The current consumption model is linear: raw material acquisition, production anduse of goods, and disposal. This take, make, waste model has dominated the global economy with negative environmental consequences. For example, global extraction of construction minerals exceeds 10 billion metric tons each year, representing the fastest growth rate inany sector overthepast century. In contrast, a circular economy (CE) aims to decouple economic growth from resource consumption by cycling products and materials back into production, either by returning materialsto generate new products, or by releasing benign substances to the environment through degradation. Circularity requires fundamental and transformational shifts in how our architectural engineering (AE) community designs, operates, and reimagines new beginnings for the built environment. This special collection aims to compile high quality papers that explore the built environment and circular economy. Further, this collection of papers will serve as an opportunity for the AE community to lead in the emerging area of CE.
While the editors of Journal of Architectural Engineering are interested in a wide range of topics related to circular economy and the built environment, several sub-topics are of particular interest, including (but not limited to): Integration of CE with existing and new building information platforms; Reviews and analysis of CE and the built environment – challenges and opportunities; Innovative educational and training studies on integration of CE into curricula; Material flow assessments of the built environment coupled with CE strategies; Integration of CE in project delivery systems; Exploration and coupling of CE and design for “x”, e.g., disassembly, deconstruction, manufacturing; Integration of CE and life cycle assessment, including end-of-life modeling for wood products; Study and analysis of buildings as material banks; Case studies on successful CE projects; Investigation of green building rating systems and CE opportunities.