Abstract
Social dimensions, as one of the three pillars of sustainability, are not fully considered in the planning, bidding, and design processes of construction projects, primarily due to a lack of standardized estimation methods. Despite the potential economic and social benefits of these projects, they may lead to various negative social impacts during the construction process. In this study, negative social impacts associated with construction projects are investigated considering different stakeholder categories and detailed social cost models. The social impacts and costs estimated in this paper cover a multitude of adverse effects on: (a) workplace and traffic safety, (b) mobility of people and goods, (c) regional economic growth, (d) dwelling environments, and (e) public services. Parameters for the social cost estimation are obtained based mainly on various public databases and project information. For illustration, the proposed framework is applied to quantify the social impacts associated with the construction of a residential building and the maintenance of a highway bridge. The study shows that the social costs of different construction projects vary significantly due to the different stakeholders involved.
Acknowledgments
This study was carried out when the first author worked as a Visiting Research Associate at Lehigh University (September 2019–September 2020) in the research group of the third author. The opinions and conclusions presented in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsoring organizations.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).