Developing an Urban Resource Cadaster for Circular Economy: A Case of Odense, Denmark

The significant amount of secondary materials stocked in products, buildings, and infrastructures has directed increasing attention to urban mining and circular economy. Circular economy strategies and activities in the construction industry are, however, often hindered by a lack of detailed knowledge on the type, amount, and distribution of secondary materials in the urban built environment. In this study, we developed such an urban resource cadaster through an integration of the geo-localized, bottom-up material stock analysis with primary data on building material intensity coefficients for a case of Odense, the third largest city in Denmark that is undergoing major construction works. We quantified the total amount and spatial (including vertical) distribution of 46 construction materials stocked in buildings (residential and nonresidential), roads, and pipe networks (wastewater, water supply, and natural gas). In total, 66.7 megatons (or 329 tons per capita) of construction materials are stocked in Odense, in which aboveground stock only makes up for a third of the weight but hosts a wide variety of materials. This urban resource cadaster at high resolution can inform a variety of stakeholders along the value chain of the construction industry to better plan for construction materials and component recovery and smart waste management.