Implementation and evaluation of the circular economy model in the construction and demolition waste sector

Construction and demolition waste (CDW) is a major environmental concern that requires immediate attention. The large volumes of CDW produced and its associated environmental effects have led to explore new alternatives addressing this problem in more sustainable ways. In this context, the Circular Economy (CE) paradigm emerged as an innovative solution for creating more sustainable production and consumption patterns, fostering economic growth, and providing environmental protection and social welfare. At the global level, the concept of CE has gained increasing interest from government bodies, business organizations and academics. This has resulted in multiple political agendas including CE as a core driver, as well as an emerging trend of research exploring its concept and applications. However, because of the novelty and dynamism of the concept, research developments on practical applications and quantitative assessments are at an early stage. The main aim of this study was to propose an approach to integrate the CE concept in the construction and demolition sector, as well as providing the basis for evaluating the environmental and economic effects of circularity strategies and to monitor their implementation. For this purpose, an integrative framework of strategies for CE adoption in the CDW sector is proposed. This together with a methodological proposal to evaluate and compare the environmental and economic performance of different circularity alternatives incorporating multi-criteria decision analysis. In addition, this work proposes a system of indicators for measuring CE features for CDW products. The proposed framework identifies 14 influential strategies for the circularity of the CDW sector and describes their interaction throughout its lifecycle stages. The methodological proposal incorporates the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) methodology to assess the environmental dimension., while the economic criteria adopt a complex cost method. The multicriteria VIKOR method was used to perform the multi-criteria analysis. The methodology is applied to evaluate the use of concrete waste in high-grade applications, specifically the production of structural and non-structural concrete mixes in the region of Catalonia, Spain. The indicators framework incorporates a systematic approach considering the most relevant factors and parameters for successful measurement of CE interventions. It consists of 22 measures within the three dimensions of environment, economic and innovation/materials. Preconstruction strategies are highlighted as the most influential in the circularity of the sector. CE strategies presented better environmental and economic performance; however, results are conditioned by the particular context of the study. Transportation and landfilling are identified as the most conditioning parameters affecting both environmental and economic performance.Los residuos de construcción y demolición (RCD) son un grave problema medio ambiental que requiere atención inmediata. Los grandes volúmenes de RCD producidos y sus efectos ambientales han llevado a buscar nuevas alternativas para resolver esta problemática de forma más sostenible. En ese contexto, la Economía Circular (EC) ha emergido como una solución innovadora para crear patrones de producción y consumo más sostenibles, fomentar el crecimiento económico, asegurar la protección medio ambiental y la protección social. A nivel global, el concepto de la EC ha ganado interés entre organismos gubernamentales, sector empresarial y académicos. Ello ha resultado en la incorporación de la EC como eje conductor en múltiples agendas políticas y con una tendencia emergente en la investigación de su concepto y aplicaciones. Sin embargo, la investigación de las potenciales aplicaciones y su evaluación se encuentran en una fase temprana de desarrollo debido a la novedad y dinamismo del concepto. El objeto principal de este estudio fue el de desarrollar una propuesta de integración del concepto de EC en el sector de la construcción y la demolición, así como proveer las bases para evaluar los efectos económicos y ambientales de estrategias de circularidad y monitorear su implementación. Para ello, se propone un marco integrativo de estrategias para la adopción de la EC en el sector de los RCD, además de una propuesta metodológica para evaluar y comparar el desempeño económico y ambiental de diferentes alternativas de circularidad incorporando análisis de