Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
5.6
3.4
Journals
Buildings
Special Issues
Circular Strategies for the Built Environment: Innovations in Adaptation, Reuse...
share announcement

Circular Strategies for the Built Environment: Innovations in Adaptation, Reuse and Recycling

A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Architectural Design, Urban Science, and Real Estate".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 4086

Editors

Dr. Anibal C. Maury-Ramirez

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Architecture Department, Faculty of Design Sciences, University of Antwerp, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
Interests: circular economy; sustainable building materials; life cycle assessment; urban metabolism
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Mario Rinke

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Architecture Department, Faculty of Design Sciences, University of Antwerp, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
Interests: circularity; structural design; material history; architecture education; technical knowledge transformation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue explores circular strategies in the built environment, focusing on innovative approaches to adaptation, reuse, and recycling. It aims to highlight cutting-edge research, design and construction practices, and policy frameworks that promote resource efficiency and reduce environmental impact. Contributions may address circular strategies such as building adaption, components reuse, and materials recycling. The Issue welcomes interdisciplinary perspectives that integrate material, architectural, structural, and urban scales. By showcasing scalable solutions, it seeks to inspire transformative change toward a regenerative and resilient built environment.

Dr. Anibal C. Maury-Ramirez
Prof. Dr. Mario Rinke
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • circularity
  • adaptation
  • reuse
  • recycling
  • sustainability

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

28 pages, 785 KB  
Article
Circular Economy Awareness as a Moderator of Knowledge Transformation: Evidence from the Bamboo Construction Industry
by Jiaxing Liu, Chayanon Hansapinyo, Acrapol Nimmolrat, Arnab Majumdar and Achara Khamaksorn
Buildings 2026, 16(12), 2403; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings16122403 - 17 Jun 2026
Viewed by 271
Abstract
Bamboo construction faces a persistent “high technical potential–low market adoption” paradox: despite advances in material mechanics and structural engineering, industry adoption remains limited, and the organisational mechanisms of knowledge transformation behind this gap remain underexamined. Shifting the analysis from technology to organisation, this [...] Read more.
Bamboo construction faces a persistent “high technical potential–low market adoption” paradox: despite advances in material mechanics and structural engineering, industry adoption remains limited, and the organisational mechanisms of knowledge transformation behind this gap remain underexamined. Shifting the analysis from technology to organisation, this study develops an integrated framework grounded in the knowledge-based view, Knowledge Reuse Theory, and circular economy (CE) principles. Within the Input–Tools and Techniques–Output (ITTO) framework, this study examines how influence factors, knowledge requirements, and knowledge classification are converted, via the knowledge management process (KMP), into structured knowledge assets (KA), and reconceptualises CE awareness as an organisational cognitive orientation that applies CE asset-management logic to knowledge resources. Survey data from 372 bamboo construction practitioners in mainland China were analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM). The three inputs were significantly associated with the KMP (β 0.200 to 0.299, p < 0.01); the KMP, in turn, was positively associated with KA (β = 0.183, p < 0.01); and CE awareness positively moderated the pathway (interaction β = 0.148, p < 0.05). The study offers a domain-respecified CE awareness construct with an empirical mechanism, providing a tractable organisational cognition perspective on the mechanisms that may support adoption readiness in bamboo construction. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Circular Strategies for the Built Environment: Innovations in Adaptation, Reuse and Recycling)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

27 pages, 3257 KB  
Article
The Effect of Circular Strategies on Reducing the Embodied Carbon When Renovating Residential Dwellings in Flanders
by Els Van de moortel and Karen Allacker
Buildings 2026, 16(4), 722; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings16040722 - 10 Feb 2026
Viewed by 704
Abstract
As buildings are responsible for an important share of the energy use and related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Europe, renovation of the building stock is a key priority in the coming decades. As these large-scale renovations will require a vast amount of [...] Read more.
As buildings are responsible for an important share of the energy use and related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Europe, renovation of the building stock is a key priority in the coming decades. As these large-scale renovations will require a vast amount of materials, sustainable solutions for material use in renovations must be searched for. To date, the use of circular materials is put forward to reduce the embodied impact of building renovations. To get a better insight into the carbon footprint of building renovation using circular materials, the life cycle carbon footprint for these renovation solutions is studied in this paper. To avoid burden shifting, multiple impact categories have been assessed. For each element of the building envelope, a life cycle assessment (LCA) has been conducted of a renovation with conventional materials and four circular renovation measures, i.e., avoiding materials, using reclaimed materials, using recycled materials, and using bio-based materials. The results provide insight into the environmental benefits and burdens of these circular renovation approaches for single family houses in Flanders. This paper is expected to contribute to the debate on using circular strategies for renovation by highlighting their benefits and burdens. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Circular Strategies for the Built Environment: Innovations in Adaptation, Reuse and Recycling)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-2
Back to TopTop