Environmental impacts of repurposing phone booths as COVID-19 sampling stations
The presented research examines the repurposing of decommissioned phonebooth units to COVID-19 sampling stations as a meaningful attempt to promote environmentally sustainable and socially resilient cities by contributing to a circular economy transition. The repurposing approach is compared to an a...
Main Authors: | , , |
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2023-12-01
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Series: | International Journal of Sustainable Engineering |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19397038.2023.2220361 |
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author | Martin Schoch Sunaree Lawanyawatna Shabbir H Gheewala |
author_facet | Martin Schoch Sunaree Lawanyawatna Shabbir H Gheewala |
author_sort | Martin Schoch |
collection | DOAJ |
description | The presented research examines the repurposing of decommissioned phonebooth units to COVID-19 sampling stations as a meaningful attempt to promote environmentally sustainable and socially resilient cities by contributing to a circular economy transition. The repurposing approach is compared to an adequate new build design using a life cycle assessment to evaluate the environmental implications and a time-cost comparison for their implementation. The results indicate that the remodelling of the phone booth improves environmental performance. The expanded need for refurbishment is offset by the need to use virgin material for the new stations. The benefit of finding reuse for the phone booths and extending their lifetime further supports this understanding, demonstrating the adaptive approach as a viable strategy for utilising an otherwise disused urban infrastructure with uncertain end-of-life. Cost-time results show that repurposing is less expensive due to the donated phone booths and low production numbers. On the other hand, new sampling stations take less time to produce. Future studies investigate user experiences and social benefits of the realised sampling station based on phone booth repurposing. |
first_indexed | 2024-03-11T22:57:31Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-5d8ff94505c9441dbc009d6a30299388 |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 1939-7038 1939-7046 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-03-11T22:57:31Z |
publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
record_format | Article |
series | International Journal of Sustainable Engineering |
spelling | doaj.art-5d8ff94505c9441dbc009d6a302993882023-09-21T15:17:05ZengTaylor & Francis GroupInternational Journal of Sustainable Engineering1939-70381939-70462023-12-0116112913910.1080/19397038.2023.22203612220361Environmental impacts of repurposing phone booths as COVID-19 sampling stationsMartin Schoch0Sunaree Lawanyawatna1Shabbir H Gheewala2King Mongkut’s University of Technology ThonburiKing Mongkut’s University of Technology ThonburiKing Mongkut’s University of Technology ThonburiThe presented research examines the repurposing of decommissioned phonebooth units to COVID-19 sampling stations as a meaningful attempt to promote environmentally sustainable and socially resilient cities by contributing to a circular economy transition. The repurposing approach is compared to an adequate new build design using a life cycle assessment to evaluate the environmental implications and a time-cost comparison for their implementation. The results indicate that the remodelling of the phone booth improves environmental performance. The expanded need for refurbishment is offset by the need to use virgin material for the new stations. The benefit of finding reuse for the phone booths and extending their lifetime further supports this understanding, demonstrating the adaptive approach as a viable strategy for utilising an otherwise disused urban infrastructure with uncertain end-of-life. Cost-time results show that repurposing is less expensive due to the donated phone booths and low production numbers. On the other hand, new sampling stations take less time to produce. Future studies investigate user experiences and social benefits of the realised sampling station based on phone booth repurposing.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19397038.2023.2220361covid-19 sampling stationadaptive reuselife cycle assessmenttime-cost analysissocietal resilience |
spellingShingle | Martin Schoch Sunaree Lawanyawatna Shabbir H Gheewala Environmental impacts of repurposing phone booths as COVID-19 sampling stations International Journal of Sustainable Engineering covid-19 sampling station adaptive reuse life cycle assessment time-cost analysis societal resilience |
title | Environmental impacts of repurposing phone booths as COVID-19 sampling stations |
title_full | Environmental impacts of repurposing phone booths as COVID-19 sampling stations |
title_fullStr | Environmental impacts of repurposing phone booths as COVID-19 sampling stations |
title_full_unstemmed | Environmental impacts of repurposing phone booths as COVID-19 sampling stations |
title_short | Environmental impacts of repurposing phone booths as COVID-19 sampling stations |
title_sort | environmental impacts of repurposing phone booths as covid 19 sampling stations |
topic | covid-19 sampling station adaptive reuse life cycle assessment time-cost analysis societal resilience |
url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19397038.2023.2220361 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT martinschoch environmentalimpactsofrepurposingphoneboothsascovid19samplingstations AT sunareelawanyawatna environmentalimpactsofrepurposingphoneboothsascovid19samplingstations AT shabbirhgheewala environmentalimpactsofrepurposingphoneboothsascovid19samplingstations |