Circular Economy Strategies for Enhancing the Sustainable Performance of Building Sector: A Systematic Review

The building sector is considered one of the least sustainable sectors as it is based on a linear economic model that contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, solid waste generation, pollution, resource scarcity, and human-induced climate change. Although the concept of circular economy (CE) is gaining popularity as a means of addressing current environmental challenges and encouraging a shift away from the linear economic model, the uptake of its implementation in the building sector seems slow due to a lack of clear understanding of strategies for CE implementation. Thus, to investigate the current state of knowledge regarding the use of CE strategies within the building sector, a systematic literature review was conducted using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews (PRISMA), which yielded a total of 23 papers. In addition, 12 papers were added which were identified from a manual search from Google Scholar. Whilst searching for peer-reviewed articles published between 2010 and 2022, the TITLE-ABS-KEY search field was used. The comprehensive review is enabled to summarise 86 CE strategies for the building sector and to visualise a logical link between CE strategies with 17 R-imperatives (CE principles) and the lifecycle stages of the building sector. Most of the strategies focused on the design phase, material selection and procurement, and manufacturing. Most identified strategies have few r-imperatives, including reduce, repair, reuse, and recycle, whereas strategies towards retain, refuse, reverse, and renew are largely missing, although they are considered critical for the transition towards a CE. A detailed understanding of CE strategies provides useful insights for stakeholders in the building sector to promote the transition towards a CE in the building sector.