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A master thesis from Aalborg University

Circular Economy in the Construction Industry

[Cirkulær Økonomi i Byggeriet]

Author(s)

Term

4. Term

Education

Publication year

2018

Submitted on

2018-06-01

Pages

121 pages

Abstract

This master thesis investigates the concept of circular economy within the construction industry and which barriers that needs to be confronted in order to challenge the current linear economy model. Actor-Network Theory supported by Participatory design approach have been used in the project in order to define the configuration of the network for implementing circular economy, involving actors and matters of concern to provide insight on how a translation process might be achieved. This project aims at developing a design solution for Rambøll, the collaborative partner for this thesis, to implementing circular economy. Interviews and design games have formed the empirical work, from which an analysis of the actors of the construction industry, matters of concern, as well as barriers was undertaken. The result of the empirical work, is four key barriers that has the most potential to be changed within Rambøll, namely knowledge, collaboration, planning, and circular economy concept. Through a design process several concepts were created and evaluated in a workshop which helped define the final design solution. The solution is a combination of subsolutions; Platform, Specialist team, Screens in canteen and coffee stations, Info meetings, Innovation Time, Joint design, Digital catalogue with sustainable materials, Courses on circular economy, and a Common definition of circular economy. The final solution focus on changing two key barriers in order to incorporate a stronger focus on knowledge sharing and collaboration.

Keywords

Documents


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