A Circular Economy for a Cleaner Built Environment

Dear Colleagues,

The circular economy appears to be an effective solution that should be applied by all sectors to provide a response to the unprecedented and alarming situation that the world is currently facing. The AEC sector is one of the most resource-intensive sectors (using approximately 40% of total natural resources globally), generating Megatons of waste every year (approximately 40% of worldwide waste) and having an immense impact on the environment (approximately 33% of global emissions). To solve this dilemma, the transition from a linear to circular economy by the construction sector appear to be an imposed path. The entire supply chain must embrace the disruptive changes required and adopt a new way of thinking, designing and consuming. In Europe, many initiatives have emerged. First, the European Commission has called for tackling economic dependence on natural resources by taking into account the current building stock. Secondly, the "European Green Deals" set a target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Then, many standards have been revised to be able to consider the circular economy approach. Lastly, a specific standard focusing on the circular economy in the construction sector, the CEN/TC 350,  is under development.

Although interest in the circular economy applied to the built environment has been increasing, our knowledge and understanding on how to practically implement it is still far from satisfactory. This Special Issue focuses on the circular economy in the built environment. The main purpose of the Special Issue is to provide the latest research on the circular economy for the built environment, coupled with digitalization, throughout the entire supply chain. Papers may focus on the implementation of the circular economy and applications of principles of circularity (case studies/best practice examples), assessment tools (indicators, methodologies,) practitioners’ feedback, the barriers and drivers for the adoption of a circular economy, policies, business models and new forms of shared services, etc. The Special Issue hosts empirical research or conceptual papers and we are soliciting submissions of both original research articles and reviews. Research topics may include (but are not limited to) the following for the built environment:

• Circular economy;
• Sharing economy (business model, product service system, etc.);
• Circular economy policies;
• Reuse/repair/remanufacturing;
• Technological innovation toward sustainability;
• Digitalization for the circular economy;
• Construction and demolition waste management;
• “Design for” approaches (design for deconstruction, design for disassembly, DfMA, etc);
• Building refurbishment, adaptability and flexibility;
• Closed loop, reverse logistics;
• Circular processes;
• Circularity assessment, circularity indicators;
• Urban mining, material banks, anthropogenic stocks;
• Examples of circular buildings (best practice/case studies).

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Rabia Charef
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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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-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability 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 2400 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.

• circular economy
• digitalization
• sustainability
• DfMA
• deconstruction
• circular principles
• design for disassembly
• reuse
• circular processes/closed loop