The role of flexible and adaptable housing as part of the circular economy

Abstract

Nowadays, the economy is based on the linear method in which people harvest, consume, and dispose of materials and buildings, affecting the environment negatively. Circular economy (CE) in cities aims to maintain and value as well as optimize the use of city assets and products through circular actions: sharing, recycling, refurbishing, re-using, replacing, and digitizing. CE will address the linear system inadequacies and move towards a sustainable society. Mainly, housing is considered a driver of economic, social, and civic development. It is also considered as one of the biggest sectors adding to these adverse effects by growing energy and water consumption, sewage burdens, and flooding. Therefore, the housing study toward CE's aims is the top priority for the circular economy transition. Most of the current CE research focuses on design for the disassembly and recycling of material. Instead, this study aims to further the investigation of flexibility and adaptability in housing as part of CE. By using quanlitative mothods (Literature Review, Theoretical Analysis, Secondary Data Analysis), this paper proposes the state-of-art housing design approaches that meet the requirements for the capacity of housing can adapt to different residents’ and societal needs over time to ensure that the building and its materials remain in circulation for as long as possible. The results contribute to real estate development in the formation of environmentally sustainable cities, as well as toward Circle Economy in the context that the yearly supply of homes continues to increase due to urbanization.

Keywords

• flexible housing
• circle economy
• spatial organization
• sustainable housing development
• real estate development
• environmentally sustainable cities