Design Scenarios for a Circular Vision of Post-disaster Temporary Settlements

Abstract

The construction sector has a considerable impact on the environment in terms of both exploited natural resources and greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, converting the production process from linear to circular is essential. In increasingly vulnerable human settlements, post-emergency recovery can become an opportunity to develop innovative circular design strategies. The research focuses on how to strengthen the resilience of risk-prone territories through pre-disaster strategic planning based on a systemic approach. Post-emergency management of 2009 and 2016–2017 earthquakes in the inner areas of Central Italy is assumed as a case study. In particular, the tender specifications that guided the recovery revealed a deep lack of preventive programmes on the post-use phase of the settlements, which remain suspended between temporary and permanent. Starting from the analysis, the paper proposes a matrix of alternative scenarios for the end-of-life of temporary structures. The matrix allows connecting the recovery phase with the objectives of social cohesion and territorial regeneration policies, adapting the response to the needs of the specific context. Assuming that the artefact’s technological requirements depend on the different perspectives of their life cycle, the scenarios are oriented towards different degrees of reversibility, addressing the complete disassembly, with the reuse and recycling of components, up to the reconversion of temporary assets as local facilities and as resources for green and digital transition. Integrating post-disaster into ordinary tools would trigger virtuous synergies to optimise public funding use. In this framework, post-disaster temporary housing can become a field of experimentation for disaster-resilient communities and circular economy.