Demolition in Europe
Volume, motives and research approach
A.F. Thomsen
C.L. van der Flier
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Abstract
What determines the life span of dwellings? Much is known about the initial phase of buildings. The vast majority of scientific knowledge is concentrated on the building initiative, the programming, design and in particular the construction. Knowledge about the utilization phase, including management, transformation and redesign is growing. But applicable knowledge about the end of life is still scarce. As the housing is ageing and the deliberation between life cycle extension or demolition is getting more and more important, knowledge about demolition, the decisive motives, the pro and cons and the consequences is getting just as necessary as the initial phase. In the last decade we did a series of surveys on demolition in the Netherlands, directed at the social rented as well as the private stock. Based on these surveys we developed a conceptual model of demolition and underlying decisive motives. In search to what extend our findings are also viable in a broader area, we also looked at demolition data in other EU countries and found similarities as well as differences. Underlying an emerging European research cooperation, the paper explains the relevancy of a Europe wide survey, defines the research objectives, problem definition and main research questions, and proposes a conceptual model and an outline for a broad comparative research.