Designing buildings for disassembly, with the aim of recycling or reusing their materials, is gaining traction as a future way to reduce environmental impact. Builders can use materials such as wood and steel, which are easier to recycle or reuse than concrete and drywall, and opt for standardised connections that can be easily removed. This approach allows future residents to make changes more easily, such as removing wall panels or repurposing entire rooms. The concept aligns with a growing number of regulations promoting the "circular economy", where products and materials are reused and recycled as much as possible to limit environmental harm.

It's a grand idea, but it seems it will increase the cost if housing a lot, which is a major issue young people are struggling with.

The following submission statement was provided by /u/WestEst101:

Designing buildings for disassembly, with the aim of recycling or reusing their materials, is gaining traction as a future way to reduce environmental impact. Builders can use materials such as wood and steel, which are easier to recycle or reuse than concrete and drywall, and opt for standardised connections that can be easily removed. This approach allows future residents to make changes more easily, such as removing wall panels or repurposing entire rooms. The concept aligns with a growing number of regulations promoting the "circular economy", where products and materials are reused and recycled as much as possible to limit environmental harm.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/11bnuq6/the_cities_built_to_be_reusable/j9yrpko/

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I don't know a lot, but based on my understanding, the costs might equal out. If we are not having to pay to source new materials that would lower the cost of building. the cost goes back up again when you now factor in the extra labour costs. So, perhaps the cost won't change overall, but I think the environmental impact would be a double positive.

Given that Labour is much shorter than material at present I think that is introducing a major cost and bottleneck.

Well in 10-15 years, when 3d printed housing gets better and more mainstream it will be much easier to build and assemble on site, like a plastic cement truck with a 3d printer on the back.

That's fair! I still think it has promise.

Cement is one of the most carbon emitting materials on the planet. I hope there will be other better materials to 3D print with.

Makes no sense to built homes from wood in climate change affected areas that deal with floodings, hurricanes or wildfires.

Deaths from disasters are way way way down from a historical perspective. It's an engineering problem that we've mostly solved since 1900. Forbes

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerpielke/2019/11/15/no-hurricanes-are-not-bigger-stronger-and-more-dangerous/?sh=76451d034d9e

The actual changes in natural disasters seem to be theoretical and small. 2010-2020 had the least category 3 or higher hurricanes on record.

Also look at the chart here.

chart of intensity