Bridging Circular Design and Territorial Planning through rice waste enhancement : The Ricehouse case

Design plays a strategic role in shaping circular and sustainable transformations across products, supply chains, and territories. This contribution explores the integration of circular design and territorial planning through the enhancement of agricultural waste, focusing on the Ricehouse case in the Piedmont region of Italy. Ricehouse is a pioneering startup that transforms industrial rice by-products—such as husk, straw, and chaff—into bio-based building materials, activating synergies among farmers, processing industries, research centres, and construction stakeholders. The research adopts a qualitative, multi-scalar methodology combining literature review, territorial data analysis, and a case study investigation based on semi-structured interviews and spatial mapping. The analysis is structured across three interconnected scales: micro (bioproduct and material design), meso (bioregional supply chains), and macro (territorial planning instruments). Findings highlight the meso scale as a critical interface where circular design and territorial planning converge, enabling the localisation of production, optimisation of material flows, and reduction of environmental impacts through place-based strategies. The study identifies overlaps, gaps, and opportunities in aligning bio-based material innovation with spatial governance, emphasising the role of design as an enabling and mediating discipline. By framing rice waste as a territorial resource rather than a residual output, the article contributes to the debate on bioregional development and circular economy implementation, offering insights for replicable, resilient, and territorially grounded circular models.