Circular Economy for Post-Hazard Infrastructure Restoration: Strategies for Resilience and Resource Efficiency

Abstract

Climate change, resource depletion, and increasing natural disasters pose significant challenges to society, which combined highlight the need for resource-efficient infrastructure restoration. Whilst circular economy research in the built environment has largely focused on buildings, limited studies address infrastructure assets. Specifically, integrating circular economy principles into post-hazard infrastructure repairs remains unaddressed in existing literature. This research aims to provide relevant definitions and applications of circular R-strategies for infrastructure restoration. A survey distributed to practitioners in Europe and North America reports on the current state of integrating circular practices and perceptions of different R-strategies. Latent Dirichlet allocation and multi-criteria assessment help determine promising strategies, guiding tailored post-hazard recovery interventions. Results demonstrate that Disposal is the most common approach, with Repair and Refurbish strategies currently adopted, and that there is promising interest in Recycle and Reduce strategies for future implementation. This work serves as a reference for academics and practitioners, acknowledging the varying needs of infrastructure resilience planning and promoting both immediate functionality and long-term circularity.