Circular economy and regeneration of building stock in the Italian context: policies, partnership and tools

Abstract

The paper presents a part of research focused on the definition of circular economy models in the regeneration of existing building stock in the Italian context, identifying policies improvements, strategic partnership and environmental and economic life cycle assessment tools for supporting decision.

Through direct-interviews to operators (investors, designers, manufacturers, etc.), the paper analyses the typical relationships and dynamics among them in the Italian building regeneration process. The operators’ opinions and requests towards circular strategies (reuse/recycling at building and material levels) are pointed out, in order to highlight the obstacles and levers of circular economy application. The paper shows the strengths and the weaknesses for the regeneration of building stock by the application of circular economy, the opportunities and the threats for circular economy by its application in the regeneration of building stock. In order to achieve circular requalification processes, avoiding waste and enabling practices of reuse and recycling, the change of relationships, policies and business models are defined. Moreover, the paper discusses on the importance of environmental evaluation of circular practices, identifying the decision steps and operators which, with the support of environmental and economic life cycle assessment tools, can select circular strategies towards sustainable requalification process.