2021 NZILA Firth Conference: The Circular Economy
Jakob Sandel Sorrenson is Head of Sustainability at Schønherr in Denmark and is a member of the Danish Association of Landscape Architects' working committee. He was one of the international speakers to beam in via livestream to this year’s NZILA Firth Conference.
Speaking from his office in Copenhagen, he presented on the role of landscape architects and landscape architecture in the ‘transition to the future circular economy.’
“Everything we have ever built, everything we have ever extracted and modified and produced in order to build these things, everything we have ever torn down or demolished, turned into waste or pollution if you like, is all here, is all still here.”
Jakob Sandel Sorrenson. Image credit: Linkedin
The problem is, he told the conference, is that right now we are using more resources than the world can produce. “We are using quite significantly more than one planet a year on average.
“Some of us are using far more than that. Clearly the way that we are doing things now, they are not sustainable.”
Using his country, Denmark, as an example, Sandel Sorrenson told the conference that the construction industry there is responsible for thirty per cent of emissions, energy consumption and waste production.
He says that highlights the responsibility that landscape architects must accept for trying to do things better and more sustainably.
Delegates at the 2021 NZILA Firth Conference in Tauranga in May.
He says using the idea of the Circular Economy, he and his teams have been trying to find ways to do better.
He describes The Circular Economy as the term used to describe an economic system in balance with nature. An economy which doesn’t extract more or pollute more than the natural systems can sustain.
He says a circular economy is restorative and regenerative by design and aims to keep products components and materials at their highest utility and value at all times.
The Danish Association of Landscape Architects has produced a guide, “Circular Economy in Landscape Architecture” which was published a year ago.
Jakob Sandel Sorrenson says the guide follows four key principles of the circular economy which they have translated for use by landscape architects and indeed the entire construction industry.
The Inner Circle - the less change you need to apply to a site, to parts of a site or the less you need to refurbish a structure or material to use it, the higher the potentials savings on water, energy or labour are. The keys to the Inner Circle are retaining project parts, planting, soil, sub or base layers or entire paved areas, as they are already on site.
Long Term Circulation - If a structure or a material is long lasting or its durability can be extended by maintenance and/or replacement of of its individual parts it is referred to as Long Term Circulation. Designing and building in a way that allows easy maintenance or replacement of individual parts is a good idea. The use of durable materials makes it possible to imagine their reuse.
Cascaded Use - through light reprocessing or refurbishment, used materials or production parts can extend their lifetime. This keeps those materials in circulation and lowers the carbon footprint.
Pure Circles - if a construction material retains its purity and quality it is easier to reuse than if it has been processed or mixed. Purer materials often have a higher resale value or gain in value over time.
He says a second edition will be available later this year and an English translation is also on the way.
You can see Jakob Sandel Sorrenson’s full conference presentation in the video below.
