Construction industry 4.0 and sustainability: an enabling framework

Article


Balasubramanian, S., Shukla, V., Islam, N. and Manghat, S. 2021. Construction industry 4.0 and sustainability: an enabling framework. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management. https://doi.org/10.1109/tem.2021.3110427
TypeArticle
TitleConstruction industry 4.0 and sustainability: an enabling framework
AuthorsBalasubramanian, S., Shukla, V., Islam, N. and Manghat, S.
Abstract

Governments worldwide are taking actions to address the construction sector's sustainability concerns, including high carbon emissions, health and safety risks, low productivity, and increasing costs. Applying Industry 4.0 technologies to construction (also referred to as Construction 4.0) could address some of these concerns. However, current understanding about this is quite limited, with previous work being largely fragmented and limited both in terms of technologies as well as their interrelationships with the triple bottom line of sustainability perspectives. The focus of this article is therefore on addressing these gaps by proposing a comprehensive multi-dimensional Construction 4.0 sustainability framework that identifies and categorizes the key Construction 4.0 technologies and their positive and negative impacts on environmental, economic, and social sustainability, and then establishing its applicability/usefulness through an empirical, multimethodology case study assessment of the UAE's construction sector. The findings indicate Construction 4.0’s positive impacts on environmental and economic sustainability that far outweigh its negative effects, although these impacts are comparable with regards to social sustainability. On Construction 4.0 technologies itself, their application was found to be nonuniform with greater application seen for building information modeling and automation vis-à-vis others such as cyber-physical systems and smart materials, with significant growth expected in the future for blockchain- and three-dimensional-printing-related technologies. The proposed novel framework could enable the development of policy interventions and support mechanisms to increase Construction 4.0 deployment while addressing its negative sustainability-related impacts. The framework also has the potential to be adapted and applied to other country and sectoral contexts.

KeywordsConstruction 4.0, economic sustainability, environmental sustainability, Industry 4.0, social sustainability, sustainability framework, United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Sustainable Development Goals8 Decent work and economic growth
9 Industry, innovation and infrastructure
11 Sustainable cities and communities
12 Responsible consumption and production
13 Climate action
Middlesex University ThemeSustainability
PublisherIEEE
JournalIEEE Transactions on Engineering Management
ISSN0018-9391
Electronic1558-0040
Publication dates
Online11 Oct 2021
Publication process dates
Deposited22 Jun 2022
Submitted04 May 2021
Accepted25 Aug 2021
Accepted author manuscript
Copyright Statement

© 2021 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1109/tem.2021.3110427
LanguageEnglish
Page range1-19
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