New business model of flexible housing

Abstract

The Open Building (OB) and the concept of flexible housing has alwaysassociated with user’s ability to respond to changing demand. It is necessary that housing can adap to changing market conditions and different users’ requirements. Flexibility makes a crucial concept that one cannot ignore. However, extra investments for future flexibility are still hardly made because the early investments affect different parties that are not involved in the future adaptation thus made it unaffordable to the mass. Also, the final life-cycle costs incurred in considering alternative solutions are more important than simply investing extra money in providing for flexibility (R.P. Geraedts). Our societyandeconomy are always changing. Nonetheless, the way we produce, the linear system that contains make-take-ispose consumption, had not changed since the started off an industrial revolution a long time ago. Thus, resulted in scarcity, depletion and waste of resources, environmental pollution, and climate change. Innovative leasing using circular economy(CE) is a recent way of looking at sustainability. The basis of CE is thinking in circular supply chains, maximizing the value of materials in which products are reused, remanufactured and recycled (MacArthur, 2013). The authors have illustrated several methods for integrating flexible housing with circular economy concept resulting in a conceptual framework of a new business model of flexible housing. Results of this study contribute to an alternative affordable, flexible housing in the market.