Sustainable Development of the Construction Engineering and Project Management

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainable development has been evolved into a globalized phenomenon and requires reinforced links and synchronized movements among humanity, nature, and economy in our built habitat. However, at this stage of development, sustaining our built environment is considered by a body of literature as “not enough”. A pioneering endeavor ascertains that there is a need to start thinking of comprehensive and regenerative, rather than just sustainable, engineering. Indeed, there is a need to move from a narrow focus on performance, mitigation strategies, and the minimization of impacts, to a broader framework that enriches place, people, and ecology at the core of the sustainable development of the construction engineering and project management. However, this process is a cycle of endless development and adjustment in the construction context. It necessitates the complex interaction of the triple bottom line, environmental, economic, and social principles through a critical appraisal, and finding intelligent decisions from the macro to the micro scale.

In recent years, substantial investments have been made in construction projects. This is due to the demand for this industry to pave the way for rapid economic growth alongside fulfilling societies’ aspirations and expectations. Hence, the research suggests that sustainable delivery of these projects entails integrating principles of sustainability into construction activities throughout the whole life cycle of a project. This includes every actor involved on the project being committed and responsible for undertaking sustainable practices. Despite this strategic focus, challenges such as unstable economy due to the pandemic and climate change, the lack of change management, transition and transformation frameworks, and the lack of awareness hamper the proposed shift towards sustainable practices. The problem of translating these strategic objectives into concrete action at the project level has, therefore, remained unresolved.

I am pleased to invite you to this Special Issue, the aim of which is to trigger discussions and set the stage for revisiting the transformative role associated with sustainable construction engineering and management and implications for our built assets. This includes technology, process, and policy implications; barriers and drivers; and the innovations, outcomes, and risks involved in such a transformation. The intention is to provide a repository for relevant studies and lessons learned, and an opportunity to facilitate knowledge sharing and discussions among researchers, practitioners, and policy makers.

This Special Issue targets up-to-date surveys, simulation, analysis, and synthesis approaches with a particular focus on sustainable design, planning, engineering, technology, management, and delivery of construction projects. Studies of theoretical, empirical, and experimental nature along with case studies on the description of real-life projects are welcome. Of particular interest are multidisciplinary research studies involving industry practitioners, built environment experts, and project managers that provide rigorous sustainable construction practices on real-life projects.

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Saeed Banihashemi
Dr. Hamed Golzad
Dr. Mani Poshdar
Guest Editors

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• sustainable development
• project management and sustainability
• sustainable construction engineering solutions
• sustainable technologies for construction industry