Reusing Stadiums for a Greener Future: The Circular Design Potential of Football Architecture

Abstract

Since the turn of the new Millennium, there has been an increase in efforts to build environmental-friendly sports arenas around the world. Fuelled by large sporting events like the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the ‘Green Games,’ and the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, stadium architecture has become a vehicle for this trend. So far, the emphasis has primarily been on new arenas, in line with the widespread belief in international architecture of the 2000s that older buildings are less energy-efficient by default. In addition to that comes a conviction that newness is needed to attract sponsors, investors, and larger audiences—a position powered by commercial interest and the idea of the stadium as an ‘urban generator.’ While new stadiums may have a significant potential when it comes to green performability, that does not necessarily mean that older stadiums are surplus to requirements, even from a climate perspective. In this paper, we look critically at the well-established strategy of replacing old stadiums with new ones by questioning the climate impact of new arenas and investigating the reuse potential of existing ones. We carry out in-depth analysis of two existing stadiums, Tynecastle Park in Edinburgh and Stadio Flaminio in Rome. One of them has already gone through renovation to remain in use while the other is vacant but currently under way to be renovated. We bring in fresh perspectives from sports science, preservation, architecture, and circular design theory to explain why older stadiums become obsolete and to challenge the premise of that destiny. The aim is not only to scrutinize the general lack of reuse but also to highlight green strategies which could give existing stadiums a longer life.

Research on construction and management strategy of carbon neutral stadiums based on CNN-QRLSTM model combined with dynamic attention mechanism

“…In this study, we utilize four diverse datasets encompassing crucial information related to stadium construction, energy consumption, carbon emissions, and other relevant factors. Through a rigorous evaluation process, we compare the performance of our model against several state-of-the-art methods, including Bunds et al (Bunds et al, 2019), Kucukvar et al (Kucukvar et al, 2021), Al-Hamrani et al (Al-Hamrani et al, 2021), Wergeland et al (Wergeland and Hognestad, 2021), Osorio et al (Osorio et al, 2022), and Elnour et al (Elnour et al, 2022a). Across all datasets and evaluation metrics, our proposed model consistently outperformed the compared methods.…”

Environmental Sustainability in Stadium Design and Construction: A Systematic Literature Review

“…The case of innovative shipping container stadium [33] Investigating alternative development strategies for sport arenas based on active and passive systems [34] Modern Stadium Design: an adaptive renovation or urban renewal. [35] Research on the Indoor Physical Characteristic of the Ceiling of China National Aquatics Center under the Demand of Olympic Games [15] Reusing Stadiums for a Greener Future: The Circular Design Potential of Football Architecture [36] Rwanda Cricket Stadium: Seismically stabilised tile vaults [37] The Object-Oriented Politics of Stadium Sustainability: A Case Study of SC Freiburg [38] Using Simulation-Based Modeling to Evaluate Light Trespass in the Design Stage of Sports Facilities [39] Water savings and reduction of costs through the use of a dual water supply system in a sports facility [40]…”

Shadow Stadia and the Circular Economy

“…The urban construction sector is among the most evident sectors that contribute to negative environmental impacts (Kucukvar and Tatari, 2012 , 2013 ; Onat et al, 2014 ) and research has shown that CE concepts such as the adaptive repurposing of existing, abandoned, and historical buildings, is beneficial for the environment and neighborhood revitalization (Bullen and Love, 2010 ; Baker et al, 2017 ; Foster, 2020 ). Drawing from concepts such as adaptive reuse and maintenance architecture, Wergeland and Hognestad ( 2021 ) concluded football (soccer) stadia have potential for circularity if the broader sports community becomes more willing to preserve architectural legacy. To do so, they argued further investment in stadium restoration is required to limit demolition of historic stadia, while legislative changes are necessary to make it easier to modify existing sports venues.…”

“…One innovative approach is moving toward emerging circular sustainability and construction methods. Wergeland and Hognestad ( 2021 ) recently emphasized green strategies and perspectives such as the circular economy that could extend the lifecycle of existing football stadia. Bengtsson et al ( 2018 ) argued that the circular economy, defined through specific actions and practices such as eco-design, reuse, refurbishment, remanufacturing (Nasr and Thurston, 2006 ), repair and product sharing (Chertow and Ehrenfeld, 2012 ), can contribute to reaching the social, economic, and environmental targets set forth by the 2030 Agenda's Sustainable Development Goals.…”