Suhaib Arogundade

Amidst the rapid urbanisation and increasing calls for sustainable development, this study examines the key drivers and barriers influencing sustainable smart city initiatives in Nigeria. By employing a quantitative approach, the research amalgamates insights from diverse professionals, integrating descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, and Spearman rank correlation analysis to illuminate the intricate landscape of sustainable smart city development within the Nigerian context. The findings underscore the interconnected nature of various factors, underscoring the imperative of an all‐encompassing approach that synergistically incorporates infrastructure integration, environmental sustainability, efficient governance, social inclusivity, and economic innovation. Furthermore, identifying specific barriers, including challenges related to integrated urban transformation, socioeconomic equity, and governance and infrastructure, highlights the critical need for precise interventions to surmount these obstacles. The implications and recommendations derived from this study emphasise the pivotal role of collaborative endeavours among diverse stakeholders, accentuating the significance of inclusive decision‐making processes, sustainable environmental practices, and equitable economic expansion. The insights gleaned from this research serve as an invaluable resource for policymakers and urban planners, providing a robust groundwork for informed policy formulation and strategic planning to guide sustainable smart city development in Nigeria and other developing nations.

Purpose This study aims to investigate the drivers influencing the implementation of circular economy principles in the Nigerian architecture, engineering, construction and operation (AECO) industry across diverse regions of Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative research approach was adopted, using a structured questionnaire distributed to AECO professionals across four selected regions (North Central, North West, South-South and South West) in Nigeria. The data were analysed using Kruskal–Wallis test and structural equation modelling (SEM). Findings The study findings show a robust consensus of opinions among the respondents across regions and professions. The SEM analysis establishes the significant influence of the hypothesized drivers, regulatory and institutional, supply chain collaboration, technological advancements, organizational support and business strategies on the successful implementation of circular economy principles in the Nigerian AECO industry. Research limitations/implications The study is limited to specific regions and professions within Nigeria. Further limitation is the quantitative orientation of this study, which collects data using only a questionnaire. Practical implications The findings imply that stakeholders can adopt a unified approach to promote circular economy principles in the AECO industry. By recognizing the common understanding of circular economy drivers, collaborative efforts can be streamlined to advance sustainability, resource efficiency and circularity in the industry. Originality/value This study contributes to the nascent field of circular economy implementation in the Nigerian AECO industry. It offers a unique perspective by exploring variations in stakeholder opinions, providing insights into the nuanced understanding of circular economy drivers.

Transportation is an inevitable process during the execution of construction projects. Thus, it is vital to understand the aspects involved and how carbon emissions are measured within the various transportation categories to ensure its input to the overall carbon emission of new construction is known. This study therefore aims to capture all the metrics utilised in measuring carbon during the transportation process of a construction project. To do this, a systematic literature review approach was adopted and the findings reveal that the transportation process during the construction phase comprises of four major groups namely; material, machinery/equipment, worker’s/visitors and waste transportation. These groups have 49 carbon emission metrics in total with metrics such as average distance travelled, travel time, amount of fuel/energy utilised and emission intensity of fuel/energy being common to all four transportation categories. Material transport has the highest carbon metrics (19) while waste transport has the least with only eight metrics. This suggests that measurement of carbon emission related to the transportation of material can be done in several ways to ensure no possible carbon source is overlooked. Although, further research is to be conducted to establish the most efficient carbon metrics associated with each transportation category. This will enable the selection of the most appropriate metrics in determining each group’s contribution to the overall emission from the transportation process during the construction phase of a construction project. Once this is done, efforts can then be made to prioritise the minimisation of the most impactful category carbon footprint.

Contractors have been identified to be a key player in carbon emissions reduction during construction process due to their role in bringing building designs to fruition. Consequently, in assisting the contractors to achieve carbon reduction while carrying out construction activities, numerous carbon reduction strategies have been accentuated by scholars. However, it is believed that contractors are quite reluctant in adopting these strategies for several reasons such as possible increase in cost and being contradictory to their existing construction procedures. This study therefore aims to highlight the result of a systemic analysis of literature carried out in understanding contractors’ carbon reduction behaviour during construction activities. In conducting this research, two streams of studies covering the concept of contractors’ behaviour and their carbon reduction behaviour during construction projects were reviewed. The review of literature indicates that the concept of contractors’ behaviour has been fairly studied by scholars in varying circumstances ranging from weather risk pricing behaviour during contract tender to assessing their waste management behaviour during construction projects and in contractual claims dispute handling. However, there is paucity of research in the area related to their carbon reduction behaviour during construction project. This suggest that this field of research is relatively new and evolving with themes such as carbon reduction drivers, organisational culture, and carbon key performance indicators emerging. The findings of this study contribute to the carbon reduction in construction research and reveals the knowledge gap in this research area.

Despite the UK Government favouring modern methods of construction (MMC) and advocating their extended ability to address contemporary construction challenges, the current situation suggests that the sector has yet to achieve a sufficient economy of scale. This has led sizeable MMC businesses to experience, or to be close to experiencing, insolvency. Such events serve as the rationale for a study to investigate how MMC is perceived within the construction sector. Critics argue that MMC demands a fundamental change that has not been witnessed in construction for decades. This chapter aims to offer a scoping review to better understand how innovations transpire in complex social systems in construction. The logic flows to examining the decision-making processes of clients, which would then guide research towards the salient points where research can drive broader confidence in non-traditional ways of constructing places.

