PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the critical success factors (CSFs) of community‐based post‐disaster housing reconstruction projects (CPHRP) during the pre‐construction stage.Design/methodology/approachAn extensive literature review and interviews were undertaken to establish selected factors contributing to the success of community‐based post disaster housing reconstruction projects. Following this, a questionnaire survey was administered to key stakeholders in order to perceive their view on CSFs of CPHRP. Data were analysed by deploying statistical software.FindingsIt was found that 12 factors are considered to be the CSFs: transparency and accountability, appropriate reconstruction policy/strategy, an understanding of the community‐based method, gathering trust from the community, facilitator capacity, good coordination and communication, sufficient funding availability, implementer capacity, having a significant level of community participation/control, government support, involvement of all community members, and successful beneficiary identification.Practical implicationsThe establishment of CSFs in CPHRP helps key stakeholders to identify factors that must exist and go well during pre‐construction of CPHRP, in order to ensure the success of the programme.Originality/valueThe paper is very specific as it attempts to discover the CSFs of CPHRP during the pre‐construction stage.

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation.*Related content and download information correct at time of download. Design/methodology/approach -In addition to the thorough literature review conducted to evaluate the state of the art in the subject area, a series of interviews were conducted with experts and tsunami affected communities in Sri Lanka to gather primary data for this research. The literature review is used to establish the initial list of indicators of long-term satisfaction of resettlements. The expert interviews and the community interviews were used to verify and refine the initially identified indicators. Findings -A sustainable resettlement programme is just not merely reconstruction of a set of houses.A resettlement programme should re-establish the socio-economic and cultural life of people. Reconstruction of a house does not solve the housing issue; it is vital to look in to the indicators which can convert a house into a home and the surrounding into a neighbourhood. Originality/value -This paper makes a significant contribution in terms of identifying indicators affecting the long-term community satisfaction with resettlement programmes taking into account economic, social and cultural factors with a special emphasis on post tsunami resettlements in Sri Lanka.

Disasters cause considerable damage around the world every year. The built environment is significantly affected by disasters. Whilst the built environment is expected to withstand such occurrences, the construction industry is expected to play a pivotal role in reconstruction of damaged property and infrastructure. Such responses call for technological and managerial innovation. Therefore it is important that construction professionals receive continuous skill development to respond to disaster situations in order to build a disaster resilient built environment. Due to the complexities involved in and due to peculiar nature of disaster situations, lifelong learning is considered as an appropriate way of ensuring continuous education to the various stakeholders of disaster management. The paper reports preliminary findings from a European Commission funded research project aimed at modernising the higher education institutes to support lifelong learning in the built environment. The paper reports the key findings from the literature review and case study on disaster management, emphasising the role of lifelong learning in disaster management education. Empirical data collected as part of the workshop suggest that providing disaster management education as a degree programme is ineffective due to the complexity and multi-disciplinary nature of the subject. Further, the lack of involvement with the industry and the lack of research and development activities on disaster management by built environment professionals act as hindrance to effective disaster management education. In addressing the shortcomings on the existing approaches of disaster management education, this paper concludes that lifelong learning as the most appropriate approach to educate built environment professional in the context of disaster management.

Vulnerable communities are often marginalized in the decision-making process in urban development due to barriers to community entry and challenges for community engagement. The state-of-the-art on these constraints’ limits to a specific region, state, or a context; thus, the knowledge is scattered and not forming a global perspective on how and why communities’ engagement in urban development has been hindered. Having a sound understanding of the existing barriers and challenges to community inclusive decision-making process is paramount for finding solutions for transforming current practices towards equitable urban development. Accordingly, this comprehensive, structured literature review aims to consolidate literature of the current challenges and barriers to community-driven decision-making in urban development and of the potential solutions to overcome them. A structured literature review covering indexed publications from 2010 to 2020 was carried out to identify and classify barriers/challenges and solutions that exist at present. Following a systematic filtering process, a total of 63 out of 1324 research contributions have been considered for an in-depth analysis. The study found 48 barriers and challenges regarding the current context, available infrastructure for community engagement, and current decision-making processes. Of all, the lack of communities’ knowledge and awareness, absence of meaningful community engagement, and ill-defined aims and purpose of community engagement were identified as the topmost constraints. By synthesising the current research, the study found that these barriers can potentially be overcome through attitude transformation and capacity building of both community and professionals, investment in community engagement, and changes to present stakeholder engagement processes and policies.

