CIB Conferences
Abstract
Urban areas are major contributors to CO2 emissions and waste, with redevelopment activities further intensifying their environmental impact. The current gradual shift from physical retail to e-commerce is expected to exacerbate this trend, potentially leading to significant conversions of vacant retail spaces and increased urban waste and energy use. Adopting a circular economy approach - emphasizing efficiency, waste reduction, and decarbonization - can support sustainable urban development, particularly in the event of such transformations. This requires designing retail spaces with flexibility and modularity, though such approaches may involve higher costs. This study proposes a method to evaluate the economic and environmental impacts of various design options, including adaptable, circular economy-compliant designs, under future demand uncertainty. The proposed method is applied to an example retail space in Milan for demonstrative purpose, with findings, limitations, and recommendations presented for its future integration into the Real-option analysis to improve the long-term design evaluation of retail spaces.
The paper will be presented:
Online
Primary U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
Sustainable Cities and Communities - - Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
Secondary U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
Responsible Consumption and Production - - Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
Primary CIB Task Group OR Working commission
W096 – Architectural Design and Management
Secondary CIB Task Group OR Working commission
W116 – Smart and Sustainable Built Environments
Recommended Citation
Garrido, Juan Pablo; Martani, Claudio; Atta, Nazly; Talamo, Cinzia; and Paganin, Giancarlo
(2025)
"Integrating circularity in the design of future-proof retail spaces,"
CIB Conferences: Vol. 1
Article 77.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7771/3067-4883.1997