Housing Passport knowledge graph: Promoting a circular economy in urban residential buildings
Naomi Keena, Avi Friedman, Mojtaba Parsaee, Madeline Mussio, Ava Klein, Martha Pomasonco-Alvis, Paulo Pinheiro
Abstract
• Data-driven circular economy decision-making promotes sustainable housing. • Housing Passports (HP) support circularity by standardizing housing characteristics. • HP knowledge graph (HPKG) contextualizes and semantically links heterogenous data. • HPKG supports the scalability and interoperability of housing data. • 62 million housing datapoints across various scales and contexts are presented. This paper introduces the Housing Passport knowledge graph (HPKG) as a novel digital standardization framework with a robust semantic data infrastructure to promote a circular economy in the home-building industry. Unstandardized and dispersed housing data impedes a comprehensive assessment of housing stock characteristics and life cycle impacts, hindering the implementation of circular economy principles. The HPKG addresses this challenge by providing (1) a standardized framework for integrated analysis of residential buildings’ affordability and circularity across various spatiotemporal scales and socioeconomic contexts, and (2) a scalable semantic infrastructure using web ontologies that enhances the sharability, searchability, readability, and interoperability of housing-related data. A case study involving five Canadian cities demonstrates the HPKG's effectiveness in semantically linking and standardizing approximately 62 million data points representing over 1.2 million residential buildings. The results show how the HPKG enables a multi-scale integrated assessment of Canadian housing stock, focusing on affordability, energy efficiency, and environmental footprints. As a key conclusion, the HPKG supports informed decisions regarding housing stock by enabling the exploration of circular economy scenarios that prioritize the reuse and recycling of residential building materials. The HPKG empowers stakeholders to develop residential typologies that promote affordability, circularity, and sustainability across diverse socioeconomic contexts.