Multi-stakeholder framework for assessing the life-cycle social cost of construction projects

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.

KEYWORDS:

• Bridges
• construction projects
• residential buildings
• safety
• social cost
• social impact assessment

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).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant 51820105012), (Grant 51778566), (Grant 51638013), and the research project for traffic engineering construction from the Zhejiang Department of Transportation (No. 2018035). The second and third authors are grateful for the financial support received from the U.S. National Science Foundation (Grant CMMI 1537926) and the U.S. Department of Transportation Region 3 University Transportation Center (Grant CIAM-UTC-REG6).