“Top-Down-Bottom-Up” Methodology as a Common Approach to Defining Bespoke Sets of Sustainability Assessment Criteria for the Built Environment

Abstract

Abstract:The top-down-bottom-up (TDBU) methodology for defining bespoke sets of sustainability criteria for specific civil engineering 6 project types is introduced and discussed. The need to define sustainability criteria for specific civil engineering project types occurs mainly in 7 one or both of the following cases: (1) when a more comprehensive and indicative assessment of the sustainability of the project type in 8 question is required; and/or (2) there is no readily available bespoke sustainability assessment tool, or set of criteria, for assessing the sustain- authors. An example of the TDBU methodology being applied to define sustainability criteria for transport noise reducing devices is pre-13 sented and discussed. The end result of applying the methodology is a systematically researched and industry validated set of criteria that 14 denotes assessing the sustainability of the civil engineering/infrastructure project type. The paper concludes that the top-down-bottom-up will 15 support stakeholders and managers involved in assessing sustainability to consider all major research methods to define general and unique 16 sustainability criteria to assess and so maximize sustainability.

Social sustainability criteria in public-work procurement: An international perspective

“…Regarding the construction industry, according to Valdes-Vasquez and Klotz (2013), social sustainability has various interpretations depending on the phase of the project life cycle and the stakeholder's perspective. For each perspective, numerous classifications of social criteria can be found in the literature: to estimate the effects associated with the development of construction projects in the planning and design phase (Beiler and Treat, 2015;Khalili-Damghani and Tavana, 2014;Pardo-Bosch and Aguado, 2016;Sierra et al, 2015Sierra et al, , 2017Valdes-Vasquez and Klotz, 2013;Yigitcanlar and Dur, 2010);to assess company performance through corporate social responsibility practices (Rahdari and Anvary Rostamy, 2015) and supplier evaluation procedures (GRI, 2011;Popovic et al, 2018;Sarkis et al, 2012;Winter and Lasch, 2016);to analyze the social life cycle of products and materials along the project life (Hossain et al, 2017;Hosseinijou et al, 2014;UNEP, 2009); and to take part in the decision-making process of designing, constructing, and operating construction projects (CEEQUAL, 2010;FHWA-INVEST, 2012;Harmer et al, 2012;Hong and Ng, 2015;ISI, 2015;Oltean-Dumbrava et al, 2014;Sierra et al, 2017;Sourani, 2008;Ugwu and Haupt, 2007).…”

Relationships between top managers’ leadership and infrastructure sustainability

“…A comprehensive framework was established by integrating social sustainability processes, which can enhance the existing sustainability assessment methods and help to address the challenge of developing sustainable projects (Valdes-Vasquez and Klotz, 2013), including infrastructure projects. From the perspective of sustainable development, many researchers (Oltean-Dumbrava et al, 2013;Reza et al, 2014) developed assessment systems for IS by converting from the macro levels of economic, social, and environmental dimensions into specific micro-project levels. Furthermore, Shen et al (2010) and Zhang et al (2014) introduced a set of key assessment indicators to assess the sustainability of infrastructure projects in China, which broadens the context in which these indicators are being applied.…”

Stakeholder engagement in prioritizing sustainability assessment themes for smallholder coffee production in Uganda

“…Although participatory approaches can generate diverse ideas and insights, there is need to validate some of the results with ‘expert-led’ technical knowledge. Convergence of approaches is being sought in recent studies, for example, van Calker et al (2005) in dairy farming, Chamaret et al (2007) in mining, Khadka and Vacik (2012) in forestry, Bal et al (2013) in construction and Oltean-Dumbrava et al (2014) in engineering, but lacking for smallholder production systems especially in the tropics.…”