About Circular Economy in the Built Environment

As we face increasing concerns about the negative environmental impacts of the built environment, governments and general society worldwide have been seeking more efficient and sustainable constructions. Hence, the Circular Economy (CE) emerged as a new paradigm of innovative practice with potential application to the construction industry and other economic sectors. Following the European Circular Economy Action Plan (ECEAP), multiple efforts have been made to apply circular thinking to construction practices and include resource circularity in sustainability frameworks. However, despite these endeavours, there remains a lack of knowledge that fully implements the circularity potential, classifies buildings and other structures accordingly, and assesses the realisation level of the ECEAP in what concerns construction, assembly, adaptability, deconstruction, and business model guidelines for new and existing structures, to enhance CE in the built environment and promote stakeholder knowledge.

This collection is dedicated to the publication of the progress made in implementing the circular economy in the built environment across Europe and to a more holistic understanding of the various challenges encountered.

Potential topics include but are not limited to:

• Strategies, tools, systems and business models to implement circular economy in buildings and cities
• BIM, GIS, CIM and digitalization applied to circular and sustainable buildings and cities
• Adaptation of cities and buildings to climate change
• Nearly zero and positive energy built environments
• Environmentally friendly renewable energy systems
• Mitigation of impacts in urban areas
• Sustainable management of energy, water, sewage and waste
• Sustainable and circular building technologies
• Technologies for a sustainable and circular built environment
• Sustainability and life-cycle assessment tools
• Training and education to promote the implementation of circular and sustainable approaches
• Governance, strategies and business models for a circular and sustainable built environment.

This collection was developed in conjunction with the CircularB COST Action network (CA21103) but is open to submissions from Horizon projects.

Only work funded by Horizon 2020 and/or Horizon Europe is eligible for publication on Open Research Europe and all article processing charges will be covered centrally by the European Commission.