ALBERT

Description: This research explores how tourist site management and human attitudes and behaviours can help decrease the pressure of tourism on the environment. Estimates show that, together with ancillary sectors, the tourism industry is expected to contribute approximately 6.5 gigatons of greenhouse gases by 2025. These emissions are primarily a result of tourists favouring air travel and luxury experiences that require more energy outputs. Additionally, tourism continues to grow and has become a routine activity for the middle class who travel more regularly on an annual basis. With growing middle classes in many developing countries, the number of tourists who will be able to afford recreational travel is estimated to increase exponentially. The pressures and demands of increasing tourist numbers can strain vulnerable natural sites. These predictions show that changes within the tourism industry fabric are necessary. Against this backdrop, this research employs a combined methodology. A survey methodology was employed to explore tourist attitudes towards tourism sites and their behaviours and decision making with a top-down and bottom-up approach. Additionally, an interview methodology of tourism field experts was employed to investigate the attitudes of the industry and how consumer behaviours may be influenced. Findings from the survey and interview discussions were employed to inform four managerial aspects. First, the ticket price of the tourist experience should be proportional to the value proposition of the experience. Second, a government-led framework could guide businesses towards sustainable management and educate their tourists on greener practices. Third, businesses could integrate sustainability issues into their marketing and advertising to create awareness and ensure the longevity of the site. Lastly, tourism bodies and businesses could increase their partnerships with local custodians to add cultural value and understand the visitor experience.

Description: In this paper, a circular-economy framework is applied to the prefabricated building sector to explore the environmental advantages of prefabrication in terms of reduction, reusability, adaptability, and recyclability of its components. A qualitative approach is used to revisit the design, construction, and demolition stages of prefabricated buildings; in so doing, the circular-economy framework is applied to foster circular prefabricated modi operandi. Prefabrication of buildings can be divided into four entities: elements and components, panels (or non-volumetric elements), volumetric, and entire modules. Through an analysis of published research on how the circular economy can be applied to different industry sectors and production processes, seven strategies emerged, each of which revealed the potential of improving the circular economy of buildings. The first strategy is reduction of waste through a lean production chain. By reusing the waste, the second strategy investigates the use of by-products in the production of new components. The third strategy focuses on the reuse of replacement parts and components. The fourth strategy is based on design toward adaptability, respectively focusing on reusability of components and adapting components for a second use with a different purpose. Similarly, the fifth strategy considers the implications of designing for disassembly with Building Information Modeling so as to improve the end-of-life deconstruction phase. The sixth strategy focuses on design with attention to recyclability of used material. Finally, the seventh strategy considers the use of tracking technologies with embedded information on components’ geometric and mechanic characteristics as well as their location and life cycle to enable second use after deconstruction. It is demonstrated that prefabricated buildings are key to material savings, waste reduction, reuse of components, and various other forms of optimization for the construction sector. By adopting the identified strategies in prefabricated buildings, a circular economy could be implemented within the construction industry. Finally, seven guidelines were distilled from the review and linked to the identified strategies. Owing to their degree of adaptability and capacity of being disassembled, prefabricated buildings would allow waste reduction and facilitate a second life of components.