From demolition to deconstruction of the built environment: A synthesis of the literature

• Published in: Journal of Building Engineering 2023-04, Vol.64, p.105679, Article 105679
• Main Authors: Allam, Amr S., Nik-Bakht, Mazdak
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Circular construction; Deconstruction; Disassembly; Research roadmap; Selective demolition
• ISSN: 2352-7102; 2352-7102
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jobe.2022.105679

Massive amounts of Construction, Renovation, and Demolition (CRD) waste are produced from the construction sector. Growing needs for the circularity of the construction call for controlling and reducing the stream and amount of CRD waste. To this end, the deconstruction concept has emerged as a more resource-friendly alternative compared to demolition. The transition towards deconstruction requires radical changes in the current practices of design, construction, and operation of the construction industry. The first step of this change is to synthesize the existing body of knowledge in deconstruction and explore the directions and patterns in the related published literature. The present study provides a first in its class bibliometric analysis of deconstruction research from an ‘intermediate’ view, i.e., all aspects related to deconstruction at any phase of the built facility's whole lifecycle. Accordingly, a quantitative analysis of the past seven years of published literature in the area of deconstruction is provided by utilizing a carefully refined set of keywords to assure both diversity and specialty of the collected articles. Three types of networks were formed for the selected literature: co-authorship, citation, and co-occurrence. By overlaying and analyzing the resulting graphs, three main phases with different research trends shaped the deconstruction research, namely, the design phase (‘Architectural Design for Deconstruction (DfD)’ and ‘Structural DfD’), the End-of-Life (EoL) phase (‘Planning for Deconstruction (PfD)’ and ‘Post-deconstruction), and the second life phase (‘Second-life Performance’). The linkages between these trends were analyzed and a novel roadmap for deconstruction research was introduced. Furthermore, the fragilities in the deconstruction body of knowledge were defined and future directions were proposed. •Comprehensive analyses at both bibliometric and conceptual levels were completed.•Methodic and structured approach was followed to identify keywords and key concepts.•All aspects related to deconstruction through the whole lifecycle were covered.•Knowledge graphs were developed and analyzed for concepts/topics and authors.•A roadmap was developed for deconstruction research and future directions.