution systems a generation later [7]. The current convention of urban development informed by the past century of unprecedented growth needs to be modified for satisfying the present and future challenges of diminishing growth and population.

3. System Management: The Importance of Feedback

Odum introduced and emphasized the transient nature of the energy transformation processes as follows: “The hypotheses of energy transformation in self-organizing open systems, quite beyond classical energetics, involve concepts of self-development (such as evolution and systems learning) in energy terms” [6]. This notion requires us to change our analysis method from a steady-state, market-oriented, isolated manner of accounting for the environmental impacts into an overall system-oriented, transient method of accounting. The transient nature of our energy system makes it necessary to consider the second law of thermodynamics as a critical decision maker. As shown in Figure 1, transient urban energy systems are controlled via continuous fluctuations of energy inputs and outputs. Further, these oscillations comprise multiple levels of energy systems driven by two general activities (production and consumption), which display dynamic transient behaviors in relationship to one another in every energy system [8].

According to Lotka, the ultimate goal of every energy system is to reach the “maximum power principle”, wherein the maximum amount of work possible is conducted with the minimum amount of energy using various feedbacks. A system prevails because it maximizes the performance possible for the given conditions, which reacts to other systems in a dynamic, transient fashion. The process of power maximization is achieved by increasing the flow and creating more feedback loops through more complex systems; this can be achieved with excess energy that can be gathered via the process of maturation consisting of continuous pulsing cycles. As society reaches a developed, stabilized state with a higher amount of complexity in its energy flow, it matures throughout the process of completing more work by (1) increasing its energy intake by tapping into unprecedented energy sources and (2) by increasing the system’s ability to store, manage, and use existing energy more efficiently [6,9].

The Roman Empire, specifically the city of Rome, is often cited as a clear example of the rise and decline of powerful societies in response to changes in resource availability. Marco Ascione indicates the dangers facing urban management and how to avoid them with the correct understanding of energy sources in his study [11]. He suggests that analyzing the energy system and its related sources can enable city decision makers to forecast future conditions affecting energy sources that can impact and perhaps help determine the fate of the entire urban energy system. Based on these predictions, energy sources can be redirected toward self-sustainable sources rather than external non-renewable provisions that are vulnerable to future changing factors.

Developed countries that experienced growth in early modern times began to expand their systems. As a result, these societies have grown to become more ‘powerful’; their mature energy systems transform significant amounts of low-quality energy sources into high-quality energy in more effective ways via various feedback cycles [10]. However, other societies have failed to create these feedback cycles to self-organize the capacity of the systems for multiple reasons. Thus, they fell into continuous loops of poverty or unsustainable wealth squandering without proper preparation for times when external aid or natural resources would be reduced or nonexistent [10].

In his 1934 classic, Technics and Civilization, Mumford laid out an argument about why “the clock, not the steam engine, is the key machine of the modern industrial age” [12]. The invention of the ‘abstract time’ is disengaged from the ‘organic function’. The civilization system, as a whole, has turned to become a gradual self-organizing system, which resulted in modern development. Mumford concluded that the current technology we enjoy is created not because of our machines but because of our moral, economic, and political choices. As a result, human civilizations have self-organized into a more complex system throughout their numerous pulsing cycles.

4. System Management: Importance of Feedback in Expanding Cities

During the recent rapid increase in economic growth, cities in East Asia became filled with concrete high-rise apartment buildings; this occurred at a significantly higher speed and quantity compared to that in other cities around the world. Traditional East Asian cities, characterized by single-story residential housing structures composed of wood, were in need of an abrupt increase in size to accommodate the sudden migration of individuals from the countryside. The initial modernization of the residential housing convention was conducted using new architectural stereotypes of single-story brick housing structures; however, these settlements soon began to present many forms of weaknesses, such as insufficient sanitary equipment and steep and narrow roads [7].

Redeveloping these settlements and meeting the high demand for housing became the prominent political agenda. Private housing development companies developed and sold several housing structures and formed an entire housing market. Therefore, cities soon became dominated by high-rise concrete apartments, which quickly redefined their visual identities [7]. The well-established RC technology available when East Asian cities were entering a period of aggressive growth was responsible for the unique urban identity that they currently possess. Peter Rowe discussed the technological similarities of cities that experienced growth at the same time in his book, East Asia Modern: Shaping the Contemporary City, as follows [13]:

“Cities throughout the world can be characterized by answering the question: ‘What time is this place?’ referring to the era or eras during which most city buildings took place. On this basis it is reasonable to say that New York is an early twentieth-century city, with a lot of nineteenth-century technology; … The defining moments of most East Asian cities, however, have occurred later. Tokyo and Seoul were well defined in the 1960s and 70s. Taipei, Singapore, and Hong Kong are of the 1970s and 80s, whereas Shanghai in the 1990s is hardly recognizable from a decade before. This later response to ‘What time is this place?’ occurred around a different confluence of factors than the American automobile city of the 1950s, often involving close and visible integration with transit and unprecedented high density”.

