Circular Economy for the Successful Implementation of Sustainable Development in the Construction Industry: A System Dynamics Approach

Abstract

The construction sector (CS) must make the switch from a linear to a Circular Economy (CE) to reduce global impacts and preserve natural resources. Uncertainties caused by fluctuating raw material prices, increasing demand, absence of proper waste infrastructure, and use of wrong recycling technologies all lead to complexities. The CE concept is gaining popularity among governments, academics, businesses, and individuals as a crucial step toward achieving sustainable development as the latest research has urged for transformation in favor of a CE built on sustainability. System dynamics (SD) offers an approach to address complexity using tools, techniques, and simulation. Using content analysis, this research found 31 drivers in the literature from a total of 35 research articles which leads us towards successful implementation of Sustainable development in the CI of developing economies. A field study was further conducted resulting in the shortlisting of ten CE drivers for sustainable development having a 50% impact. Further, a causal loop diagram (CLD) was developed which consisted of five reinforcing and one balancing loop. In addition, CLD was utilized to construct an SD model with the stocks "Organizational Incentive Schemes" and "Policy Support" in addition to a third stock created under the name "Sustainable Development" to assess the system's overall impact. The developed model was validated using boundary adequacy, structure, parametric verification test, and extreme condition test which showed that it is logical and accurately captures the system used in the industry. Nine case study building projects executed in Pakistan were selected to check the implementation of CE principles. Further, a recommendation framework was developed to target the weak areas. The outcomes are expected to assist in resource conservation, employment generation, innovative development, economic growth, competitiveness enhancement, raw material supply security, and environmental effect mitigation.