decisión multi-criterio. Asimismo, este trabajo propone un sistema de indicadores para medir características de circularidad de los RCD. El sistema propuesto identifica 14 estrategias de influencia para la circularidad del sector de los RCD, describiendo su interacción a lo largo de sus etapas de ciclo de vida. La propuesta metodológica de evaluación incorpora la metodología de Análisis de Ciclo de Vida (ACV) para el criterio ambiental, y el análisis de costes complejos para el criterio económico. Mientras que para el desarrollo del análisis multi-criterio fue utilizado el método VIKOR. La metodología es aplicada en la evaluación del uso de residuos de concreto en aplicaciones de alto grado, específicamente en la producción de hormigón estructural y no estructural en la región de Cataluña, España. El marco de indicadores incorpora un enfoque sistémico que considera los factores y parámetros más relevantes para la adecuada medición de estrategias de EC. Este consiste en 22 medidas contenidas en tres grupos o dimensiones: ambiental, económica y de innovación/materiales. Las estrategias durante la etapa pre-constructiva son identificadas como las más influyentes en la circularidad del sector. Resultados de la evaluación muestran un mejor desempeño económico y ambiental de las alternativas de EC, sin embargo, éstos son condicionados por el contexto específico de la zona de estudio. En particular, el transporte y el vertido son identificados como los parámetros más condicionantes tanto para el aspecto ambiental, como el económico.Els residus de construcció i demolició (RCD) són un greu problema mediambiental que requereix atenció immediata. Els grans volums de RCD produïts i els seus efectes ambientals han conduit a buscar noves alternatives per resoldre aquesta problemàtica en formes més sostenibles. En aquest context, l'Economia Circular (EC) ha emergit com una solució innovadora per a crear patrons de producció i de consum més sostenibles, impulsar el creixement econòmic, assegurar la protecció del medi ambient i la protecció social. A nivell global, el concepte de l'EC ha guanyat l'interès d'organismes governamentals, del sector empresarial i d'acadèmics. Això ha resultat en la incorporació de l'EC com eix conductor en múltiples agendes polítiques i amb una tendència emergent en la investigació del seu concepte i aplicacions. No obstant això, la investigació de les potencials aplicacions i la seva avaluació es troben en fase primerenca de desenvolupament degut a la novetat i dinamisme del concepte. L'objectiu principal d'aquest estudi va ser el desenvolupar una proposta d'integració de l'EC en el sector de la construcció i la demolició, així com proporcionar les bases per avaluar els efectes econòmics i ambientals d'estratègies de circularitat i monitoritzar la seva implementació. Per això, es proposa un marc integratiu d'estratègies per a l'adopció de l'EC en el sector dels RCD. A més, d'una proposta metodològica per avaluar i comparar el rendiment econòmic i ambiental de diferents alternatives de circularitat incorporant un anàlisi de decisió multi-criteri. Seguidament, aquest treball proposa un sistema d'indicadors per mesurar característiques de circularitat dels RCD. Aquest sistema identifica 14 estratègies d'influència per la circularitat del sector dels RCD, descrivint la seva interacció al llarg de les etapes de cicle de vida. La proposta metodològica d'avaluació incorpora la metodologia d'Anàlisis de Cicle de Vida (ACV) per al criteri ambiental, i l'anàlisi de costos complexos per al criteri econòmic. Mentre que per al desenvolupament de l'anàlisi multi-criteri s'ha utilitzat el mètode VIKOR. La metodologia s'aplica en l'avaluació del ús de residus de formigó en aplicacions d'alt grau, específicament en la producció de formigó estructural i no estructural en la regió de Catalunya, Espanya. El marc d'indicadors incorpora un enfocament sistèmic que considera els factors i paràmetres mes rellevants per a l'adequada mesura d'estratègies d'EC. Aquest consisteix en 22 mesures agrupades en 3 grups o dimensions: ambiental, econòmica i d'innovació/materials. S'identifica que les estratègies de l'etapa pre-constructiva són les més influents en la circularitat del sector. Els resultats de l'avaluació demostren que les alternatives d'EC presenten millor rendiment econòmic i ambiental, però, aquests són influenciats per les condicions particulars de la zona d'estudi. Particularment, el transport i abocament són identificats com els paràmetres més condicionants tan per el criteri ambiental, com per l'econòmic.Postprint (published version

