Urban Mining

Recovering Materials from the Existing City (Solution Type)

Global (widely applicable)

Highlight

Treats buildings, infrastructure and products already in cities as stocks of valuable materials for future reuse.

Extended description

Urban mining treats the existing city, its buildings, infrastructure, electronics and products, as a stock of valuable materials that can be recovered and reused instead of extracting virgin resources. Through inventories, selective deconstruction, material passports and recovery systems, it can reduce waste, embodied carbon and resource dependence. The concept is central to circular-city strategies and complements design for reuse and disassembly.