Industrialization in one country differs from that in another; therefore, this typology also differs accordingly. Since the era of urban expansion for Asian countries occurred precisely when RC construction technology was at its peak, the steep growth of societies intersected with the rapid growth of economic technology. The ensuing relationship between these two factors made the concrete high-rise apartments a ubiquitous feature of the new Asian cityscape. The use of this typology allowed for the maximum commercialization of a given site with increasing density, which helped developers gain significantly increased profit margins. These buildings are constructed with RC and sheer walls and with limited unit variety. Eighty-five percent of the people in Hong Kong live in these types of high-rise concrete apartments [7].

Similarly, 80 percent of the housing in Republic of Korea developed after 1980 involves iterations of the same superblock concrete apartment. After the widespread government-sponsored production in Seoul, high-rise apartments have become the preferred accommodation standard [7]. Currently, 62.5 percent of the Korean population lives in this style of concrete apartment, and 60 percent of all new housing developments within the Chinese urban areas comprise this type of concrete superblock housing [14]. These trends reveal similar urban renewal processes, sharing a directly exported process and adapted technology.

Figure 2 shows how the urban concentration rate in countries like the Republic of Korea showed rapid growth followed by stagnation once it reached a certain point. This unprecedented demand for high-density urban housing increases the demand for raw materials to build and power new cities. These energy sources and materials are provided globally and culminate in high embodied energy concrete structures that crowd towns. The aggregate total embodied energy stored in the form of these structures is exceptionally high because concrete is a highly embodied energy material; therefore, ensuring that these existing structures will stand the test of time is a critical issue for the entire population. Therefore, developing technologies to extend the lifespan of these buildings will be a critical strategy for preventing the ensuing crisis of large-scale building obsolescence as urban area progress proceeds through the future era of growth stabilization. A pivotal focal point to address this shift in lifespan requirement is the issue of durability. Designing for durability using existing non-durable buildings requires an expansion of the variables on which we base our designs, as well as an improvement of the existing retrofit technologies.

5. Temporal Limitations of the Reinforced Concrete

Steel-reinforced concrete (RC) is crucial in modern architecture and urban design studies. However, its complex properties and various transient phenomena remain under the shadow of the economical and convenient characteristics of RC. In 1841, Joseph-Louis Lambot initiated the construction of water tanks using cement mortar and iron reinforcement. He later applied the same system to build his first boat in 1848, which gained recognition at the 1855 World’s Fair held in Paris. Meanwhile, Joseph Monier conducted experiments with different techniques for constructing concrete reinforced with various metallic materials. In 1867, he showcased his series of inventions at the Paris Exposition. As he obtained a series of relevant patents, including iron-reinforced concrete beams in 1878, Monier went on to design the first-ever iron-reinforced concrete bridge at the Castle of Chazelet.

During the early 20th century, the practice of combining steel reinforcing rebars with concrete and aggregate to bear tensile loads gained significant traction in North America. This technique was widely employed in the construction of numerous skyscrapers and infrastructures, involving substantial amounts of Portland cement and rebar. However, due to its relatively recent inception, the long-term durability and overall environmental impact of this technology are yet to be fully understood. The concept of reinforced concrete technology carries a crucial drawback concerning its structural sustainability over extended periods. Specifically, the embedded rebar in reinforced concrete is susceptible to corrosion over time. Since buildings constructed using this method do not fully leverage the material’s potential, they tend to lose their viability in a shorter timeframe compared to other existing structures. Although the simple and strong concept of RC proliferated globally, RC can be considered an extremely complex system, and the use of various types of concrete in construction has made the chemical, physical, and mechanical properties of concrete and its relationship to metals, which is a topic of ongoing study. Corrosive elements such as water, chloride ions, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and other gases travel into the concrete matrix and eventually reach its internal rebar.

