Van Opstal Wim, Bocken Nancy, Brusselaers Jan
Unit of Sustainable Materials and Chemistry, VITO, Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol, Belgium.
Maastricht Sustainability Institute, School of Business and Economics, Maastricht University, Tapijn 11 Building D, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Resour Conserv Recycl Adv. 2025 Sep;27:None. doi: 10.1016/j.rcradv.2025.200272.
Shifting towards a circular economy in the built environment is considered an important step toward fostering environmentally sustainable and socially resilient cities. Housing cooperatives, established to provide affordable and democratically governed housing, may offer structural advantages for embedding circularity - but their role in circular transitions remains underexplored. This study investigates how cooperative governance may influence the implementation of circular strategies, including circular design, product-service systems, and shared resource models, across different housing types. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with housing professionals, cooperative representatives, service providers, and policymakers, we assess the comparative institutional advantages and limitations of cooperatives in enabling circular transitions. Our findings indicate that housing cooperatives can mitigate market failures and overcome split incentives through collective ownership, long-term planning, and participatory governance. These features help facilitate lifecycle-based investments, bundled procurement, and shared infrastructure. However, cooperatives also face key challenges, including complex decision-making, limited access to finance, and regulatory barriers. This paper contributes to the understanding of alternative housing models for urban sustainability by offering insights into how cooperative-led initiatives can support circular innovation. It identifies boundary conditions for aligning stakeholder perspectives and embedding circular strategies within cooperative housing, helping to inform inclusive, community-based responses to climate and resource challenges.
向建筑环境中的循环经济转型被视为朝着建设环境可持续和社会韧性城市迈出的重要一步。为提供经济适用且民主管理的住房而设立的住房合作社，可能为融入循环性提供结构优势——但其在循环转型中的作用仍未得到充分探索。本研究调查了合作治理如何影响不同住房类型的循环战略实施，包括循环设计、产品-服务系统和共享资源模式。通过对住房专业人士、合作社代表、服务提供商和政策制定者进行半结构化访谈，我们评估了合作社在推动循环转型方面的比较制度优势和局限性。我们的研究结果表明，住房合作社可以通过集体所有权、长期规划和参与式治理来减轻市场失灵并克服激励不一致问题。这些特征有助于促进基于生命周期的投资、捆绑采购和共享基础设施。然而，合作社也面临关键挑战，包括复杂的决策、有限的融资渠道和监管障碍。本文通过深入了解合作社主导的举措如何支持循环创新，有助于理解城市可持续发展的替代住房模式。它确定了协调利益相关者观点并将循环战略融入合作住房的边界条件，有助于为应对气候和资源挑战提供包容的、基于社区的对策。
