Embry, E (2023) Building change: A multi-level analysis of resilience through sustainability, health, and entrepreneurship in the built environment. PhD thesis, University of Colorado at Boulder, USA.
Abstract
Environmental sustainability, with a focus on climate change, is increasingly an essential consideration for businesses. Accordingly, the heart of this dissertation is an exploration of the necessary evolution and innovation of environmental sustainability, and analysis of when and how environmental sustainability complements solutions to other pressing social issues. In the context of the built environment, with a specific focus on the green building industry, I use three unique studies to examine the adaptation and resiliency of existing sustainability measures when challenged by concerns of racial equity and public health. In the first essay, through a grounded theory study of an intentional real estate development, I show how entrepreneurial innovation intended to preserve the natural environment simultaneously protected the community residents in an unforeseen crisis. This study presents a model that may be more tenacious than existing forms of resilience established by government or policy edicts. In the second essay, I explore the collision of two social movements: a resurgence of the green building movement due to COVID-19 and the rise of Black Lives Matter movement- together highlighting the need for safe, healthy spaces, specifically for minority communities. This study demonstrates how the resultant pressure on architectural firms to respond to the movements’ demands unintentionally established a “Double Tax” on the few minority architects who are green building specialists; creating the opposite outcomes desired by proponents of the movements. The final essay analyzes the maturation of the green building certification industry. LEED certification was critical in establishing in the moral market and proving its profitability, which resulted in the emergence of new voluntary certifications, namely Green Globes (economizing competitor) and Living Building Challenge (ecologizing competitor). Using a unique panel dataset of certified buildings, I find that as the moral market matures it de-hybridizes given the option of legitimate, competing voluntary certifications. Further, federal policy change contributes to and amplifies this fractioning of the moral market. Together these three studies examine challenges to current practices in environmental sustainability and collectively offer a more complete picture of its evolution. As the impacts of climate change continue to increase, it is essential that current approaches to environmental sustainability advance toward resiliency, and ultimately account for the intersectional issues of health and racial disparity.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | York, J |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | COVID-19; built environment; certification; climate change; emergence; entrepreneurship; government; green building; grounded theory; innovation; market; policy; public health; real estate; sustainability |
| Index terms: | heart, disparity, dissertation, option, real estate, built environment, architect, profitability, entrepreneurship, minority, grounded theory, public health, adaptation, living building, architectural firm, dataset, climate change, emergence, environmental sustainability, exploration, real estate development, evolution, green building, green building certification, COVID-19, movement, certification |
| Subjects: | data management, decision analysis, sociology, administrative processes, infrastructure and transport systems, systems engineering, environmental health, health risk and incident analysis, design practice, real estate economics, profession, business, social justice, economic development, theoretical framing, medical science and clinical practice, health safety and environment, sustainable design, environmental resource management, environmental science, economic analysis, research dissemination and communication, user focus, health behaviours and lifestyles, climate science |
| Topics: | Research Practice, Business Strategy, Roles and Professions, Digital Applications, Urban Studies, Design Practice, Contract Administration, Engineering Principles, Health and Safety, Sustainability, Risk Management, Ethics |
| 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