Integrating Temporal Dimensions in Circularity of the Built Environment Analysis of Two Flemish Industrial Parks

Charlotte Timmers (), Ellen Verbiest, Sam Ottoy and Julie Marin
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Charlotte Timmers: OSA Research Group Urbanism & Architecture, Department of Architecture, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium
Ellen Verbiest: OSA Research Group Urbanism & Architecture, Department of Architecture, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium
Sam Ottoy: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium
Julie Marin: OSA Research Group Urbanism & Architecture, Department of Architecture, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 24, 1-25

Abstract: This manuscript explores how incorporating temporal dimensions into built environment research can promote a more circular society, adding societal improvements to efficiency-driven measures closing waste or material cycles. The current circularity approaches in industrial environments mainly focus on short-term innovations reducing resource extraction and waste, overlooking long-term circularity potentials of natural resource management such as living soils as a basis for all life. This study addresses this gap by investigating, analyzing, and drawing interplays between regenerative soil cycles and business development cycles in two Flemish industry parks, Kortrijk-Noord and Haasrode. Using diachronic mapping, a qualitative design and action research tool, the study aims to generate a space–time composite of soil and business cycles, integrating archival research, interviews, and policy document reviews. This method visually captures interplays between geology, land valuation, and economic development, demonstrating that integrating soil and business cycles can suggest new pathways for site-specific circular practices on Flemish industry parks, which can inform site-specific project frameworks for circular built environments. As such, the research advocates a paradigm shift in industry park (re)development, from product and material innovation within a ‘time is money’ framework to an integrated ‘time is life’ approach, where time’s historical and social dimensions are part of circular landscape development.

Keywords: circular society; circular built environments; time dimensions; industry parks; economic development cycles; soil cycles; circular landscapes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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