Browsing by Author "Savolainen, Varpu"

In the industry categorization, construction industry is one of the largest sources of waste and greenhouse gas emissions. Construction industry, with norms, practices, business models, and legislation connected to it, is built on linear foundations. In a linear economy, energy and material flows are based on value addition and a take-make-use-dispose logic. The circular economy is pursued as a replacement to the linear economic model and is based on the idea of value preservation. Among several other sustainability-driven concepts, the use of the concept of circular economy is growing in local, national and international level environmental governance. This thesis is located in the complex and ambiguous conceptual framework of circular economy as a sustainability transformation in municipal politics. The subjects under observation are four Finnish cities: Helsinki, Joensuu, Turku, and Vantaa. I aim to gain an understanding of why circular economy policy implementation in the construction and demolition of buildings seems inadequate in comparison to the municipalities’ circular economy and sustainability ambitions and whether it really is so. The current city strategies, the policy documents with the most significant guiding impact to circular construction, and interviews with experts from the municipalities and construction sector are analyzed with thematic analysis. This thesis is a part of a six-year transdisciplinary research project, DeCarbon-Home, which studies and co-develops solutions to the just sustainability transitions of living and construction. The results of this thesis show that the understanding and awareness of the concept of circular economy and ambitions attached to it vary significantly not only between cities but also within. The cities are in different phases of circular economy transition, and the results demonstrate various pathways of policy implementation. Some shared challenges that are so far hindering the cities from implementing circularity in construction have to do with the lock-in with the current linear system, division of ownership and responsibility, communication, timing, and paradigm shift.