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The circular economy (CE) has gained momentum in recent years as a new economic paradigm. While the CE sets a very defined vision for a sustainable future, it still operates in the present. As such, existing guidance on and research into the CE lack a necessary understanding of how to go from the present to the future. What if the future is different from what the CE expects? The CE cannot answer this question adequately and therefore is not capable of developing this understanding alone. To address this shortcoming, this paper proposes futures studies (FS) as a complementary discipline because it offers exactly what CE lacks: methods to explore alternative futures.

To understand the level of interdisciplinary research in the built environment between CE and FS, a systematic literature review is carried out using a bibliometric review and a snowballing technique. This manuscript reviews seminal literature in both fields and their theoretical background.

This paper demonstrates the lack of collaboration between CE and FS and highlights a systemic failure within CE, which is to consider the future as unknowable. It further provides an initial understanding of where the synergy sits, recommendations on where to start and introduces some of the FS chief methods that could be used by CE in the built environment.

The authors’ bibliometric review and snowballing approach might have missed out on some literature that still falls within the scope. Such limitations are due, on one hand, to the authors’ bibliometric review approach by selecting publications based on matching keywords. On the other hand, the snowballing approach is affected by the authors’ subjective judgements on which of the publications are worth to explore based mainly just on the title and abstract of the paper.

The inclusion of Futures Studies will allow a stronger focus on approaching possible futures to be integrated overtly into existing work, research and action within the CE community.

It is more reasonable to expect that by cooperatively creating and implementing constructed futures with FS methods and CE principles, a better future for the built environment be reached. This is why it is so relevant for humanity that these two communities start to interact as soon as possible and maintain and open and productive collaboration in transitioning towards a sustainable society.

To the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first of its kind by considering FS into the CE debate.

Sandbag building technologies (SBTs) have been offered as a cost-effective and sustainable alternative building technology (ABT) capable of accelerating house construction in South Africa, but its acceptance remains low. However, knowledge about how to effectively improve SBT social acceptance is limited. This study aims to develop and prioritise SBT social acceptability strategies towards providing a comprehensive framework for the successful deployment and widespread adoption of sandbag technology.

This study used a quantitative research strategy that included a literature review and a structured questionnaire survey of 228 ABT professionals and stakeholders in the South African housing industry. The study statistically analysed 13 strategies for the social acceptance of SBT.

The analysis showed that the top three strategies include the availability of sandbag demonstration projects in all provinces, the approval of a sandbag building code and the availability of standard design methods for earthbags. A factor analysis clustered the 13 strategies into Stakeholders integration and policy formation, Effective education and knowledge sharing and Grassroots advocacy and incentives.

The current study’s findings provide a broad framework for the effective implementation and wide acceptance of sandbag technology in housing projects. It offered certain best practices that policymakers and practitioners might use to promote ABT and SBT societal acceptability.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the study represents the first and only attempt to investigate the viewpoints of experts and housing market stakeholders in South Africa regarding sandbag technology social acceptance strategies and contributes to the social acceptance body of knowledge in ABT and SBT.

This study aims to evaluate the perception of the local experts and end users on the drivers, barriers and strategies to the use of alternative building technologies (ABTs), with a focus on sandbag building technologies (SBTs) in the provision of sustainable housing in South Africa towards improving the public's understanding of SBTs.

This research adopted a qualitative approach that used focus group meetings as the primary data collection method for this study. This study's focus group participants comprised ABT experts and end users of ABT houses in South Africa who were selected using a convenient sampling technique. The data were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using NVivo 11 software.

This study found that the perceived drivers to using ABTs such as SBT comprise sustainability, affordability, job creation potentials, fire-resistant and earthquake resistance. This study revealed strategies for the SBTs, including awareness, building sandbag prototypes across cities and training.

This study's findings have practical implications for the practice and praxis of ABT implementation and uptake in South Africa. This study provides a framework for broadening the worldwide understanding of use and uptake of SBTs to provide sustainable and affordable housing.

This study adds significantly to the limited body of knowledge on ABTs, focusing on sandbag houses. Consequently, the findings provide policymakers with information on the expert and end-user perspectives on the barriers and strategies to using ABTs.