Extant studies have highlighted numerous barriers to carbon reduction but none seem to have been done in the context of construction process in the UK. Hence, this study aims to bridge this gap by inves-tigating the barriers that are critical to the minimization of construction carbon footprint in the UK. A questionnaire was developed based on the carbon reduction barrier variables identified through a com-prehensive literature review and pilot study. Then a survey was conducted amongst construction profes-sionals in the UK and the data obtained were analyzed using mean ranking technique and factor analysis. The mean ranking analysis gave rise to 15 critical barriers to carbon reduction and their factor analysis yielded four dissimilar factors which are, resources and prioritization; policy and standards; risk and com-mitment; and awareness and complexity. The findings imply that these classifications can be used to describe carbon reduction barriers in the UK. This could stimulate a better comprehension of the critical barriers and provide a foundational basis for further research within the sustainable construction domain. Also, the result of this study could facilitate the need for collaboration between construction stakeholders in the UK to proffer pragmatic solutions to the identified challenges of carbon minimization.

The fragmented nature of construction operations makes it challenging to implement carbon-reduction strategies. However, attaining a holistic construction sector decarbonisation hinges upon ensuring all aspects of a construction project’s lifecycle are decarbonised, including the construction process stage. Therefore, to mitigate the implementation challenge of reducing the levels of carbon involved in construction processes, this study attempts to synthesise and categorise carbon-reduction strategies that could be employed to decrease the carbon footprint during a construction projects’ delivery. To achieve the aim of this study, a systematic literature review approach was adopted. Based on this technique, a total of 26 relevant articles within the built environment research area were eligible for the study, and their analysis revealed 56 carbon minimisation measures, which were summarised into nine distinct categories to ease their application and overcome the construction operations’ complexities. The nine categories include material transport, waste transport, materials and equipment, waste, materials, on-site office, on-site lighting, on-site transportation of material and equipment, and construction methods. The findings of this study provide contractors with a suite of measures that can be deployed to reduce the carbon impact of construction project delivery.

Purpose Extant studies have discussed numerous carbon reduction drivers, but there is a dearth of holistic review and understanding of the dynamic interrelationships between the drivers from a system perspective. Thus, this study aims to bridge that gap. Design/methodology/approach The study conducted a review using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses and adopted interpretive structural modelling (ISM) to analyse and prioritise the drivers. Findings Eighteen drivers were identified and grouped into five, namely, policy instruments, bid-related, cost and risk, education and training, and reward and penalty drivers. The ISM revealed two hierarchical levels of the drivers with only higher cost of electricity/fuel on the higher level, making it the most important driver that could influence others. Practical implications The study presents an overview of decarbonisation drivers in the literature and would be of benefit to the government and stakeholders towards achieving net zero emissions in the construction industry. Originality/value The findings of the study present drivers of carbon reduction and prioritise and categorise them for tailored interventions within the construction sector. Also, it could serve as foundational knowledge for further study in the construction process decarbonisation research area.

The recent failures and insolvencies of organisations related to the modern methods of construction (MMC) have gained increased attention and controversy across the UK construction sector. Such failures are linked to their inability to achieve an economy of scale and drive key clients to accept the MMC as an alternative to traditional methods. This paper aims to unravel whether a phenomenon of “innovation negativism” has manifested and is contributing to public clients' indecision towards broader MMC, whether this is only linked to past negative experiences formed after the Second World War or whether additional contributing reasons exist to influence adoption. This study focusses on exploring the decision-making of the UK public construction sector; therefore, this paper adopts a qualitative approach, utilising interviews with 14 carefully selected MMC experts, government advisors and public clients. The phenomenological stance adopted herewith enables the authors to make better sense of the perceptions of the interviewees, leading to the conceptualisation of the innovation negativism phenomenon. The paper identifies nine themes that may be argued to promote a profound understanding of the MMC negativism influencing public clients' decision-making. The study has found that more than just the previous negative perceptions formulated post Second World War are driving innovation negativism in the UK public sector. Notably, the emerging themes are incomprehension, lacking evidence, communication, relationship history, bad experiences, uncertainty, inadequate experimentation, the business case and localism. This study is the first construction management research that acts as a fair departure point to conceptualise the reasoning behind innovation negativism in the construction setting. Through mirroring demand's unipolarity for traditional methods, policy and decision-makers can now rely on the conceptualised reasoning to determine practical solutions to overcome clients' indecisions towards MMC.

Purpose The decisions of contractors could impact the reduction of construction carbon footprint. These decisions are linked to the belief of contractors which equally affects how they behave while delivering projects. This study aims to investigate the behavioural tendencies of contractors that could lead to carbon minimisation during the execution of construction projects. Design/methodology/approach An industry survey was performed amongst 41 UK construction professionals. Spearman’s correlation and factor analysis were used to analyse the data. Findings The result of the Spearman’s correlation gave rise to 14 contractors’ carbon reduction behaviour (CCRB) variables and their factor analysis yielded two distinct factors, namely, contractors’ consummate carbon reduction behaviour and contractors’ pragmatic carbon reduction behaviour. The findings suggest that in the UK, contractors are willing to take voluntary practical steps to decrease the carbon footprint of construction projects. Practical implications This finding might be unexpected to construction stakeholders, especially construction clients who may believe that infusing strict carbon reduction obligations in contracts is sufficient in nudging contractors to lessen the carbon impact of projects. Originality/value The study attempted to quantitatively derive CCRB, thereby extending the breadth of knowledge in the construction carbon reduction domain.