The Urban Bio-loop demonstrates that a different paradigm for materials in construction is possible.
Organic waste from our cities and countrysides, traditionally managed through landfill, incineration and composting could be diverted in to a resource for the creation of construction engineering and architecture products, before being fed back in the biological cycle at the end of their service life.
The use of organic waste and its untapped value could have a positive impact on the environment as well as technical, social and economic standpoints. In the urban bio-loop, we identify a number of organic waste streams, together with their applications in building construction as products. These provide guidelines for designers and practitioners in replacing some of the traditional architectural products with equivalents made with organic waste as a resource.
We explore how both our cities and urban districts could become self-sustaining through the active implementation of organic waste streams into the supply chain of building construction products. Our vision entails cities and urban districts that could implement more effective recovery systems and processes to turn organic waste into a source of value, while planning for growing natural construction materials - key principles of the circular economy.