Concrete carbonation is another factor that causes steel reinforcement within the concrete to corrode or rust. Fresh concrete is highly alkaline because of the presence of hydration products such as calcium hydroxide; this environment protects steel reinforcement bars from corrosion. However, carbon dioxide and moisture at the concrete surface can react with these products to produce calcium carbonate. Initially, carbonation is restricted to a thin surface layer; however, carbon dioxide diffuses inward from the surface over time, and the carbonation zone gradually extends into the concrete. After 50 years of construction, the porous nature of the concrete allows the steel inside to rust. The rust-inhibiting alkalinity of concrete gradually vanishes after the completion of the curing process. The rebar begins to rust once the concentration of these corrosive elements surpasses the steel corrosion threshold. Pressure builds around the rebar as it begins to corrode, and this leads to cracking, staining, and eventually spilling the concrete.

With advancements in alloy hybrid technologies and the implementation of engineering systemization, there has been a gradual reduction in the usage of rebar driven by economic considerations. Building codes now enforce minimum requirements for rebar usage. The EN 1992-1-1 (Eurocode 2) standard regulates the structural classes, ranging from S1 to S6, which are determined based on the bonding requirements of the cement mix [16]. For instance, in wet environments where chloride-induced corrosion is a concern, such as swimming pools, S4 class concrete is designed to have a working life of 50 years, while the recommended minimum structural class is S1 [17]. In Republic of Korea, there is a comparable standard regulation known as KDS 14 20 40: 2021 [18]. Despite having the same content, the only difference lies in the designation style of the coding system used. Engineers have devised solutions to enhance the expected service life of reinforced concrete buildings. These include measures like reducing the porosity of concrete to provide steel protection or developing coatings for rebar. These engineering solutions have contributed to improvements in increasing the durability of reinforced concrete structures.

Despite these efforts, nature inevitably finds a way to cause corrosion in steel rebars as long as the fundamental concept of combining steel and concrete persists. The benefits that encouraged the spread of RC were based on a steady-state Newtonian mechanistic approach to the design of the structural principle. This steady-state solution utilized to fulfill the limitless desire for quantitative economic growth has revolutionized the building industry. It has become a philosophy that has globally increased as an ideal tool for rapid infrastructural development.

The scientific approach presented by Kelvin’s 1851 memoir The Dynamical Theory of Heat, which introduced the second principle of thermodynamics, the concept of the ‘transient nature of the physical phenomena’, and the concept of ‘time’, began to be used as a major variable for various advancements [19]. However, this development failed to impact the architectural approach, which left several thermodynamic questions regarding building construction technology unanswered [17]. The field of architecture has been isolated from such multifaceted advancements in thinking since the Newtonian age.

Likewise, Prigogine’s suggestion of how new opportunities can rise from the systematic process of order to disorder also failed to affect how people thought about RC or any other areas in the field of architecture [20]. The consequences of ignoring these scientific realities have proven to be environmentally grave, with 40% of the world’s CO₂ emissions being generated from the building industry and 50% of this portion originating from cement production for massive redevelopment. Carino states the following [20]:

“…the philosophical and scientific importance of the second principle can hardly be overestimated. Through the inevitable increase of entropy associated with any interaction of matter and energy, irreversible changes and the direction of the movement of time are introduced into the universe Newton described, as being reversible and without history.”

6. Data and Methodology

Concrete buildings are designed for a society that experiences a growth period for rapid turnovers where there is a continuous need for destruction to increase energy flow into the urban energy system (both in terms of quality and quantity). During this period of growth, buildings are frequently replaced to improve the capacity to process larger amounts of energy more efficiently via ongoing densification because the overall energy flux is continually increasing. The continuous densification process is conducted via re-development involving the structure’s total demolition attributed to the inexpensive materials and construction costs of RC residential high-rise structures compared to the expected profit margin. Both operational and construction costs were marginalized and ignored by urban design decision makers because of the high property values that owners received after redevelopment. As demonstrated below, the primary reason for the demolition of buildings in Seoul was to increase profitability by increasing density; thus, the ability of a building to generate profit is unrelated to the structural durability of a complex [7].

As indicated in a previous study by Abramson, this capitalistic phenomenon and continuous reorganization of urban structures were described as a “continuous creative destruction” [21]. The gradual self-organization of an urban metabolism toward the maximum power system can also be explained using a metaphoric urban phenomenon described by Koolhaas as “urban cannibalism”. Koolhaas states that the continuous growth of the social energy system was a fundamental condition for this metabolism [22].

