About CB2021

One of the major themes in architecture and construction is the move towards a zero energy and circular built environment. In the case of zero energy, most countries have legislation in place to realize this ambition. In the case of circularity, there is a different situation. Many countries do have ambitions in this field, but legislation is not yet embedded in policies. Collaterally, most buildings are still designed, constructed, operated and demolished in a traditional linear process. Currently less than three percent of all residual material is reused after the demolition of a building, which means that vast amounts of resources are wasted in the process. The small amount of materials that is recycled, is often used in inefficient ways, with collateral environmental impacts, that go across national boundaries. Worldwide, there is numerous ongoing research and exemplary projects in the field of circularity in the built environment, so, crossing boundaries between different fields of disciplines and nations is necessary to meet the ambitions of full circularity. The conference ‘CROSSING BOUNDARIES, Towards a circular, sustainable and vital built environment’ aims to create a platform on which knowledge on the subject can be exchanged on a scientific level, to study the environmental and economic implications and to share experiences on the latest developments in the field of circular building.

The City Region of Parkstad in the south of the Netherlands is coping with a steady decline in population and therefore has a large housing surplus, making it an interesting testing ground for the practice of circular building. City Region of Parkstad has the ambition to develop itself into the (inter)national centre of circularity in the built environment. This ambition meets, and is supported by the agenda of IBA Parkstad, the International Building Exhibition in the region that is presenting its results in 2020-2021 in which sustainable and circular building is also an important theme.
Fitting in these developments, the goal of this conference is make the next step in the framework for enabling circularity in the built environment. The aim is to have a scientific conference on circularity in the built environment during the IBA expo year in the City Region of Parkstad. The conference will result in a publication of a selection of best papers, and aims at giving guidance towards a circular built environment.