As part of NTNU’s Circular City initiative, the Structural Mechanics Group is hosting a PhD student in a multidisciplinary research project that integrates structural engineering principles with advanced Bayesian statistics. The project aims to predict material properties and member dimensions in the existing building stock, providing critical insights for structural safety assessment and reuse strategies in a circular built environment.

This research contributes to the broader Circular City goal of understanding existing buildings as a resource base for a future circular economy. The Circular City Information Infrastructure (CCII) will quantify and map material quantities, qualities, and reuse potential at a large scale. Through collaboration across architecture, planning, structural engineering, geography, manufacturing, and industrial ecology, the initiative develops novel methods for circular resource management in the built environment.

The project is part of an interdisciplinary effort that applies bottom-up data gathering, remote sensing, BIM, structural modeling, and systematic knowledge of architecture and construction technology. Using Trondheim and Trøndelag as case studies, the research aims to develop scalable approaches for sustainable urban transformation.

Learn more about the Circular City initiative here.