Deterrents to the adoption of green walls: a hybrid fuzzy-based approach

Abstract

PurposeGreen walls (GWs), comprising living walls and green facades, have been touted as environmentally friendly products in architectural design. GWs can be viable in every aspect of sustainability; they provide residents of buildings with a wide range of economic, social and environmental benefits. Despite this, the adoption rate of GW is still in its infancy stage, and the existing literature concerning the hindrances inhibiting GW adoption is very limited. To address these gaps, the aim of this paper is to identify and prioritize the hindrances to GW adoption in Hong Kong.Design/methodology/approachAfter identifying 17 hindrances through an in-depth review of literature, the fuzzy Delphi method (FDM) is employed to refine the hindrances based on the local context with the help of 21 qualified experts in the field. Subsequently, Fuzzy Parsimonious Analytic Hierarchy Process (FPAHP) is exploited as a recently developed technique to prioritize the identified hindrances.FindingsResults reveal that the most significant hindrances to the adoption of GW are maintenance cost, high installation cost, difficulties in maintenance, sophisticated implementation and inducement to fire. Findings call for scholars to address ways to improve GW installation practices and methods in order to eradicate the hindrances and provide lessons for policymakers, assisting them in facilitating the larger-scale adoption of GW.Originality/valueConsidering the dearth of studies on hindrances to the adoption of GWs, this paper provides a comprehensive outlook of the issue, providing knowledge that can be used as a building block for future scholars within the field. It also provides valuable insights for stakeholders within the construction industry about the hindrances to the adoption of GWs which could direct their efforts toward better implementation of it.

Investigating the Barriers to Applying the Internet-of-Things-Based Technologies to Construction Site Safety Management

“…In order to obtain practical results, the researchers attempted to select qualified experts with relevant experience (in the context of Hong Kong) and knowledge in this domain. To this end, various criteria (as suggested in [ 23 , 24 ]) were considered in the selection of qualified panels. The criteria used in this study were: (1) to have at least an undergraduate degree relevant to the area, such as in construction engineering, construction management, architecture, or building (this criterion was taken into account to ensure that the respondents were aware of the technical aspects of building projects); and (2) to have at least five years of relevant experience with construction safety; they should be involved in checking and investigating the safety operations being undertaken on site (as managers, engineers, supervisors, or operators in the daily construction activities).…”

“…On the other hand, several studies have mentioned that the drawback of the traditional Delphi method is the low convergence of the experts’ opinions, as well as the inefficient process of the method when it is taken into action. This is because iterative inquiries are needed to achieve consensus in the experts’ opinions [ 23 ]. Furthermore, in the Delphi approach, the participants express their opinions in a verbal manner.…”

Information management in the facilities domain: investigating practitioner priorities

“…As this research relies heavily on the input of practitioners, and in line with studies of similar scale in the AECO sector, quality of respondents was prioritised over quantity (Tabatabaee et al , 2021; Durdyev et al , 2022). Prominent organisations across a wide segment of RE sectors were identified throughout Ireland, The Netherlands and Sweden and interview participants were selected based on their experience and role.…”

Selection of Compatible Coal Seam for Methane Drainage Operation Based on Uncertain Geological Conditions: A Hybrid Fuzzy Approach

“…Given the ability of FCM to model complex systems with scarce and limited data, as well as the unavailability or cost-effectiveness of data collection, FCM can be a very useful modeling tool [52]. Also, the FCM method is a cognitive map (CM) that can use the relation between the components of a subjective perspective to calculate the effect of causal relationships with numerical in the interval [0,1] or [-1,1] [53]. Time series data and expert opinions can be used to draw such a CM.…”