Rising real estate prices encouraged the public to invest in housing, which helped generate the overall attitude of society toward treating homes as commodities. The Archigram, in the 1960s, predicted the future of urban architecture based on the dominant capitalist powers and extension of globalism using a variety of hypothetical projects [23]. This model offered a clear depiction of the architectural norms created via the confluence of various socioeconomic factors driven by the reign of capitalism.

A simplified pulsing cycle proposed by Odum (Figure 3) indicates that the balance of the entire system is lost, and it faces a steep decrease when the consumption graph starts to outweigh production and is pushed far, largely influenced by its own momentum [8,10]. This large-scale thermodynamic phenomenon of the energy cycle pulsing plays an important role in managing our urban energy system, especially with variables such as residential housing stocks with significant effects.

This conceptual mechanism can be better understood with the diagram drawn by Odum (Figure 3), which describes the productive versus consumptive behavior of a general system’s pulsing cycle that allows us to predict the future pattern of the urban energy system [10]. As the production curve begins to decline within a general pulsing cycle, it becomes a consumption curve because of its dynamic momentum. This continues to increase within its complex adaptive system. Overall, the more extensive urban energy system starts to lose its balance from this point of divergence. An increasing momentum created by the desire for abundance coincides with the decreasing amounts of fossil fuels in the urban energy system; this is represented as production in Odum’s pulsing cycle [10].

It is necessary to create a measure to understand and reflect the long-term behavior of social residential urban building stocks in relationship with their consumption and production. In this research, two countries from Europe and two countries from East Asia were selected for the analysis [11]. This research explores the intersection of macroeconomic factors within the framework of an energetic pulsing cycle based on Odum’s theory [10]. To accomplish this, the production aspect of Odum’s pulsing cycle is assessed using the gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate [15]. The gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) in housing volume is used to represent consumption. GFCF is a crucial factor in predicting the socioeconomic and scientific–technological development of a country. It is an integral part of GDP calculations based on the expendable approach, encompassing gross domestic fixed investments such as land improvements, plant acquisitions, machinery, and equipment. Among these components, the fixed asset portion, particularly the GFCF in housing volume, is considered a concept that signifies consumption within Odum’s energetics theory on a macro scale. Given the complexity of modern obsolescence in macro-scaled cities, this research framework regards the fixed asset of GFCF in housing volume as an expandable object oriented towards consumption.

This research accesses the GDP growth rate and the gross fixed capital formation housing volume from four stabilized countries (Japan, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Republic of Korea (Figure 4)). The selection of these countries encompasses four distinct peak periods of rapid urbanization (

Table 1. Post-war socioeconomic expansion of the countries being compared [15].

	Period of Rapid Urban Population	Speed of Urban Population Increase	Peak GDP Increase
United Kingdom	~1950s	-	1973
The Netherland	1990s~2010s	slow	1965
Japan	1960s~1970s	fast	1968
Republic of Korea	1970s~1980s	fast	1973

). To examine the modern macroscale energy system within the framework of Odum’s energy systems theory, each case was analyzed based on three factors that describe the patterns of production and consumption: GDP growth rate, urban concentration rate, and the rate of gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) in housing volume. The Netherlands represents a country that underwent a gradual urbanization process during the late 20th century. The United Kingdom serves as an example of industry-driven rapid urbanization that occurred during the 19th century. Japan represents industry-driven rapid urbanization that took place prior to the 1960s.

Moreover, Republic of Korea exhibits a similar urbanization pattern to that of Japan during the 1960s and 1970s. As depicted in Figure 4, both Republic of Korea and Japan experienced rapid economic growth in the late 20th century, resulting in a substantial emphasis on the gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) in housing volume. This focus can be attributed to their real-estate-centric economic development strategy model during that period.

This research analyzes each country’s socioeconomic reaction to the diverging point in their energy cycle. The rate of change for each data pattern and their relationship to each other is expected to help indicate the stability of the particular urban energy system. The representative typology of the society shows the characteristic of its speed in construction when the consumption is far lower than the production; this is usually presented in the cost of urban values such as barren liminal spaces between blocks and non-durable structures. Despite the difficulty of direct comparison because of the various real-world factors that cannot be clearly predicted, it is not easy to find a diverging point based on the graph in Odum’s energy theory [8,10]. However, by indicating the point where the significant change in trend increase and decrease from one of the indicators, we can consider our built environment’s energy system in terms of a larger urban energy system.

