EngD Position: Developing an Urban Mining design & matchmaking methodology

Renovating existing constructions in a circular manner challenges the industry to revisit their conventional design and demolition practices. New possibilities emerge when treating the existing built environment as an urban mine from which valuable materials can be ‘mined’ or ‘harvested’ for future reuse. Using such materials essentially flips the design process. Designers will need to base their design ideas and proposals on the characteristics of any reusable materials including their dimensions, connection types and other properties. Finding new matches for existing materials is further complicated as the materials from (selective) demolition projects may not become available at the right time or location. The challenge of this Engineering Doctorate project is, therefore, to make sense of these complexities by developing an urban mining design & matchmaking methodology.