WASTESCAPE REGENERATION. Values, approaches and tools to operationalise circular city models

This research investigates the wastescapes and their regeneration in urban contexts, presenting a deepening definition and an evaluation framework for a collaborative regeneration process. Because of the concept of waste, the wastescape is deemed as a multidimensional cultural landscape, constituted of discarded parts of metabolic resources, areas, built environment, society, and others systems of waste. Thus, it is composed of various multidimensional waste systems interplaying at different scales. In this sense, a wastescape is not only limited to a spatial domain. The urban physiology and morphology of the Netzstadt framework let define the urban systems of wastescape; mainly, metabolic processes and the built environment are explored in this research, and values, tools and methods to support regenerative processes in the frame of the circular city. Circular economy (CE) is becoming a global challenge to implement regenerative urban strategies in sustainability transition. Urban metabolism of waste, waste architecture and urban communities are the constituent systems considered in this study. Each one has different scales of analysis. While the urban metabolism is analysed at a big scale, the wasted architecture and urban community role are observed locally. The two scales reveal complementary issues and opportunities for the regeneration processes toward circular cities. This, the evaluation of an urban wastescape, as a multidimensional cultural landscape, consider environmental, social, economic and cultural dimensions. In this perspective, the urban landscape services can be the benchmarks for quantitative and qualitative analyses of the evaluation of the performances. In the circular city frame, policies and projects are oriented to the collaboration of multiple stakeholders and local actors. In this way, urban wastescape regeneration considers social equity and environmental justice in its fundamentals. In this path, the thesis explore both materials and methods of wastescape regeneration. In such urban policies, spatial decision-making support systems allow for managing multi-dimensional and multi-actor evaluation processes. The Geodesign method and multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDAs) are tested in two case studies at different scales. The case studies present two different wastescape analyses at two different scales, considering some relevant physiological and morphological aspects. The first case study analyses the Naples urban metabolism of waste in the REPAiR project. Starting from the CE principle that considers waste as a resource for sustainable development, resource management is at the centre of the REPAiR project research. In the Naples case, the Activity-based Spatial Material Flow Analysis (AS-MFA) map the organic waste and construction and demolition waste streams on the territory. From this wastescape status quo, the Geodesign Decision Support Environment supports the co-creation of circular economy strategies. It is a collaborative decision-making process, from knowledge to negotiation phase. Without deepening the morphological aspects, the AS_MFA maps and the geodesign method represent the two innovative tools for urban wastescape regenerations in a collaborative decision-making process. On a smaller scale, two cases of modern marginal neighbourhoods in Naples and Amsterdam show the social and spatial issues of wastescape of wasted architectures and marginal communities. In these cases, the urban morphological conditions produced urban wastescape physiological conditions. Similar circumstances and different events lead to two regeneration processes compared at the end of the section. The most significant transformations happened through architecture, public policies and communities of place and communities of practice. The demolition and adaptive reuse of modern architectures changed some environmental perceptions that led to the rejection of the place. The intense bottom-up actions and community actions made urban social regeneration over the years. Rejection, exclusion, cultural stigma, and prejudice made the neighbourhood urban wastescapes. The three cases study explore values, approaches and tools for wastescape regeneration at two different scales. They are part of the same approach to circularity. The cases show that circular economy in urban areas come up against two main issues: legal and cultural. Environmental and economic issues stem from those. The available techniques and technologies in waste management can be improved, but many are already available and underused. Any waste in urban areas is currently a problem, creating blighted areas and disamenities. Together with actors and stakeholders, the thesis shows how communities of place and practices are the core of long term sustainable transformations. In this path, circularity is the economic approach, and collaborative decision-making processes can ensure transparency and the inclusion of actors, stakeholders and local groups to transition to the circular city

Training of Crisis Mappers and Map Production from Multi-sensor Data: Vernazza Case Study (Cinque Terre National Park, Italy)

This aim of paper is to presents the development of a multidisciplinary project carried out by the cooperation between Politecnico di Torino and ITHACA (Information Technology for Humanitarian Assistance, Cooperation and Action). The goal of the project was the training in geospatial data acquiring and processing for students attending Architecture and Engineering Courses, in order to start up a team of "volunteer mappers". Indeed, the project is aimed to document the environmental and built heritage subject to disaster; the purpose is to improve the capabilities of the actors involved in the activities connected in geospatial data collection, integration and sharing. The proposed area for testing the training activities is the Cinque Terre National Park, registered in the World Heritage List since 1997. The area was affected by flood on the 25th of October 2011. According to other international experiences, the group is expected to be active after emergencies in order to upgrade maps, using data acquired by typical geomatic methods and techniques such as terrestrial and aerial Lidar, close-range and aerial photogrammetry, topographic and GNSS instruments etc.; or by non conventional systems and instruments such us UAV, mobile mapping etc. The ultimate goal is to implement a WebGIS platform to share all the data collected with local authorities and the Civil Protectio

An information model for lean, agile, resilient and green supply chain management

