Mapping the dynamics of China's prefabricated building policies from 1956 to 2019: A bibliometric analysis

Compared to buildings constructed in situ, prefabricated buildings (PBs) offer many environmental benefits in terms of carbon emissions, energy consumption, material consumption, and waste generation. To mitigate adverse impacts by the building sector on the environment, PBs have been widely applied in many countries. Although PB policies (PBPs) have played a significant role in guiding, supporting, and promulgating China’s PB development, few studies have systematically investigated these PBPs. As a result, the evolution of PBPs in China is not clear, which limits practitioners' overall understanding of PBPs. To bridge this knowledge gap, a bibliometric analysis method was employed to review 136 PBPs issued in China from 1956 to 2019. Through text mining, a co-word network analysis, and a collaboration network analysis, we mapped, visualized, and described the PBP system over time. The evolution of PBPs can be divided into four phases: exploration (1956–1995), fluctuation (1996–2005), steady improvement (2006–2015), and rapid growth (2016–2019). Our findings indicate that the PB policy targets, policy objects, policy tools, performance indicators, and the collaboration structure of policymaking agencies have changed significantly across these phases. Lastly, the PB experience in China was compared with those of countries exhibiting higher levels of PB development, which can serve as a reference for PB development.