Problems in identifying methods to handle degrading concrete buildings arise when the growth of an economy stops and the population begins to stagger. Every activity has an impact hidden in the past and the future; therefore, the distance seems meaningless. Such future marks are unpredictable and can initiate sudden tipping points and unforeseen consequences. A central element in understanding the crisis of obsolescence in modern urban planning is capitalism. Daniel M. Abramson explained that the paradigm of architectural obsolescence originated as an effort toward sustaining capitalism from within [21]. The drastic evolution of fashion and taste was the inevitable result of rapid economic growth exacerbated by the housing market, which incentivized the demolition of perfectly adequate buildings to gain a premium of newness [24].

Abramson’s analysis of architectural obsolescence is a valuable model in understanding the thermodynamic tendency of large-scale energy systems for engaging with their historically based socioeconomic trajectory for growth. However, the limitation of this model is in the timeframe on which it is based, specifically when socioeconomic metabolism is in its growth period. The objective of this research is to analyze how the timing and pace of economic growth and urbanization affect the consumption of cement and concrete in housing construction. These factors have a notable impact on the rapidly expanding cities of fast-developing countries, where housing construction plays a significant role in the overall utilization of concrete.

7. Results and Discussion

During the period starting from 1970 to 2010, the Netherlands was stable in its urban concentration amount. However, since around 2000, production started to decline, and the maintenance of those building stocks started to cause urban issues. The recent proactive effort to intervene in the performance of existing building stock became a governmental priority (Figure 5). The research-based book was distributed to provide guidance toward developing a balanced approach that incorporates sustainable and optional practices for the effective management of the sustainable adaptation of existing commercial buildings [15].

In Japan, massive concrete urban high rises were developed during the post-war economic growth. The rapid influx of population into mega-cities led land prices to skyrocket, which caused many to settle on the cheaper outskirts of the city, leading to an unplanned, rapid urban sprawl. At this time, it was feared that left to its own devices, the uncontrolled expansion of built-up areas would lead to poorly planned communities with insufficient infrastructure to support the population and with poor access to amenities and transport. Both Japan and the Netherlands demonstrated a stabilized balance between the GDP growth rate and the GFCF on housing volume. The recent trend of GFCF outweighing the GDP growth rate coincides with the reduction in the traditional manufacturing industries. Further, this affects the country’s trends in terms of post-industrial architecture and creative adaptive reuse projects.

However, as shown in Figure 5, Japan’s GFCF on housing is considerably larger than that of the Netherlands. This indicates that the housing capital in Japan is more closely related to its economic expansion. Further, this economic formation type between the real estate’s position inside the overall economy is also an important time-related characteristic of society, which is highly defined by the time of its major formation, as indicated by Rowe.

United Kingdom (UK) also has an economy that is less dependent on real estate investment compared to other East Asian countries. However, its rapid increase during the 1990s and the slight decreasing trend in its economic expansion rate indicate that a significant amount of urban energy stocks are being added to the urban area. Although the urban concentration rate seems stable, the gentrification inside the main CBD zone inside the same urban area seems to play a role in adding significant new building stocks inside existing cities. This market-dominated process can be interpreted based on Odum’s energetics theory as a sign of the future prediction of its downward trend for its consumption.

When Republic of Korea started its developmental boom in the late 1970s, urbanization occurred at an unprecedented speed. As society started changing, the socioeconomic pursuit of maximum production efficiency by labor-intensive industries led to rapid urban concentrations, and this was followed by urgent demands for urban housing. Speedy development and a fast distribution system were keys to maximizing profits for both developers and local governments, and these profits and tax revenues were re-invested in other parts of the industry. Further, it simplified the central government’s efforts to provide higher-quality housing and gentrify neighborhoods quickly at a minimum federal budget and effort, which also led to greater political popularity. The low home mortgage rates enabled consumers to purchase their own housing units more easily. After a decade of continued popularity, the psychological perception of average Korean citizens regarding these apartment units was that of a status symbol indicating a successful middle-class citizen. This can be compared to the perception of owning a suburban single-family house in North America during its rapid post-war growth. Buying and living in this type of apartment allowed residents to have psychological as well as economic relief [7].

In Republic of Korea, the average life span of a building is 20 years, compared to over 60 years in European countries [14]. This unique short-term life expectancy originates from the state of the crisis created by the unprecedented speed of urban expansion and growth. According to the World Cement Association, each of the top ten countries in cement usage per capita per year is home to an Asian city that is currently growing [25]. Cities that have stopped the development processes several decades earlier, such as Japan, still use the most cement in the construction industry. These concrete buildings are demolished and rebuilt without increasing urban energy flow. The limited temporal considerations for construction methods created during growth periods continue with cycles of ongoing destruction despite these measures no longer being required to expand urban energy systems.

