Abstract for: Closing the mineral construction material cycle – An endogenous perspective on barriers in transition

Using construction and demolition waste (CDW) to close the mineral construction material loops tackles the most voluminous urban waste stream. This paper uses participative system dynamics modelling to a) learn from past and ongoing transition to identify institutional barrier; b) design and test policies to overcome barriers and sustain change dynamics and c) understand the feasibility of implementing the proposed policy interventions. We find that interaction decision-making mechanisms of public, societal, environmental, and industry actors constitute barriers to circular material flows. Distributed control and dissenting interest of governing actors reinforce a structural lock-in to a primary resource regime. The dynamic interactions require operational short-term policies that address tactical myopia of incumbent actors. The paper contributes to the study of socio-technical transitions by (1) using a formal model to structurally explain problematic behavior and (2) providing a dynamic perspective on institutional logics that result in counterintuitive policy effects.