ressoursehensyn

Ressourcehensyn, or resource consideration, is a planning and decision-making principle that prioritizes prudent use and protection of natural and economic resources. It is used to minimize waste, reduce environmental impact, and promote long-term economic viability. The term is common in Scandinavian policy discourse and aligns with broader concepts of sustainability and the circular economy.

The concept is applied across multiple sectors, including public procurement, urban planning, architecture, product design, and energy policy. It emphasizes lifecycle thinking: choosing materials and processes with lower resource intensity, prioritizing durability and reparability, improving energy efficiency, and ensuring options for reuse, recycling, or safe disposal at end of life.

Key principles include evaluating resource use over the entire life cycle, preferring renewable or locally available resources, reducing material diversity where possible to simplify recycling, and conducting analyses that account for hidden or long-term costs. Tools such as life cycle assessment (LCA) and material-flow analysis are often used to operationalize ressourcension in planning and procurement decisions.

In practice, ressourcension is reflected in guidelines for green procurement, building codes that require resource-efficient designs, and planning processes that integrate resource impact assessments. It supports policies that aim to lessen environmental footprints while maintaining economic and social objectives.

Critiques note difficulties in measuring resource intensity, data gaps, and the risk of trade-offs with other goals. Proponents argue that early integration of resource considerations can yield long-term savings and resilience.

See also: circular economy, eco-design, life cycle assessment, green procurement.