Social sustainability in construction : an explorative study

Jian Zuo, Xiao-Hua Jin, Lisa Flynn

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

134 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The construction industry has massive impacts on the society, environmentally, economically and socially. Sustainability has been an important issue being considered by both industry and academia. However, existing sustainability studies in construction are largely related to the environmental and economic aspects. Social sustainability seems missing from the research radar. A qualitative approach is adopted in this study to explore the social sustainability issues in the construction sector. Particular focuses are placed on the attitudes of industry professionals on social impacts of construction activities and the measurement of social performance of construction projects. The results show that there is a reasonable level of willingness from industry practitioners to take these issues into consideration in their projects. This study also highlighted 26 criteria to measure social sustainability in construction context. These criteria form a basis for the evaluation of social sustainability performance for construction related enterprises. Limitations of this study are also discussed.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)51-63
Number of pages13
JournalInternational Journal of Construction Management
Volume12
Issue number2
Publication statusPublished - 2012

Keywords

  • construction projects
  • social aspects
  • social sustainability
  • sustainability

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