The construction and operation of buildings is a major contributor to global energy demand, greenhouse gases emissions, resource depletion, waste generation, and associated environmental effects, such as climate change, pollution and habitat destruction. Despite its wide relevance, research on building-related environmental effects often fails to achieve global visibility and attention, particularly in premiere interdisciplinary journals – thus representing a major gap in the research these journals offer. In this article we review and reflect on the factors that are likely causing this lack of visibility for such a prominent research topic and emphasise the need to reconcile the construction and operational phases into the physical unity of a building, to contribute to the global environmental discourse using a lifecycle-based approach. This article also aims to act as a call for action and to raise awareness of this important gap. The evidence contained in the article can support institutional policies to improve the status quo and provide a practical help to researchers in the field to bring their work to wide interdisciplinary audiences.

Circular economy (CE), as a new economic paradigm, has gained traction in recent years. Cities' role in driving CE forward has been perceived as being increasingly important to achieve sustainable development (SD). For this reason, there is an urgency to understand what a circular city is and how it might be composed. This research explores the ways in which the city-state of Singapore is transitioning to a CE.

A systematic literature review on CE and cities was carried out using a bibliometric review and a snowballing technique. This review was performed on academic and on non-academic papers.

This research has confirmed the lack of robust circular cities case studies. As Singapore has already begun its journey towards circularity, this article examines its current efforts and offers recommendations in the design and implementation of CE policies that may be valuable not just for Singapore but also for high-density and rapidly expanding cities around the world that require a new development pathway to emulate.

This manuscript is the first detailed, independent and comprehensive review of Singapore's approach to CE.

Operational energy use in buildings accounts for 28% of global energy demand. One method to reduce operational energy is upgrading old appliances to more efficient ones. In Australia, the most common residential heating type is reverse-cycle heating, followed by gas heating. This article aims to determine the energy balance resulting from a gas heating upgrade through a life cycle assessment (LCA).

Extensive primary data were collected for operational energy performance of 61 ducted gas heating upgrades. To address the scarcity of data on material composition, one ducted gas heater was deconstructed and assessed in terms of material composition (types and weights). The comparison between embodied energy and operational energy savings allows us to establish whether operational energy savings offset the embodied energy incurred with the upgrade. The end of life stage of the old appliance, as well as the production, construction and use stage of the new appliance were assessed.

The results show that the operational energy savings offset the following impact categories: global warming, ozone layer depletion, aquatic acidification, nonrenewable energy and carcinogens. Only the mineral extraction is not offset by the operational energy savings. The results clearly demonstrate that operational energy savings outweigh the embodied energy and therefore contribute positively to the environment.

This study is the first to focus on the LCA of building services through extensive primary data collection and a focus on a high number of appliances. This supports ongoing energy efficient upgrades in Australia and paves the way for further, similar studies to confirm or disprove these findings in other parts of the world.

The purpose of this article is to provide academicians and practitioners alike with a theory-based framework regarding horizontal collaboration in logistics. The proposed tool is based on an incremental perspective, according to two main dimensions: mutual trust among partners and the extent of the cooperation.

This study used a “synthesising” approach to gauge potential contributions previously spread across different streams of research and disciplines that are now integrated into the framework. We conduct a deep literature review to characterise the horizontal collaboration phenomenon along two levels of analysis. In doing so, we examined relevant literature in the field of horizontal cooperation in logistics to critically appraise aims of, impediments to and existing models for horizontal collaboration. Additionally, we reviewed seminal literature of four organisational theories to assess their potential to contribute to the theoretical foundations of the growing topic of horizontal collaboration. Transaction Cost Economics, Social Exchange, Resource Dependence and Social Dilemma represent the theoretical foundations to cast light to how to design and implement inter-organisational horizontal initiatives.

The proposed tool organises horizontal collaborations within three steps for each of the two levels of classification: trust and extent of the cooperation. The organisational theories reviewed play different roles to help in different stages of the horizontal collaboration. Additionally, for each combination of trust/extent of the cooperation coherent pairs of aims of the collaboration and assets that are to be shared are defined.

The article represents the first attempt to analyse horizontal collaboration from within the discipline itself and from the wider field of SCM through other well-established theoretical lenses. The proposed tool has shed some light into the black box of (un)successful horizontal collaboration, but it is theory based – which represents its main limitations – thus, requiring further testing of the research streams suggested in the paper.