Dissertação para a obtenção de Grau de Mestre em Engenharia e Gestão IndustrialIn modern business environments, an effective Supply Chain Management (SCM) is crucial to business continuity. In this context, Lean, Agile, Resilient and Green (LARG), are advocated as the fundamental paradigm for a competitive Supply Chain (SC) as a whole. In fact, competition between supply chains (SC) has replaced the traditional competition between companies. To make a supply chain more competitive, capable of responding to the demands of customers with agility, and capable of responding effectively to unexpected disturbance, in conjugation with environmental responsibilities, and the necessity to eliminate processes that add no value, companies must implement a set of LARG SCM practices and Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to measure their influence on the SC performance. However, the selection of the best LARG SCM practices and KPIs is a complex decision-making problem, involving dependencies and feedbacks. Still, any decision-making must be supported by real and transparent data. This dissertation intends to provide two integrated models to assist the information management and decision-making. The first is an information model to support a LARG SCM, allowing the exchange and storage of data/information through a single information platform. In this model three types of diagrams are developed, Business Process Diagram (BPD), Use Cases Diagram and Class Diagram to assist the information platform design. The second is a decision-making model, designated LARG Analytical Network Process (ANP) to select the best LARG SCM practices/KPI to be implemented in SCs. Both models are developed and validated within the automotive SC, namely in Volkswagen Autoeuropa

Aide à la décision pour l’analyse de la vulnérabilité des réseaux d’infrastructure face à une crise de catastrophe naturelle

Cette thèse traite de la Vulnérabilité des réseaux face aux catastrophes naturelles. Elle part du constat que les infrastructures telles que les réseaux d’eau, d’électricité influencent considérablement les conséquences indirectes des catastrophes naturelles. Elle vise donc à modéliser la vulnérabilité dans de telles situations pour une prise de décision efficace. La démarche scientifique est divisée en deux parties complémentaires. La première traite de la vulnérabilité des dits systèmes, tandis que la seconde se concentre sur le processus d’aide à la décision à mettre en œuvre en vue de réduire la vulnérabilité. L’analyse proprement dite de la vulnérabilité repose sur la modélisation des objets de l’analyse. Pour ce faire nous adopterons une représentation par la théorie des graphes. La revue de la littérature à ce niveau nous a permis d’identifier les structures de graphe les mieux adaptées au contexte de la thèse. Dans un environnement d’analyse multi réseau, les interdépendances, c’est-à-dire les liens entre les composants d’un même réseau ou de réseaux différents-sont un facteur déterminant pour tout modèle de vulnérabilité. Nous avons ainsi proposé un modèle compatible avec la théorie des graphes. Sont distingués deux types d’interdépendances. La première est fonctionnelle (dépendance), et la seconde est dysfonctionnelle (influence). La vulnérabilité quant à elle, est déterminée par une approche basée sur la simulation. Elle est composée d’une première partie relative à l’aptitude du système à résister à l’évènement redouté ; et d’une seconde partie relative à son aptitude à se recouvrer des conditions opérationnelles après la catastrophe. Le calcul de la vulnérabilité est un point d’entrée pour assister l’analyste dans sa prise de décision. La deuxième partie aborde ce thème. Elle est elle-même divisée en deux sous parties : La première traite du processus à mettre en œuvre pour la gestion de la crise ; la deuxième du Système Interactif d’Aide à la Décision réalisé. Une méthodologie d’aide à la décision et supportée par un outil informatique. À l’ère de l’internet et des réseaux sociaux, il est envisageable de déployer l’application sur internet. ABSTRACT : This thesis deals with infrastructure network vulnerability analysis in the natural disaster context. It starts from the observation that infrastructure such as water supply or power grid has significant influence on natural disasters’ indirect consequences. The aim is to model the vulnerability to take efficient actions. The scientific approach is divided into two complementary parts. The first one deals with the vulnerability assessment, while the second one focuses on the decision aiding process to be implemented for the assessed vulnerability reducing. The proper vulnerability analysis is based on the analysis objects modelling. In order to achieve this, we will adopt a graph theory representation. A literature review will allow us to identify the graph structure which best suits the context of the thesis. In a multi network analysis environment, interdependences, i.e. relationships between components of the same network or different networks - are a determining factor for any vulnerability model. We have thus proposed an approach to model interdependence compatible with the graph theory. There are two types of relationships: the one first is functional (dependence), while the second one is dysfunctional (influence). The vulnerability is assessed by a simulation-based approach. It is composed of one part relating to the system ability to resist the feared event; and the other part relative to its ability to be back on its nominal state after the disaster. When the vulnerability is determined, the next step will be to take the necessary decisions to manage it. This part on the decision aiding is itself divided into two sub parts: first of all the process to be used for the crisis management is established. Then a methodology for decision aiding is proposed and results on a Decision Support System development. In the age of the internet and social networks, it is possible to deploy the application on the internet