Chapter 129
The Rise of the Smart Circular City:
Intelligent Modelling of Cities
for Improved Waste Reuse
and Environmental Effects
R. Vrijhoef
129.1 Introduction
In the Netherlands alone the potential of the circular economy for the economy is
estimated at an annual cost saving effect of 7.3 billion Euros and job creation of
54,000 jobs (Bastein et al. 2013). However this potential needs to be used in applied
solutions in often local settings such as cities. Cities are reliant on local develop-
ment for their employment, business activity, and reduction of energy consumption,
waste and air pollution in the city. In these areas cities feel more and more pressure
and they set high ambitions.
Last few years particularly cities have restrained the entering of polluting
vehicles and improving the inner-city climate and air quality in general. Particularly
construction transport is relevant to this aim while typically 30–40% of all transport
is related to construction traditionally. This represents some 40% of vehicle
emissions and road congestions. Governments and road users are keen to reduce
this. While load factors of construction transport tend to remain structurally under
50%, in few cases down to 15% of their loading capacity a need to act is felt
urgently (Vrijhoef 2015).
Another aim of the circular economy city is that waste is re-used from demol-
ished buildings into new design solutions for the built environment. To establish
this circular city, there is a need of information on various levels in an open source
structure. Examples of such data need can be, where and when is what kind of
building material needed, and where can building materials be gained by demol-
ishing buildings? For these kinds of questions, a smart 3D city model is proposed.
R. Vrijhoef (&)
Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands
e-mail: r.vrijhoef@tudelft.nl
R. Vrijhoef
Utrecht University of Applied Sciences, Utrecht, Netherlands
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018
K.W. Chau et al. (eds.), Proceedings of the 21st International Symposium
on Advancement of Construction Management and Real Estate,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6190-5_129
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