Designing Adaptive Reuse for Circularity, Climate Resilience, Adaptability, and Social Sustainability

Buildings are dynamic assets, changing in response to various triggering factors for building alterations, such as market volatility, technological evolution, demographic changes, and property vacancy. These factors can trigger the practice of adaptive reuse, also called building transformation, as a coping strategy and a means to keep buildings in use. In this regard, adaptive reuse is in line with the principles of the circular economy, sustainable development, and a resilient built environment due to its vital role in reusing a considerable amount of material resources, revitalizing abandoned sites, and preserving cultural heritage buildings. However, many adaptive reuse projects are not inherently sustainable, circular, climate-resilient, or socially beneficial due to various socio-technical obstacles. There are certain design strategies and interventions that need to be adopted and implemented to ensure that adaptive reuse results in a climate-resilient, resource-efficient, future-proof, and society-oriented built environment transformation. For climate resilience, the adaptability of adaptive reuse to climate change is worth promoting in light of the growing impacts of climate change. In terms of the social dimension, adaptive reuse should take into account its implications for society, where heritage value and public participation can be seen as key considerations. Accordingly, investigating how adaptive reuse is designed, implemented, and governed to achieve these different objectives in practice can set the stage for resource-efficient, future-proof, climate-resilient, and socially sustainable transformation of the built environment. This can be achieved by going beyond the technical aspects and considering the socio-technical complexity of adaptive reuse projects, such as spatial, governance, regulatory, organizational, and participatory interventions.Many studies have focused on the alignment between adaptive reuse and the circular economy, including their strategies. These studies have set the stage for the development of guiding frameworks and decision-making tools. However, solution-wise, the interventions and strategies for circular adaptive reuse have been demonstrated in only a limited number of pilot and demonstration projects. In addition, the synergies, trade-offs, and unintended consequences between circularity, climate resilience, resource efficiency, heritage values, economic feasibility, and social sustainability have not been adequately and practically explored.The goal is to fill these gaps by specifically reflecting on and revealing the interventions and strategies that can have an impact on making different types of adaptive reuse projects climate-resilient, resource-efficient, future-proof, and socially sustainable. More specifically, we seek papers that investigate practical interventions and strategies in light of the socio-technical complexities associated with adaptive reuse, as well as their potential and impact in the real world.We seek manuscripts that can contribute to addressing the aforementioned gap at the strategic, tactical, and operational levels of adaptive reuse projects. This includes, but is not limited to, empirical research and case studies that explore and/or reflect on the interventions and strategies that are effective in addressing the socio-technical aspects that need to be considered to make adaptive reuse projects climate-resilient, resource-efficient, future-proof, and socially sustainable. Papers on decision-making models, guiding tools, policies, and legal frameworks are also welcome. Comparative case studies and action-research-based papers are particularly valuable for providing lessons learned and insights from practice. The following themes are relevant to this Research Topic:- Adaptable and reversible design - Circular asset reuse - Climate-adaptive transformation - Passive and nature-based strategies - Heritage-sensitive adaptive reuse - Participatory and co-design in adaptive reuse - Social value of adaptive reuse - Circular adaptive reuse governance and financing models - Circular adaptive reuse decision-support tools - Post-adaptation performance evaluation. Topic editors: Mohammad B. Hamida, Sara Wilkinson, Deniz Ikiz Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/84373/designing-adaptive-reuse-for-circularity-climate-resilience-adaptability-and-social-sustainability