Circular Construction Platforms: A Systematic Literature Review

Construction practices are critical for building our societies, but despite increasing focus on sustainabilitySustainability in the industry, the practices are inherently unsustainable – in absolute terms. The circular economyCircular economy has been identified as a crucial paradigm shift to keep the construction within absolute boundaries of sustainabilitySustainability, covering waste and resources. The needed transformation comes with added complexity, uncertainty, and a requirement to innovate areas that historically have challenged the industry. This paper outlines preliminary research into the challenges of circular construction and how platform thinkingPlatform thinking can catalyze the sustainable transformation of construction toward circularity. The paper is based on initial findings from two systematic literature reviewsLiterature reviews of circularity and platform thinkingPlatform thinking in construction. The review identifies core circular economyCircular economy challenges like (1) high variance, low volume, (2) short-term project-based optimization, (3) tough price competition, (4) industry fragmentation, and (5) lacking documentation of material flowsMaterial flows and performance. Most of these challenges can be addressed by core features of platform thinkingPlatform thinking like (1) balancing and economy of scale, (2) long-term strategic thinking, (3) value and cost optimization, (4) value chainValue chains integration and coordination, and (5) documentation of platform architectures and performance. Thus, the paper finds platform thinkingPlatform thinking a promising strategy for enabling circular economyCircular economy in construction, directly addressing SDG 12SDG 12, and indirectly SDGs 8, 9, 11, and 13.