Toward Sustainable Product
and Process Innovation in the
Construction Sector
Sara Cattaneo, Camilla Lenzi and Alessandra Zanelli
Introduction
This section focuses on the third challenge mentioned in the Introduction, namely
the environmental sustainability of the construction sector and the eco-innovation of
the transformative processes of the materials incorporated in buildings.
This section intends to deal with the following problematic aspects: a) the
innovation of products/systems/components and processes, starting from the reuse
and second life of products/materials up to the modification of supply chain relations (life cycle assessment); b) the use of innovative materials, with the aim of
promoting the development of structural requalification techniques based on the use
of recycled, recyclable and/or easily re-convertible materials in a circular economy
perspective.
In particular, the modernization of construction supply chains—according to the
methods and procedures with lower impact on the environment—is at the heart of
the first chapters. Alternative approaches are taken into consideration for the disposal and virtuous reuse/recycling of building components, with the final objective
of experimenting with circular economy approaches also in the field of production
of goods and services in the building sector.
The next five chapters in this section propose specific case studies that aim to
demonstrate how eco-innovation in the building sector must deal with both the
design and strategic dimension as well as the technical-productive dimension.
Different materials/techniques are considered; in particular, Tartaglia and Biolzi
et al. propose a different solution to reduce the environmental impact in the production of concrete, while Zanelli et al. propose strategies to be applied in lightweight architecture. Other studies focus on the solutions for the renovation of the
and Process Innovation in the
Construction Sector
Sara Cattaneo, Camilla Lenzi and Alessandra Zanelli
Introduction
This section focuses on the third challenge mentioned in the Introduction, namely
the environmental sustainability of the construction sector and the eco-innovation of
the transformative processes of the materials incorporated in buildings.
This section intends to deal with the following problematic aspects: a) the
innovation of products/systems/components and processes, starting from the reuse
and second life of products/materials up to the modification of supply chain relations (life cycle assessment); b) the use of innovative materials, with the aim of
promoting the development of structural requalification techniques based on the use
of recycled, recyclable and/or easily re-convertible materials in a circular economy
perspective.
In particular, the modernization of construction supply chains—according to the
methods and procedures with lower impact on the environment—is at the heart of
the first chapters. Alternative approaches are taken into consideration for the disposal and virtuous reuse/recycling of building components, with the final objective
of experimenting with circular economy approaches also in the field of production
of goods and services in the building sector.
The next five chapters in this section propose specific case studies that aim to
demonstrate how eco-innovation in the building sector must deal with both the
design and strategic dimension as well as the technical-productive dimension.
Different materials/techniques are considered; in particular, Tartaglia and Biolzi
et al. propose a different solution to reduce the environmental impact in the production of concrete, while Zanelli et al. propose strategies to be applied in lightweight architecture. Other studies focus on the solutions for the renovation of the