Future cities will more likely be shaped by ideas, rather than people. Innovation is key, and sustainability will most definitely be one of the industry’s basic building blocks. It’s predicted that by 2050, more than 75% of the population will live in cities. In numbers, that’s over 6 billion people. Key players in future urbanization are architects and designers who must come up with innovative, sustainable solutions contributing to a smarter and circular society.
As we already know, the construction (and demolition) sector makes up for over 40% of the Co2 emissions. One big obstacle in the aim for a circular economy is that many of the material from demolition and renovation are either not qualified for reuse or recycling, or there is simply not enough information regarding the materials. As a first step in the endeavor towards contributing to a circular economy, comprehensive information about materials need to be created and distributed. There’s defective, or even nonexistent, information about the quality of using secondary materials.
The European Union set out goals for waste recycling, and one of the objectives is as follows: “recycling 70% of construction and demolition waste in 2020, thereby closing the life-cycle of products through the expansion of recycling and reuse.”
Materials and resources should be kept in the economy for as long as possible, the former “take waste and make” does no longer feel relevant. With a circular approach to architecture, the building sector can demand and reduce impact. Sustainability requires a new mindset – WICONA is for example using materials from post-consumer scrap when constructing new buildings.
“We can deliver a material where we guarantee at least 75% recycled material from post-consumer scrap,” says Jörgen Persson at WICONA.
Sustainability is no longer seen as a cost increase. To stay important in the industry, companies use sustainability as a value enhancement.
Project in the film: Økern Portal - Architect: DARK Arkitekter and Sthlm New 01 - Architect: Sauerbruch Hutton, General Contractor: SKANSKA
