This open access book summarizes the research being pursued as part of the COST Action CA21103 titled "Implementation of Circular Economy in the Built Environment" (Circular B), which aims to define the methodology to develop a common circularity framework for inclusive application and assessment in new and existing buildings to support decision-making for all value chain stakeholders and appraise the implementation level of the European Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP). The Action is increasingly gaining interest worldwide, bringing multidisciplinary young and experienced researchers together to share the latest studies and develop new knowledge. Consisting of 17 chapters corresponding to the conference themes, the book analyses and discusses topics such as Circular Economy (CE) best practices, design strategies for circular buildings, circular materials and products, adaptive reuse of existing buildings, recovery and reuse of salvaged materials and products, case studies of current applications and trends, barriers against CE implementation in buildings, efficient waste and circular resource management, circular lifecycle management and decision making, stakeholders relationships, CE supporting policies and barriers, circular business models, criteria, KPIs and assessment models for circular buildings, CE criteria in sustainability frameworks, digitalization and BIM for enhanced circularity of buildings and building materials, and standardization of CE definitions in buildings.

This book examines green transition and circular economy in the fields of building design and Real Estate management. By outlining windows for seizing the opportunity to integrate circular approaches in current building practices, the book provides information tools to support building stakeholders (e.g. building designer and managers, manufacturers, Real Estate owners, maintenance operators, facility managers, etc.) in: (i) understanding circular re-strategies (e.g. reuse, remanufacturing, repurposing, etc.), the related requirements and the pre-conditions for their implementation within building design and management practices; (ii) reviewing design approaches at the product and building scale, also highlighting new circularity-related contents for the Briefing Documents; (iii) developing circular organizational and contract models for the procurement of Facility Management services, also integrating new circularity-related contents in Invitations to Tenders (ITTs); and (iv) assessing the quality and the effectiveness of circular practices, also highlighting circularity performance metrics and indicators in the context of corporate sustainability reporting.

Available online: https://pub.norden.org/nord2023-031/ Nordic Network for circular construction. Report from work package 2 about barriers and possibilites within circular construction, A state of the art report from the five Nordic countries, The situation in the countries during 2018-2022.

This book provides an overview of the circular economy in the built environment, presenting a fusion of insights from esteemed researchers and seasoned practitioners. The chapters cover pivotal themes, including the transformative concept of buildings as material banks, innovative design approaches, and the potential of digitalization for a circular built environment. Beyond these foundational themes, the book critically addresses the integration of low-tech solutions and some principles of sobriety in the built environment. It also takes an informed look at the role of standardization, providing nuanced insights into its driving influence on circular practices and the associated challenges and opportunities. The book adopts a trans-scalar perspective by traversing the entire spectrum of building phases from initial programming to the recovery phase, as well as from the scale of materials to the scale of buildings, offering a profound examination of the intricate dynamics involved in the offer/demand for recovered materials. This book highlights the paramount need to harmonize research with practical applications. By spotlighting effective circular practices and elucidating the challenges faced by practitioners, it identifies fertile grounds for further research. Moreover, the book extends its reach by offering practical ideas on how practitioners can seamlessly adopt a circular approach in both thought and realization. Circular Economy for the Built Environment: Research and Practice is a must-read book for students, researchers, academics, and practitioners in the fields of architecture, planning, engineering, construction, and real estate. This book provides a compelling narrative that bridges the theoretical and practical realms of the circular economy in the built environment.

This roadmap is designed to aid North Macedonia’s government in establishing a solid policy foundation for a successful transition to a circular economy.

This handbook explores the critically important topic of embodied carbon, providing advanced insights that focus on measuring and reducing embodied carbon from across the built environment, including buildings, urban areas and cities, and construction materials and components. Split into five distinct sections, international experts, researchers, and professionals present the recent developments in the field of embodied carbon from various perspectives and at different scales of material, building, and city. Following an introduction to the embodied carbon question, the chapters in Section 1 then cover the key debates around issues such as the politics of embodied carbon, links between embodied carbon and thermal mass, and the misuse of carbon offsets. Section 2 reviews the embodied carbon policies in a selected number of countries. Sections 3, 4, and 5 approach the topic of embodied carbon from urban-, building-, and material-scale perspectives, respectively, and use case studies to demonstrate estimation techniques and present opportunities and challenges in embodied carbon mitigation. This will be important reading for upper-level students and researchers in Architecture, Urban Planning, Engineering, and Construction disciplines. Presenting case studies of embodied carbon assessment, this book will also help practicing architects, engineers, and urban planners understand embodied carbon estimation techniques and different mitigation strategies.

This report offers guidance on how to prepare regions and cities for the transition towards a climate-neutral and circular economy by 2050 and is directed to all policymakers seeking to identify and implement concrete and ambitious transition pathways. It describes how cities, regions, and rural areas can manage the transition in a range of policy domains, including energy supply, conversion, and use, the transformation of mobility systems, and land use practices.

“Net Zero” has been an effective rallying cry for the green building movement, signaling a goal of having every building generate at least as much energy as it uses. Enormous strides have been made in improving the performance of every type of new building, and even more importantly, renovating the vast and energy-inefficient collection of existing buildings in every country. If we can get every building to net-zero energy use in the next few decades, it will be a huge success, but it will not be enough. In Build Beyond Zero, carbon pioneers Bruce King and Chris Magwood re-envision buildings as one of our most practical and affordable climate solutions instead of leading drivers of climate change. They provide a snapshot of a beginning and map towards a carbon-smart built environment that acts as a CO2 filter. Professional engineers, designers, and developers are invited to imagine the very real potential for our built environment to be a site of net carbon storage, a massive drawdown pool that could help to heal our climate. The authors, with the help of other industry experts, show the importance of examining what components of an efficient building (from windows to solar photovoltaics) are made with, and how the supply chains deliver all those products and materials to a jobsite. Build Beyond Zero looks at the good and the bad of how we track carbon (Life Cycle Assessment), then takes a deep dive into materials (with a focus on steel and concrete) and biological architecture, and wraps up with education, policy and governance, circular economy, and where we go in the next three decades. In Build Beyond Zero, King and Magwood show how buildings are culprits but stand poised to act as climate healers. They offer an exciting vision of climate-friendly architecture, along with practical advice for professionals working to address the carbon footprint of our built environment.