Future Urban Resource Centers

The development of buildings is an immensely carbon- and resource-intensive process and circular economy strategies are key to decrease the environmental impacts of the construction industry. In developed economies, extensive volumes of construction materials are stocked in existing buildings and ought to be reclaimed. Still, reuse rates remain dramatically low. According to practitioners, facilities to store and redistribute reclaimed construction materials, i.e., Urban Resource Centers (URCs) are missing. Indeed, today, URCs are very few and decentralized. The organizational, logistical (e.g., transport related) and thus environmental implications of upscaling URCs remain unclear.

This project aims to determine the extent to which wide-scale implementation of URCs could help decrease the construction industry’s environmental impact. The multi-method approach used in this project includes a dynamic Material Stock and Flow Analysis, a participative-spatial MCDA, and a parametric environmental assessment model integrating logistics considerations. By addressing this aim through such multi-method approach, the project develops – and tests on Gothenburg – a toolbox for municipalities and construction actors to engage with the topic of URCs and to create strategic knowledge to rethink their operation.