Dynamic Assessment of Construction Materials in Urban Building Stocks: A Critical Review

There
is a lack of understanding on the different types of dynamics
of building stocks, in real life and in models. Moreover, there is
now a particular interest in the embodied impacts of construction
materials, since with the increasing efficiency of buildings operation,
embodied impacts gain more importance in the overall building life
cycle. This critical review wants to advance the understanding of
the type of dynamics, methods, and tools used. The well-known IPAT
equation is adapted for building stocks and three dynamics are defined:
spatial, evolutionary temporal, and spatial-cohort dynamic. A framework
is defined that can help researchers choose a method, tool, and dynamics
of input parameters depending on their research goal, case study,
and data. Moreover, generally valid conclusions are drawn, including
MFA is useful to model spatially dynamic material flows; GIS is needed
to include spatial dynamics. Retrofit, compared to construction and
demolition, is understudied and usually analyzed through top-down
methods. Material intensity and emission intensity are rarely modeled
in a dynamic way. Overall, scholars seem to perform increasingly data
intensive and complex studies tailored to a specific case study. However,
there are big differences in the quality depending on the dynamic
of input parameters.