Off-site construction (OSC) has been recognized as an approach to transform the construction sector from a labor-intensive to a modernized and green industry. Despite a number of advantages, the development of OSC still remains its infancy in China due to various interactive barriers. Some studies have been conducted to explore the barriers to the OSC adoption. However, very few studies attempted to investigate the complex interrelationships among these barriers. In order to fill this gap, this study adopts Interpretive Structural Model (ISM) technique to explore the interrelationships amongst barriers to the OSC adoption in China. Firstly, critical barriers were identified through literature review and semi-structured interviews with various stakeholders. Then, the overall structure amongst barriers was revealed through ISM technique. By using the Matrice d'Impacts Croise's Multiplication Appliquée a Classement (MICMAC) technique, the barriers were classified into four groups according to their driving-power and dependence power. The results indicate that specific attentions should be given to inadequate policy and regulations, lacking knowledge and expertise, dominated traditional project process as well as low standardization. The research findings provide valuable information for policy-makers on the overall structure amongst barriers. These results shed lights on effectively developing measures to facilitate the OSC adoption in the construction sector.
Rapid urbanization and the issue of environmental degradation compel developing countries to find a cleaner approach to replace or complement the traditional on-site construction method. Off-site construction (OSC) with various merits has been regarded as a promising approach to address the problems confronted in developing countries. However, promoting the adoption of OSC is indeed a tough task facing multiple barriers. It is the stakeholder collaboration integrating diverse resources scattered in the construction industry that can adequately address these barriers. Although multiple studies have been conducted from various perspectives, the issue of stakeholder collaboration, as the key to promoting the OSC adoption, has been overlooked. This research aims to explore stakeholders' influencing power over the barriers using twomode social network analysis. Firstly, 13 barriers to the OSC adoption, as well as 15 stakeholders with the power to overcome these barriers, were identified based on literature and expert judgments. Subsequently, a questionnaire survey was conducted receiving 39 responses from experts with rich experience in OSC in Chongqing, China. Centrality and core-periphery structure analyses were adopted to study the network. The results show that the government and developers have the highest degree centrality, betweenness centrality, and eigenvector centrality, and thus are the most influential stakeholders in the network. Similarly, the lack of knowledge and expertise, and the dominant conventional project process have the highest values of centrality among all barriers. With the density of interaction being 0.814, core stakeholders and barriers have intensive relationships, and the network shows an apparent core-periphery structure. Theoretically, this study demonstrates the use of the two-mode social network in construction research, and practically, this study sheds lights on how to effectively drive the adoption of OSC in developing countries through promoting stakeholder collaboration.
Public housing programs are an effective strategy to provide adequate housing, not only in developed countries, but also developing countries. This study holistically investigates the sitting occupants’ perception of adequate housing towards their public housing units using Chongqing, a typical city in western China, as a case study. Results showed that generally, the public rental housing (PRH) programs were perceived to be adequate by their residents in the estates sampled. The components of neighborhood environment, housing unit, and affordability were the top three factors affecting the overall housing adequacy. The importance of physical aspects as well as the nonphysical aspects of adequate housing is likely to change according to their residential purpose. Therefore, the residential purpose of residents should be taken into consideration when planning the physical and nonphysical elements of public housing programs. Meanwhile, socioeconomic characteristics of age, family income, family members, residence length, and housing types have significant effects on overall housing adequacy and its components. These findings shed some useful insights on the sustainable development of public housing in China and provide a useful reference for future public housing developments in developing countries. The provision of adequate housing also helps to attract and retain talent, which consequently improves the competitiveness of the city.
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