Langston, C (2013) The role of coordinate-based decision-making in the evaluation of sustainable built environments. Construction Management and Economics, 31(1), pp. 62-77. ISSN 1466433X
Abstract
In an era when sustainability and climate change mitigation are paramount, it is important that built environment professionals make robust and transparent decisions regarding future development. A new approach is outlined and tested for assessing sustainability for built infrastructure using a quadrant model and 3D spatial coordinates. The chosen method involves a case study of a high performance green building in Australia that was constructed in 2008. The investigation demonstrates that the model is practical and produces an appropriate outcome, which is then compared with seven other generic types of built infrastructure. The inclusion of development scale or influence in the model is an important feature that can lead to differences in ranking preference. The findings support embedding essential environmental considerations objectively into decision-making processes via the use of an economic ratio (return on investment to energy usage), a social ratio (functional performance to loss of habitat) and a measure of sustainability risk as x, y and z coordinates respectively, plotted in 3D space.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | data modelling; multiple criteria decision-making; project appraisal; sustainability; visualization |
| Index terms: | Australia, decision-making process, built infrastructure, case study, data modelling, investigation, built environment, return on investment, project appraisal, climate change, visualization, preference, green building, mitigation, decision-making |
| Subjects: | building construction, decision analysis, infrastructure and transport systems, decision-making and reasoning, design practice, financial risk, Geography, project delivery, economic analysis, data science, data collection methods, climate science |
| Topics: | Urban Studies, Digital Applications, Design Practice, Business Strategy, Cost Management, Engineering Principles, Research Practice, Geographical Context, Project Management, Risk Management, Sustainability |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCEA |
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