BUD-MI: a template that optimizes material intensity data collection and utilization
Journal of Industrial Ecology, vol. 30, pp. 631–649
Abstract
Mapping construction material stocks is essential for understanding socioeconomic metabolism and informing the circular economy. However, spatial material stock studies often produce coarse results owing to challenges in material intensity development. This paper introduces BUD-MI (Bottom-Up Data: Material Intensity), a material intensity data collection template designed with three core objectives: streamlining the data collection process during building sampling, supporting cumulative research while ensuring project-specific relevance, and enhancing the utility of results for the construction industry. BUD-MI aims to assist researchers, students, and construction practitioners in developing material intensity data in line with these three objectives. The development process required identifying material intensity challenges, eliciting requirements, mapping relevant domain work and creating missing ones, and assembling them all into BUD-MI. The template consists of three data input tabs, two mini-tools for data input assistance, four result generation tabs, and additional tabs for background data and ancillary information. A case study in Sheffield, UK, illustrates BUD-MI's functionalities, enabling bespoke material intensity results to be disaggregated across building elements and components. BUD-MI supports future material intensity data collection efforts, ensuring data quality, granularity, comparability, transferability, and availability, thereby advancing socioeconomic metabolism and circular economy research and practice. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s44498-026-00044-w.
Authors 13
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Maud Lanau corresponding
Chalmers University of Technology
Affiliation as printed
Division of Sustainable Built Environments, Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden
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Affiliation as printed
School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, SE-41296 UK
WSP UK Limited, London, UK
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Affiliation as printed
School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, SE-41296 UK
WSP UK Limited, London, UK
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Affiliation as printed
Construction Management Department, School of Engineering, Widener University, Chester, PA US
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Affiliation as printed
Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
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Affiliation as printed
Construction Office, City of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development
Affiliation as printed
Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development, Dresden, Germany
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Affiliation as printed
Faculty of Geographical Science and Engineering, Henan University, 450046 Zhengzhou, China
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Affiliation as printed
Net Zero Centre, Department of Engineering, King's College London, London, UK
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Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development
Affiliation as printed
Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development, Dresden, Germany
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Affiliation as printed
College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 China
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Affiliation as printed
Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan
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Affiliation as printed
School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, SE-41296 UK
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