Digital technologies as supporting tools for resource circularity in the construction industry: A review reflecting on the building lifecycle

Abstract

The construction sector accounts for one-third of global resource consumption and generates substantial waste, with construction and demolition activities contributing significantly to climate change impacts. While circular economy (CE) principles offer solutions through continuous resource loops, the integration of emerging digital technologies to facilitate CE practices across building lifecycles remains fragmented and underexplored. This systematic literature review investigates the potential of digital technologies in promoting and facilitating CE practices throughout the building lifecycle, identifying mature technologies, underexplored strategies, and research gaps. A comprehensive search across Google Scholar, Scopus, and ScienceDirect databases identified 244 papers (2015–2024), with 146 selected for thematic analysis after systematic screening. The study analyzed 15 digital technologies and their fulfillment of CE strategies across five building lifecycle phases through a structured mapping approach. This study highlights that Building Information Modelling (BIM) dominates the field with applications in 62 papers, followed by Spatial Data Acquisition (37 papers) and Machine Learning (28 papers). Three CE strategies emerge as most consistently targeted: Deconstruction & Material Recovery, Urban Mining & Material Passports, and Digital Modelling for Circularity. Conversely, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and Robotics & Automation appear in only 1–2 papers each, indicating significant underutilized potential. The comprehensive technology-strategy mapping matrix reveals critical gaps in operation phase applications, immersive technology adoption, and multi-technology integration. This systematic analysis provides the first comprehensive framework linking specific digital technologies to CE strategies across complete building lifecycles, highlighting pathways toward holistic, interoperable approaches for circular construction implementation.