The topic of sustainable affordable housing in developing countries is gaining increasing importance within international debates. The challenge is to find a balance between the concepts of sustainability and affordability in building construction within fragile contexts, overcoming basic self-made shelter solutions towards the creation of sustainable durable housing. In particular, concerning the selection of constructive technological solutions, the goal is to shift from the current decision-making process based only on economic factors to a more holistic approach based on a triple bottom line perspective, integrating economic, environmental and social sustainability. With this aim, this paper proposes a decisional support tool for contexts characterized by poor information to sustain decision-makers in identifying suitable technological solutions. The tool is based on a set of key indicators, articulated into the three pillars of sustainability. The proposed tool, conceived as scalable and replicable, is finally applied to the specific context of Mogadishu (Somalia), since it is representative of the uncertain social, political and economic nature of fragile contexts.

Among the different circular strategies, remanufacturing proves to be particularly interesting since it aims to maintain the value of building components overtime extending their lifespan by guaranteeing multiple consequent cycles of use, overcoming in this way the most common down-cycling logics. However, unlike other industrial fields which already benefit from remanufacturing, the construction sector delays to adopt this practice due to barriers of different nature, namely organizational, information, technical, regulatory and economic. Among these barriers, the first two can now be addressed more effectively thanks to the support of Information and Communication Technologies. The latter offer the possibility of real-time monitoring, remote communication and scenario modeling, opening up to innovative solutions for remanufacturing. Hence, the paper aims to investigate how the application of ICTs can support the cognitive and organizational processes related to remanufacturing of building components. In particular, the paper explores the application of sensing technologies, digital twins and information platforms and assess their potential to support the implementation of circular service-based remanufacturing models in the construction sector.

Unlike other industrial sectors that already apply re-manufacturing, the construction sector is slow to experiment with these sustainable practices. Hence, this paper introduces key results of the Re-NetTA project, conducted at Politecnico di Milano and funded by Fondazione Cariplo (2018-0991), which intends to outline the conditions necessary to activate circular processes in the field of tertiary construction. In order to extend the life of construction products, the paper proposes three circular models based on re-manufacturing. Developed with stakeholders and experts in an inter-sectoral and multidisciplinary approach, the proposed models represent a contribution towards sustainable design and organisational practices of construction products.