TISEDTALKS Series: Circular Economy and the Built Environment: From Housing to Data

Presented by: Naomi Keena, PhD

As the rates of urbanization increase to unprecedented levels, the urgent need for sustainable housing and infrastructure has become a widespread global challenge with social, economic, and ecological implications. The housing sector, and its value chain, directly impacts the majority of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs). However, managing interconnections within the Built Environment Process (BEP) value chain poses many challenges. This is typically due to the siloed nature of the building sector which follows a material throughput, linear economy. This facilitates a culture of take-make-waste and lacks incentives for collaboration and exchange across the value chain. One promising approach in rethinking current siloed models within the BEP, is that of circular economy (CE) which envisions a sustainable future where waste is eliminated in the built environment and materials and buildings are kept in use for as long as possible. A CE approach to housing can go beyond solely waste recovery.

This talk will present an approach to exploring CE in the built environment via building practices (a built case study) and data-driven approaches (a web application). It will highlight the need for both new
circular building practices as well as their data-driven counterpart towards understanding and linking the complexity of the BEP value chain and supporting low-carbon and cost-effective decision-making. By unlocking the potential of CE principles in the built environment, this research holds potential significance to CE methods and evidence-based decision-making, amendments to policy and building codes, and the creation of incentives for cross-industry collaboration towards a sustainable and progressive future.

TISED mobilizes knowledge to educate and influence public policy around sustainability working with McGill University's engineers, architects, and planners. TISED promotes bold and green ideas through education, outreach, and research, where we aim to connect our institution with the public for a greater understanding of sustainability issues in our society.