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Purpose-Construction industry and the built environment professions play an important role in contributing to society's improved resilience. It is therefore important to improve their knowledgebase to strengthen their capacities. This paper aims to identify gaps in the knowledgebase of construction professionals that are undermining their ability to contribute to the development of a more disaster resilient society. The paper also provides a series of recommendations to key actors in the built environment on how to more effectively mainstream disaster resilience in the construction process. Design/methodology/approach-The paper reports the findings of 87 stakeholder interviews with: national and local government organisations; the community; non-governmental organisations, international non-governmental organisation and other international agencies; academia and research organisations; and the private sector, which were supplemented by a comprehensive analysis of key policies related to disaster resilience and management. The findings were validated using focus group discussions that were conducted as part of six organised stakeholder workshops. Findings-The primary and secondary data generated a long list of needs and skills. Finally, the identified needs and skills were combined "like-for-like" to produce broader knowledge gaps. Some of the key knowledge gaps identified are: governance, legal frameworks and compliance; business continuity management; disaster response; contracts and procurement; resilience technologies, engineering and infrastructure; knowledge management; social and cultural awareness; sustainability and resilience; ethics and human rights; innovative financing mechanisms; multi stakeholder approach, inclusion and empowerment; post disaster project management; and multi hazard risk assessment. The study also identifies a series of recommendations to key actors in the built environment on how to more effectively mainstream disaster resilience in the construction process. The recommendations are set out in five key themes: education, policy, practice, research and cross-cutting. Research limitations/implications-This study is part of an EU funded research project that is seeking to develop innovative and timely professional education that will update the knowledge and skills of construction professionals in the industry and enable them to contribute more effectively to disaster resilience building efforts. Originality/value-The paper provides an extensive analysis of the gaps in the knowledgebase of construction professionals that are undermining their ability to contribute to the development of a more disaster resilient society. Accordingly, the paper recommends major changes in construction education, research, policy and practice with respect to mainstreaming disaster resilience within the construction process.

Project-based industries face major challenges in controlling project cost and completing within the budget. This is a critical issue as it often connects to the main objectives of any project. However, accurate estimation at the beginning of the project is difficult. Scholars argue that project complexity is a major contributor to cost estimation inaccuracies. Therefore, recognising the priorities of acknowledging complexity dimensions in cost estimation across similar industries is beneficial in identifying effective practices to reduce cost implications. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to identify the level of importance given to different complexity dimensions in cost estimation and to recognise best practices to improve cost estimation accuracy. Design/Methodology/Approach: An online questionnaire survey was conducted among professionals including estimators, project managers, and quantity surveyors to rank the identified complexity dimensions based on their impacts in cost estimation accuracy. Besides, in-depth interviews were conducted among experts and practitioners from different industries, in order to extract effective practices to improve the cost estimation process of complex projects. Findings: Study results show that risk, project and product size, and time frame are the high-impact complexity dimensions on cost estimation, which need more attention in reducing unforeseen cost implications. Moreover, study suggests that, implementing a knowledge sharing system will be beneficial to acquire reliable and adequate information for cost estimation. Further, appropriate staffing, network enhancement, risk management, and circumspect estimation are some of the suggestions to improve cost estimation of complex projects. Originality/Value: The study finally provides suggestions to improve cost estimation in complex projects. Further, the results are expected to be beneficial to learn lessons from different industries and to exchange best practices.

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to discuss the advantages and limitations of the implementation of a community-based method in post-disaster housing reconstruction. Design/methodology/approach-The research was based on multiple case studies in the implementation of a Community-based Post-disaster Housing Reconstruction project (CPHRP) in Indonesia. Data was gathered by conducting semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire survey. Findings-The research reveals 22 advantages of a CPHRP. Four advantages can be categorised as highly significant. They are: create sense of ownership, fit to local culture/customs/wisdom, build beneficiaries' confidence, and minimize corruption. There are some advantages that cannot be delivered if the housing reconstruction is conducted using a contractor-based approach. It was also found that psychological advantages are more dominant than the physical advantages. Despite its numerous advantages, CPHRP has limitations. Firstly, it requires a long pre-construction process, and secondly, there is a limitation with regard to the capacity of implementer and there are limitations within the community itself. Originality/value-This paper is very specific as it attempts to discover the advantages and limitations of a CPHRP.