Monserratt Cortés Macías
Thomas van Daalhuizen
Paula Nooteboom
Siene Swinkels
Rosa de Wolf
Tutors: Caroline Newton, Lei Qu and Alexander Wandl
Key words: construction sector, circular neighbourhood, waterscape, bio-based materials, maker industries.
The large demand for homes in the province of South Holland, population growth and urbanisation result in a huge demand for raw materials to be used in the construction sector. The next 20 years many new buildings
will have to be built to support current trends. Given the fact that 50 percent of all extracted non-renewable resources is accounted by the construction sector, a shift towards a bio-based circular system is necessary. In the province of South Holland, one of the fastest growing urban areas within the Netherlands, there is a missing link between circular initiatives, knowledge and data. The question that comes up is; how can a symbiosis of stakeholders and resources contribute to a circular construction sector? An analysis of the current situation of stakeholders and flows of resources has been made and potential spatial conflicts were understood. Whereafter the analysis of trends and requirements to transition into a circular construction sector has been made. This results in a new understanding of the spatial structure of the province, focussing on the use of waterways as a backbone to support the transition. This will lead to circular neighbourhoods connected by the water. With Flux we try to reform the current construction sector into a circular one by the year of 2050, while taking into account social and spatial justice. The shift to this new structure, supported by the waterways, can facilitate a change to a circular construction sector. Besides this it will also give the province a new identity and structural element for future improvements toward a circular economy, lifting the idea of circularity to a territorial level.