Mapping of social sustainability attributes to stakeholders’ involvement in construction project life cycle

Abstract

In construction, greater emphasis is often placed on the economic and environmental aspects of sustainability, rather than social. Nonetheless, neglecting one of the sustainable pillars in construction, especially social sustainability, can lead to issues such as poor security and health. Previous studies on social sustainability in construction were mostly conducted in isolated contexts, where inadequate attention was placed on stakeholders’ responsibility throughout project life cycle. Therefore, this study aims to establish the social sustainability attributes in construction, subsequently relating this concept to two key aspects of construction: project life cycle and stakeholder involvement. This systematic literature review-based study has established nine main attributes with 20 sub-attributes, where Health and Safety was found to be the most dominant attribute, whilst Human Rights is the least acclaimed attribute for social sustainability. Further, the mapping of social attributes against the varying degrees of stakeholder involvement at different phases of project life cycle provides a definable understanding of social sustainability in construction, through the three elements of attributes, stakeholders, and project life cycle. The mapping would enable project clients to prioritise the selection of social sustainability attributes (what/how), relevant to their projects by engaging with relevant stakeholders (who) throughout construction project life cycle (when).