In terms of population growth, a comparison between European cities and Asian countries during the analysis period reveals distinct patterns of energy accumulation. The Netherlands demonstrates a gradual increase in urban concentration over several decades, while the gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) on housing volume remains relatively stable. In contrast, the United Kingdom experienced a sharp rise in GFCF on housing volume followed by a subsequent decline, while the urban concentration rate remained steady. Japan exhibited rapid GDP growth during the 1960s and 1970s, with the peak of GFCF on housing volume occurring 23 years after the GDP growth peak. Subsequently, the GDP growth rate decreases, while the urban concentration rate returns to an earlier increasing trend. Republic of Korea underwent a swift urbanization rate during the 1960s and 1970s, followed by an increase in GFCF on housing volume, which lagged behind by approximately 35 years. Eventually, a decreasing trend in GFCF on housing volume ensues.

8. Conclusions

In general, the modern building industry uses approximately 60 percent of concrete with proportional use with reinforcing steel [26]. However, countries that experienced urban expansion late in the 20th century show a heavy dependence on reinforced concrete structures for their affordability and speed of construction [27]. Therefore, the steep pulsing cycle evaluation via the examination of housing assets compared with economic growth rate shows close similarity to the consumption and production cycle relationship exhibited in Odum’s energetics theory. In general, in all countries, the economic growth rate’s change rate showed an inverse relationship with the society’s housing asset’s change rates, and this was pronounced for more extreme changes such as UK and Republic of Korea. However, for slow-changing societies such as the Netherlands and Japan, a mild urban concentration was followed by stabilized economic growth as different economic factors, such as demographic shifts, played a role. However, the pattern of the peak of housing asset spending followed by the peak of economic expansion remained identical to this research hypothesis based on Odum’s energetics theory ap-pied to the macro urban energy system.

Bataille indicated society’s tendency to ignore the general rule of the universal economy and to run its systems under the law of limited temporal scope [4]. This limited economical consideration leads to catastrophic destruction because of the imbalance between the abundant natural production and the consumable capacity of the system. Bataille indicated that the general movement of exudation (of waste) of living matter urges the population and cannot be prevented. Therefore, the proper understanding (i.e., as presented by Bataille) of this sound general economy allows us to refocus the “excess” energy, which was squandered in the past human history as a form of overall destruction to delay its overall decline [9].

This model is based on two cases in which we either (1) maintain or (2) change the destructive momentum of the building conventions. The once convivial relationship between the short-term profitability of modern construction methodologies and the steep increase in urban pulsing cycles began to diverge in opposing directions. During the growth period, various conventions and matching building typologies were used to maximize their energy flux when abundant production provided reasons and resources to complement its temporality. However, the prolonged rate maintained by these norms in our current urban energy systems continues when the increasing momentum of consumption surpasses the peaked and decreasing production; this is now a dangerous and destructive force. There are limited approaches to reducing the increasing momentum of consumption without catastrophes. Instead, if more consumption is fed back into production, the pulsing peak will decrease to reduce the catastrophic decline (Figure 6).

In conclusion, the analysis of the data, based on Odum’s energetics theory, provides specific insights into the relationship between urbanization, economic growth, and the use of concrete buildings. The findings reveal that the construction of reinforced concrete (RC) apartments in response to rapid urbanization during the late 20th century in Asian cities has inherent limitations. These limitations stem from the hybrid nature of RC and the inadequate treatment of inner rebar corrosion compounded by insufficient control over the “structural class” amidst expanding economies.

By employing Odum’s theory, this research sheds light on the interplay between macroeconomic factors and the urban energy system. The assessment, using a comparative analysis of countries at different stages of urban economic expansion, identifies critical points when production surpasses consumption. The research highlights the challenges faced by RC buildings, provides a deeper understanding of their limited life cycle duration, and underscores the need for sustainable approaches in urban development.

Furthermore, the reformatted graph in Figure 5 illustrates the peak expanding year and the subsequent lagging diversion between consumption and production. This reinforces the key findings and contributes to a clearer presentation of the research analysis. The comprehensive examination of the data within the framework of Odum’s energetics theory enhances our understanding of the macro urban energy system and its implications for concrete construction in rapidly developing urban areas.