Project title

Circular Urbanism in Fragile Contexts

Research question

How do improvised circular economy practices in contested cities challenge mainstream high-tech circularity models, and what governance innovations emerge from these conflict-adaptive systems?

Project description

Hazem Abu-Orf’s research investigates improvised circular economy (CE) practices in contested cities such as Nicosia and Belfast. In these contexts, conflict and institutional fragmentation have led to the emergence of low-tech, community-based material flows—such as rubble reuse and shared utilities.

Challenging mainstream CE models that emphasise high-tech industrial solutions, his project asks: how do these conflict-adaptive systems redefine circularity as a survival strategy, and what governance innovations do they inspire?

Using spatial ethnography and comparative case studies, the project maps what Abuorf terms “resilience corridors”—peri-urban zones where informal material loops enable forms of coexistence. These are contrasted with formal CE hubs, such as those in Rotterdam studied by Alexander Wandl, to develop a new framework of “conflict-adaptive circularity”.

Funded by NIAS and linked to TU Delft’s Circular Built Environment Hub, the project contributes to rethinking post-war reconstruction strategies (e.g., in Ukraine) and offers fresh perspectives for addressing polarisation in divided cities. It bridges urban studies, peacebuilding, and the EU’s sustainability agendas.

Selected publications

  • (2023) “Planning Amid Violent Conflict: The Struggle for Co-existence”
    Book proposal accepted for publication by Routledge, First Edition.
    ISBN-13: 978-1-4094-4917-1

  • (2021) “Investigating the Relation between Culture and Architecture: The Case of Rassem Badran’s Style of Architecture”
    Chapter in the book Cities’ Identity Through Architecture and Art – Volume 2, AATSI, Springer.

  • (2021) “Beyond a Visual Tactile: A ‘Continuity of Memory’ into the Present”
    Accepted for publication on 7th November 2021, Journal of the University of Palestine for Research and Studies.

  • (2021) “Mortar to Repair Rammed-Earth Walls’ Surfaces: Do We Still Need It?”
    Accepted for publication on 1st November 2021, Construction Technologies and Architecture, Vol. 1, pp. 825–833.

  • (2020) “Critical Regionalism in the Gulf Architecture: Masdar’s-City ‘Eco-Project’”
    Journal of Architectural Research and Development, Vol. 4(3), pp. 17–28.
    DOI: 10.26689/jard.v4i3.1042