Construction projects are of very complex nature, and subject to circumstances of high uncertainties and risks due to the interdependences of activities and processes in the project performance.  As a result of the dynamic complexities inherited in construction projects, changes in the scope of work are inevitable. Of particular concern is that, when scope changes are introduced in a project, contractors follow a systematic procedure in managing the changes, but with poor planning and implementation thereof because the project complexities that underpin the scope changes are not fully understood. Therefore, despite that complexity is an inherent and defining feature of construction projects, studies in the literature have failed to grasp and present the dynamics of project complexity which underlie the scope changes in the delivery of construction project. The TOE (Technical Organizational Environmental) framework was adopted and applied on a multiple-case study research design in order to explore and denote project complexity relations to scope changes in construction projects. Through a content analysis procedure, six key elements of project complexities that relate to scope changes in the construction projects has emerged. Understanding these complexity elements could enable the project management team to apply a front-end planning approach in the initiation phase of the projects in order to better manage scope changes in the execution phase of the project, and eventually to improve the project performance.

Neurological constructs are being applied in various fields; within urban studies and built environments, neurourbanism stands out. To understand this concept, this study seeks to conduct a scientometric analysis of the concept of neurourbanism. To do so, we gauged the intellectual structure and clarified the influencers and emerging themes while seeking to identify essential gaps in neurourbanism research in urban studies and the built environment. Data were sorted from Dimensions Artificial Intelligence platform because of its reliability in providing the needed dataset accurately, and the Citespace software was used to analyze the data. Our results suggest plurality in explaining the risk factors in urbanicity research, particularly regarding prevalence, incidence, and the general cause of psychosis in urban living. The study also shows that players in the construction sector, such as engineers, town planners, and developers, have not fully grasped how the built environment assists in improving well-being, reducing stress levels of urbanists, assisting migrants in settling into the community, and the general mental wellness of those who live in the city. The study also identified a correlation between urbanization and mental health and added that the main recipient of rapid urban transformation countries does not show leadership in neurourbanism studies.

In the South African government sector, public procurement is a strategic mechanism through which the government could be able to achieve the mandatory socioeconomic objectives. To this extent, the government procures goods and services from the private sector which can be estimated around eight hundred billion rand annually. Although there are numerous policy frameworks and systems to ensure that the management of the public procurement processes are fair, equitable, transparent, and cost-effective; the public procurement management practice, particularly in the delivery of construction goods and services, remains vulnerable to mismanagement and irregularities. To this extent, the nature of the irregularities and the stages at which they occur in the public procurement system remains unclear. To address this gap of knowledge, a content analysis method and the associated techniques of in-Vivo coding and word frequency analysis were used for the analysis of the secondary data. The study revealed that poor and or non-performance were the most frequent irregularities in the procurement of public construction services. The principal theoretical implication of this study is that rigorous proficiency measures should be applied to scrutinize and evaluate the potential of the contractors in terms of capacity to deliver in accordance with the contractual agreements prior to the awarding of contracts.

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The adoption of innovative building technologies (IBTs) and social welfare policies in South Africa has facilitated an increase in decent homeownership among low-income groups, thus improving their quality of life. However, due to the escalating costs of building materials, the capital and lifecycle costs of implementing these technologies may no longer be affordable. This research aims to provide a comparative evaluation of the affordability of some readily available IBTs in the South African construction industry, relative to existing homeownership subsidy grants. The method used involved the use of secondary data for these IBTs and the income constraint methods. The results showed that, apart from the technologies suitable for the provision of temporary structures, most of the other technologies were not affordable for the complete subsidisation of the top structure when both capital and lifecycle costs were used, except the Moladi and Robust structure IBTs under some low-income homeownership programmes. Further analysis using credit-linked subsidies revealed that the minimum household income required to achieve affordable homeownership (and their rankings) depends both on the evaluation technique (lifecycle or capital costs) and technology used. To improve affordability, any implementing government can either raise the amount of the top structure subsidy grant, promote the use of cheaper but durable IBTs, or promote the use in incremental building methods, such as the Enhanced People’s Housing Process (EPHP) for the case of South Africa.

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Solid waste is a global challenge that is more pronounced in developing countries such as South Africa, where its management is a major concern. The government has recently made a concerted effort to engage the public in sustainable waste management practices to resolve the crisis occasioned by the challenge. This chapter investigates waste management practices in the South African Township of Ekuphumleni and relied on a sample of 353 households to obtain some primary data with a questionnaire on the subject matter. The data collected was analyzed using “R,” and the results were presented using charts, tables, and figures. Data collected revealed that waste paper, cans, used plastics, and bottles were major waste components generated by the respondents and these wastes were generally stored unseparated domestically in plastic bags and home garbage can. Furthermore, the respondent indicated that the municipality does a door-to-door collection of their waste and they were unwilling to pay for waste collection services. While the waste management practice is in tandem with the municipal system, the study recommends that the respondents must be educated on circularity, which will ensure reducing, reusing, recycling, and recovering waste and further aid economic empowerment.

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