Merlijn leads the built environment team at Metabolic, where his work encompasses regional metabolism scans, models for urban mining, and indicators and processes for circular tendering.

Raised in rural Groningen in a household that grew their own vegetables and composted waste, Merlijn developed an early appreciation of the processes of nature – and how they could benefit the built environment. He undertook a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science from Wageningen University, focusing on the analysis of infrastructures and systems in buildings and neighborhoods, and the implementation of clean technologies to reach a more sustainable state. The required innovation trajectories of these solutions drove Merlijn to pursue a Master’s in Sustainable Business and Innovation at the University of Utrecht, where he honed his powers of concentration by studying a single microbe for four months. Internships followed ranging from a startup in Brooklyn developing energy storage to biomass development in Zaandam.