Harvesting the urban forest: a case study of the circular building seminar at UHasselt in Belgium

Abstract

The transition to a circular economy (CE) offers an alternative path to the current high-polluting and wasteful practices in construction. However, this transition will require a drastic shift from the way products and services are designed, produced, and used, also in the architecture and construction industry. This paper aims to contribute to the body of knowledge of novel methodologies to integrate CE into architectural design and wood construction education. This paper analyses the 2021-22 edition of the Circular Building Seminar at UHasselt in the Faculty of Architecture and Arts. In this study, we first provide a brief introduction to the course mission and its approach. Then we describe in-depth the 2021-22 winter semester assignment of urban harvesting and the role of wood in it. At the end, we evaluate and discuss the outcomes of the course, its relevance as well as possibilities for improvement in the next editions.