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Circular Economy and Modular Construction for a Sustainable Built Environment

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Green Building".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 13 July 2024 | Viewed by 5463

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Michael Adabre

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Guest Editor

Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China
Interests: sustainability; sustainable housing; affordable housing; circular economy; construction management; quantity surveying

Prof. Dr. David J. Edwards

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Guest Editor

1. Department of the Built Environment, Birmingham City University, Birmingham B4 7XG, UK
2. CIDB Centre of Excellence, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg 2092, South Africa
Interests: construction management; plant and machinery management; digital technologies; health and safety; pedagogical research in higher education; business management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Amos Darko

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Guest Editor

Department of Construction Management, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 351610, USA
Interests: sustainability issues in the built environment; green and net zero carbon built environment; project management; digital technologies
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

(1) Introduction, including scientific background and highlighting the importance of this research area.

The good, the bad and the ugly of the construction industry! The construction industry is an essential vehicle for infrastructure supply. The industry achieves its goal of infrastructure supply through the prevailing linear economy, take–make–dispose, which has negative repercussions. In addition to the negative aspect of excessive utilization of the Earth’s scarce resources attributed to the linear economy approach, the industry’s ugly aspects include waste generation and carbon emissions. However, for a sustainable built environment, the bad must be corrected and the ugly eliminated. Circular economy and modular construction are two complementary approaches for solving the problems thereof. Circular economy entails various principles, such as reuse, recycle, reduce, repurpose, etc., for optimum resource utilization, reduction in or elimination of construction waste and carbon emission. On the other hand, modular construction is a type of offsite construction that could yield similar benefits and expedite the transition towards a circular economy in the construction industry. Accordingly, promoting these two concepts, circular economy and modular construction, could ensure the attainment of a sustainable built environment.

(2) Aim of the Special Issue and how the subject relates to the journal scope.

This Special Issue aims to promote circular economy and/or modular construction for a sustainable built environment. Both circular economy and modular construction could ensure optimum utilization of the Earth’s finite resources, elimination of construction and demolition waste and a reduction in carbon emission. These benefits are a part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by the United Nations, which the Sustainability journal aims to support.

(3) Suggest themes.

Circular economy transition in the construction industry;
Modular construction in the built environment;
Circularity and modularity in the construction industry;
Circular economy as a socio-technical phenomenon;
Sustainable built environment.

Dr. Michael Adabre
Prof. Dr. David Edwards
Dr. Amos Darko
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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.

Keywords

circular economy
sustainability
sustainable construction
modular construction
modularity

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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19 pages, 3690 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Barriers to Solar PV Adoption in Developing Countries: Multiple Regression and Analytical Hierarchy Process Approach

by Mansoor Mustafa, Muhammad Omer Farooq Malik and Ahsen Maqsoom

Sustainability 2024, 16(3), 1032; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su16031032 - 25 Jan 2024

Viewed by 948

Abstract

The globe is transitioning from traditional methods of electricity generation to renewable resources in order to achieve sustainable goals. Solar energy is a promising and abundant renewable resource that shows great potential as a viable alternative to traditional energy. Furthermore, the production of electricity from solar energy is the most cost-effective compared to other kinds of renewable energy. Nevertheless, the execution of solar initiatives in underdeveloped nations is encountering several obstacles. Identifying the most significant obstacles in the execution of solar projects is of utmost importance. This study uses a linear regression model (LRM) and an analytical hierarchical process (AHP) to determine the main barriers to the implementation of renewable energy projects in a developing economy, i.e., Pakistan. By conducting an extensive review of the relevant literature and consulting with experts, the most significant categories of obstacles were determined. A survey based on 429 responses was collected from the participants working at solar projects. Subsequently, the responses were subjected to processing and analysis using the relative importance index (RII), AHP, and linear regression modeling techniques. The linear regression analysis revealed several significant variables that hinder progress, including financial conditions, policies, technological awareness, institutional support, social and environmental awareness, market stability, and other miscellaneous factors. The AHP analysis revealed the key factors that have the greatest impact, which include effective policies, financial stability, technological expertise, institutional support, market stability, various aspects, and social and environmental awareness. The study’s conclusions are beneficial for all stakeholders and project managers in enhancing the project management of solar initiatives. It would also facilitate prompt decision-making regarding policy formulation and implementation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Circular Economy and Modular Construction for a Sustainable Built Environment)

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20 pages, 5430 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Novel Offsite Construction Method for Social Housing in Emerging Economies for Low Cost and Reduced Environmental Impact

by Danilo Tapia, Marcelo González, Sergio Vera and Carlos Aguilar

Sustainability 2023, 15(24), 16922; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su152416922 - 17 Dec 2023

Viewed by 1291

Abstract

Offsite construction methods have shown many advantages over traditional construction techniques, especially related to efficiency and productivity during the construction phase. Nevertheless, offsite construction generally involves oversizing the internal structure of the modules due to the internal stresses produced during transport and lifting operations, producing an increase in material usage, direct cost, and carbon footprint. In developing countries, the direct cost of social housing is the most important factor determining the feasibility of construction. For this reason, oversizing the internal structure of the modules can play an important role in the adoption of a modern construction technique such as offsite construction systems. In order to solve this issue, a temporary reusable stiffener structure is proposed to allow an economical offsite construction system using a lightweight steel framing structure used in traditional methods. The reusable structure was designed using a finite element method, and the direct cost and carbon footprint of the structure were evaluated. The results show that the proposed construction strategy allows for a low cost and reduced environmental impact due to a lower usage of materials in the modules and the possibility of a circular economy approach to the reusable structure. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Circular Economy and Modular Construction for a Sustainable Built Environment)

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Other

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25 pages, 6741 KiB

Open AccessSystematic Review

Barriers to Adopting Digital Technologies to Implement Circular Economy Practices in the Construction Industry: A Systematic Literature Review

by Sivanuja Thirumal, Nilupa Udawatta, Gayani Karunasena and Riyadh Al-Ameri

Sustainability 2024, 16(8), 3185; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su16083185 - 10 Apr 2024

Viewed by 436

Abstract

The construction industry is a resource- and energy-intensive sector, and, thus, it has been criticised due to rising environmental concerns. As a result, it has gained heightened interest in the concept of the circular economy (CE) over the last decade due to its ability to promote the slowing, reducing, and closing production and consumption cycles of materials and products used in construction projects. Current research studies suggest that digital technologies may enhance the construction industry’s ability to integrate the concept of CE into its practices. However, a clear understanding of digital technology (DT)-related barriers that hinder practical implementation of CE appears to be lacking within the sector. Thus, this study aims to identify the barriers to adopting DTs to implement CE practices in the construction industry. A systematic literature review was conducted by reviewing twenty-eight (28) relevant papers published until March 2024 in the Scopus and Web of Science databases. The VOS viewer software (version 1.6.11) was used to perform a co-occurrence analysis of keywords to identify new and popular study areas in the field. The content analysis was used to analyse the significant barriers to adapting DTs to implement CE in the construction industry; frequency and Pareto analyses were used to determine the most critical obstacles. This study identified thirty-seven (37) barriers to using DTs to implement CE, categorised into nine areas: organisational, infrastructure, regulatory, standardisation, investment, nature of the construction industry, technological, stakeholder, and data-related barriers. Of these thirty-seven barriers, nineteen were identified as critical barriers based on Pareto analysis. These findings will benefit construction practitioners and policymakers who want to adopt DTs to integrate CE practices in the construction industry. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Circular Economy and Modular Construction for a Sustainable Built Environment)

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