Eissa, R and El-Adaway, I H (2024) Accelerating the circular economy transition: A construction value chain-structured portfolio of strategies and implementation insights. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 150(8): 04024077, ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
Despite the increasing recognition of the potential of Circular Economy (CE) strategies, their effective application to decarbonize the construction value chain faces multiple challenges. Ambiguity surrounding CE, stemming from a lack of clarity on actionable strategies, is a common concern. Existing studies lack a holistic approach for systematically integrating CE principles throughout the construction value chain, resulting in a scarcity of information on how to practically adopt CE within projects. This research aims to accelerate CE adoption by creating a value chain-structured portfolio of CE strategies and analyzing the implementation of such strategies in actual projects. To this end, a portfolio of CE strategies was compiled in a value chain-based-structure, which was evaluated against 71 US-based projects of exemplary sustainability criteria to scrutinize their successful implementation. Additionally, the study examined the interconnections and network dynamics among these strategies through association rule mining, network, and statistical analysis techniques. Results revealed a pronounced focus on strategies within the design, construction, and end-of-life value chain phases, with significant gaps existing in areas related to project financing, planning, logistics, property market, and operations. "Requiring sustainability certifications, standards, or labels"emerged as the most pivotal strategy in terms of frequency and number of associations, highlighting owners' significant role in CE transition. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by providing practical guidance and insights for industry practitioners in terms of actionable CE strategies and their state of implementation, ultimately fostering a more sustainably built environment.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Index terms: | implementation, dynamics, holistic approach, face, property market, strategy, circular economy, statistical analysis, mining, certification, owner, practitioner, built environment, body of knowledge, financing, value chain |
| Subjects: | real estate economics, systems engineering, management, economic analysis, administrative processes, contractual arrangements, practitioner, geotechnical engineering, value chain strategy, sustainable design, infrastructure and transport systems, psychology, data science, sociology, knowledge management, business |
| Topics: | Engineering Principles, Sustainability, Information Management, Organizational Design, Research Practice, Roles and Professions, Stakeholder Management, Procurement, Urban Studies, Contract Administration, Business Strategy, Supply Chain Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here