PSI - Issue 64

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Gabriella Maselli et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 64 (2024) 1743–1751 Author name / Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2019) 000 – 000 Author name / Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2019) 000 – 000

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Research prospects concern the validation of the model through its application to case studies. It is also envisaged extending the study to the assessment of the environmental and social impacts arising from design alternatives. Research prospects concern the validation of the model through its application to case studies. It is also envisaged extending the study to the assessment of the environmental and social impacts arising from design alternatives. © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of SMAR 2024 Organizers © 2024 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of SMAR 2024 Organizers Keywords: Structural Analysis and Design; Economic sustainability; Life Cycle Costing. © 2024 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of SMAR 2024 Organizers Keywords: Structural Analysis and Design; Economic sustainability; Life Cycle Costing. 1. Introduction In addition to improving the quality of human life and meeting the socio-economic needs of individuals, societies and nations (Goel et al., 2019), the construction and demolition sector has a significant impact on the economy. Indeed, it is an economic sector that accounts for approximately 9 per cent of the European Union ’ s (EU) Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and is estimated to provide 18 million direct jobs in the EU (European Commission, 2016; Zhao et al., 2019).Globally, it accounts for approximately 7% of job opportunities and contributes around 25% to the gross domestic product (GDP) (Norouzi et al., 2021; Swarnakar and Khalfan, 2024). In contrast, the construction sector is among the largest contributors to negative environmental impacts worldwide, accounting for approximately 36 percent of energy consumption and 37 percent of energy-related CO 2 emissions (UNEP, 2021). With approximately 50 percent of the total use of raw materials, this sector ranks among the largest consumers of resources (International Energy Agency, 2019; Lu and Wang, 2019; Ossio et al., 2023). Furthermore, approximately 35% of all construction and demolition waste (CDW) globally ends up in landfill without proper treatment (Menegaki and Damigos, 2018; Lu et al., 2019). This is in a context where circularity is 8.6% globally (Circle Economy, 2022). A considerable part of this waste ends up in landfills, causing serious environmental problems throughout the life cycle of buildings, especially during the operational and disposal phases. Considering that as the world population increases, the middle class will grow from around 2 billion to over 4 billion people by 2030, it will be necessary to increase urban capacities at an unprecedented rate (Kharas, 2017; Eberhardt et al., 2019). From the outlined picture, it emerges that any effort to counter global climate change and foster cleaner production must necessarily include the building sector as a major player in the transition process (Geng et al., 2017; Canesi and Marella, 2023). This process cannot really get underway until the construction industry moves from the current paradigm to a more sustainable one, based on the circular economy (CE) approach. The concept of CE has been defined by scholars in environmental economics, functional service economics and industrial ecology since the 1960s (Boulding, 1966; Daly, 1996; Graedel, 1996; Lifset and Graedel, 2002), only attracting the interest of policy-makers and industry at the beginning of the 21st century, and thus relatively recently. To this day, EC remains a difficult concept to define, so much so that it has been interpreted as both a strategy and a new economic paradigm (Haas et al., 2015; Bocken et al., 2016; Friant et al., 2020). Some scholars have interpreted it as an industrial model or an industrial system (Hobson and Lynch, 2016). According to others, however, it can be understood as a new ‘ business and development model ’ (Ghisellini and Ulgiati, 2020) or an economic system (Liu, 2012; Murray et al., 2017). Despite the lack of a generally accepted definition of CE, there is a broad consensus among scholars and practitioners that CE improves the life cycle of components, materials and products through reuse, repair, recycling, remanufacturing, and refurbishment (Zacho et al., 2018). The CE paradigm aims to shift from a «take-make dispose» production and consumption model to a «closing of resources cycles» approach, which involves the reuse of waste and resources and the development of products with high durability. While initially the CE was exclusively anchored to the 3Rs principle of «reduce, reuse and recycle», over time the CE has moved to the broader 4Rs principle, which also adds the concept of «recover»; finally, the more comprehensive 6Rs framework has been outlined, which also includes «redesign» and «remanufacturing» and signals the shift from the concept of circular economy to that of helical economy (Jawahir and Bradley, 2016; Yang et al., 2017; Ghisellini and Ulgiati, 2020). The basic principles of the CE that include the reduction, reuse and recyclability of materials have been successfully adopted in various fields, from electronics to furniture and textiles. In the construction sector, however, the application of these concepts is still limited, mainly due to a lack of understanding, experience and expertise in 1. Introduction In addition to improving the quality of human life and meeting the socio-economic needs of individuals, societies and nations (Goel et al., 2019), the construction and demolition sector has a significant impact on the economy. Indeed, it is an economic sector that accounts for approximately 9 per cent of the European Union ’ s (EU) Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and is estimated to provide 18 million direct jobs in the EU (European Commission, 2016; Zhao et al., 2019).Globally, it accounts for approximately 7% of job opportunities and contributes around 25% to the gross domestic product (GDP) (Norouzi et al., 2021; Swarnakar and Khalfan, 2024). In contrast, the construction sector is among the largest contributors to negative environmental impacts worldwide, accounting for approximately 36 percent of energy consumption and 37 percent of energy-related CO 2 emissions (UNEP, 2021). With approximately 50 percent of the total use of raw materials, this sector ranks among the largest consumers of resources (International Energy Agency, 2019; Lu and Wang, 2019; Ossio et al., 2023). Furthermore, approximately 35% of all construction and demolition waste (CDW) globally ends up in landfill without proper treatment (Menegaki and Damigos, 2018; Lu et al., 2019). This is in a context where circularity is 8.6% globally (Circle Economy, 2022). A considerable part of this waste ends up in landfills, causing serious environmental problems throughout the life cycle of buildings, especially during the operational and disposal phases. Considering that as the world population increases, the middle class will grow from around 2 billion to over 4 billion people by 2030, it will be necessary to increase urban capacities at an unprecedented rate (Kharas, 2017; Eberhardt et al., 2019). From the outlined picture, it emerges that any effort to counter global climate change and foster cleaner production must necessarily include the building sector as a major player in the transition process (Geng et al., 2017; Canesi and Marella, 2023). This process cannot really get underway until the construction industry moves from the current paradigm to a more sustainable one, based on the circular economy (CE) approach. The concept of CE has been defined by scholars in environmental economics, functional service economics and industrial ecology since the 1960s (Boulding, 1966; Daly, 1996; Graedel, 1996; Lifset and Graedel, 2002), only attracting the interest of policy-makers and industry at the beginning of the 21st century, and thus relatively recently. To this day, EC remains a difficult concept to define, so much so that it has been interpreted as both a strategy and a new economic paradigm (Haas et al., 2015; Bocken et al., 2016; Friant et al., 2020). Some scholars have interpreted it as an industrial model or an industrial system (Hobson and Lynch, 2016). According to others, however, it can be understood as a new ‘ business and development model ’ (Ghisellini and Ulgiati, 2020) or an economic system (Liu, 2012; Murray et al., 2017). Despite the lack of a generally accepted definition of CE, there is a broad consensus among scholars and practitioners that CE improves the life cycle of components, materials and products through reuse, repair, recycling, remanufacturing, and refurbishment (Zacho et al., 2018). The CE paradigm aims to shift from a «take-make dispose» production and consumption model to a «closing of resources cycles» approach, which involves the reuse of waste and resources and the development of products with high durability. While initially the CE was exclusively anchored to the 3Rs principle of «reduce, reuse and recycle», over time the CE has moved to the broader 4Rs principle, which also adds the concept of «recover»; finally, the more comprehensive 6Rs framework has been outlined, which also includes «redesign» and «remanufacturing» and signals the shift from the concept of circular economy to that of helical economy (Jawahir and Bradley, 2016; Yang et al., 2017; Ghisellini and Ulgiati, 2020). The basic principles of the CE that include the reduction, reuse and recyclability of materials have been successfully adopted in various fields, from electronics to furniture and textiles. In the construction sector, however, the application of these concepts is still limited, mainly due to a lack of understanding, experience and expertise in