The article not only gives insights into theoretical challenges of horizontal collaborations that needs further investigation but is also useful to companies involved in horizontal collaborations by helping define coherent assets that are to be shared to achieve specific goals. In its more theoretical underpinning, the framework can also inspire the partnership philosophy and help sketch a collaborative evolutionary path.

The lack of a theoretically robust landmark that could help understand, design and implement horizontal collaborations has been defined as a major theoretical and practical shortcoming. The article represents the first contribution aimed at filling that gap.

The purpose of this paper is to establish how UK offices and double skin façade (DSF) technologies can be best matched for refurbishment purposes.

This research uses a mixed methodology including primary and secondary data collection, analysis and interpolation through document analysis, comprehensive critical literature review, and case study approach.

In total, 22 benchmarks have been developed to represent 75 per cent of the existing office stock in the UK. Through a comparison with 36 case studies of European buildings refurbished with DSFs, two benchmarks showed to be most suitable for a DSF refurbishment and most appropriate configurations for a successful DSF refurbishment have been identified. Findings have been also checked against a large sample of DSF buildings in the UK.

The benchmarks delivered in this study can be developed further into parametric models, where variations can be obtained by changing the parameters provided. A follow-up study can be designed to help define the exact share of existing stock represented by each benchmark and to foster research where a more typological or statistical approach might be intended.

Findings from this research can be of practical use to academics and practitioners alike involved in research related to office refurbishments, DSFs, and the UK existing office stock. The design for this research can also be adapted to similar studies on its own or further developed to suit different contexts.

Improvements to existing buildings can preserve established communities, with a clear social advantage.

This paper represents the first attempt to systemically shed light on how existing UK offices and DSF technologies can be best matched in refurbishments. The benchmarks developed, the DSF case studies, and guidelines for suitable DSF technologies in UK office refurbishments represent the original contribution of this research.

While most efforts to combat climate change are focussed on energy efficiency and substitution of fossil fuels, growth in the built environment remains largely unquestioned. Given the current climate emergency and increasing scarcity of global resources, it is imperative that we address this “blind spot” by finding ways to support required services with less resource consumption.

There is now long overdue recognition to greenhouse gas emissions “embodied” in the production of building materials and construction, and its importance in reaching targets of net zero carbon by 2050. However, there is a widespread belief that we can continue to “build big”, provided we incorporate energy saving measures and select “low carbon materials” – ignoring the fact that excessive volume and area of buildings may outweigh any carbon savings. This is especially the case with commercial real estate.

As the inception and planning phases of projects offer most potential for reduction in both operational and embodied carbon, we must turn our attention to previously overlooked options such as “build nothing” or “build less”. This involves challenging the root cause of the need, exploring alternative approaches to meet desired outcomes, and maximising the use of existing assets. If new build is required, this should be designed for adaptability, with increased stewardship, so the building stock of the future will be a more valuable and useable resource.

This points to the need for increased understanding and application of the principles of strategic asset management, hitherto largely ignored in sustainability circles, which emphasize a close alignment of assets with the services they support.

Arguably, as the built environment consumes more material resources and energy than any other sector, its future configuration may be critical to the future of people and the planet. In this regard, this paper seeks to break new ground for deeper exploration.

This study aims to analyze how, under the stakeholder theory, corporate social responsibility (CSR) might favor the emergence of circular economy (CE) in the Agri-food sector, which is a relevant context, as it is technologically dynamic and requires paying attention to all the stakeholders.

An exploratory, qualitative research design has been adopted to study the phenomenon in detail, as it facilitates the understanding of complex phenomena such those under investigation and helps enrich existing theory with new insights from real-world cases to add theoretical generalizations to the existing body of research in the field.

The results of this study highlight that companies adopting CSR models are oriented toward circularity.

This study provides useful indications to managers and policymakers as to how to favor the two approaches (CSR and CE) and benefit all the stakeholders.

While there is wide scholarly and managerial interest toward CSR and CE, previous research has mainly analyzed CE and CSR as two independent phenomena. Therefore, there is a lack of understanding about how the two areas are linked. Following previous studies that have started to theoretically argue an interconnection between CSR and CE, in this research, it has been empirically investigated, and further explored theoretically, whether CSR can implicitly encourage the emergence of CE approaches.