IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i6p1949-d151738.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Measures and Steps for More Efficient Use of Buildings

Author

Listed:
  • Mattias Höjer

    (Division of Strategic Sustainable Studies, Department of Sustainable Development, Environmental Science and Engineering, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden)

  • Kristina Mjörnell

    (RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, Eklandagatan 86, 412 61 Gothenburg, Sweden)

Abstract

As urbanization continues and more people move into cities and urban areas, pressure on available land for new constructions will continue to increase. This situation constitutes an incentive to review the need for interior space and uses of existing buildings. A great deal can be gained from using existing buildings more efficiently instead of constructing new ones: Reduced resource usage during construction (investments, natural resources, and energy), operation, and maintenance; more activity per square meter of buildings creates a greater basis for public transport and other services; more intensive use of buildings creates a more vibrant city without building on virgin land. The aim of this paper is to initiate a discussion regarding how digitalization can affect the demand and supply of interior space in existing buildings and elaborate on how policy can support more resource-efficient uses of space. New activity-based resource measurements intended for use in buildings are proposed, and several principles that have the potential to decrease environmental impact through more efficient usage of space are outlined. Based on these ideas for encouraging the flexible use of building spaces that are facilitated by digitalization and the new measurement approaches, a four-step principle for construction is proposed: The first step is to reduce the demand for space, the second is to intensify usage of existing space, the third is to reconstruct and adapt existing buildings to current needs, and the fourth is to construct new buildings. Urging political, municipal, construction, and real-estate decision makers to contemplate this principle, particularly in view of the new conditions that digitalization entails, will lead to more sustainable construction and, in the long term, a sustainable built environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Mattias Höjer & Kristina Mjörnell, 2018. "Measures and Steps for More Efficient Use of Buildings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-11, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:6:p:1949-:d:151738
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/6/1949/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/6/1949/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Johansson, Fredrik & Tornberg, Patrik & Fernström, Astrid, 2018. "A function-oriented approach to transport planning in Sweden: Limits and possibilities from a policy perspective," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 30-38.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Magdalena Celadyn, 2020. "Integrative Design Classes for Environmental Sustainability of Interior Architectural Design," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-18, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tornberg, Patrik & Odhage, John, 2018. "Making transport planning more collaborative? The case of Strategic Choice of Measures in Swedish transport planning," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 416-429.
    2. van Geet, Marijn Thomas & Lenferink, Sander & Arts, Jos & Leendertse, Wim, 2019. "Understanding the ongoing struggle for land use and transport integration: Institutional incongruence in the Dutch national planning process," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 84-100.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:6:p:1949-:d:151738. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.