• Energy Research
• other engineering and technologies close
• 9. Industry and infrastructure close
• Sustainability close

Closed-loop supply chain networks are gaining research popularity due to environmental, economic and social concerns. Such networks are primarily designed to overcome carbon footprints and to retrieve end of life products from customers. This study considers a multi echelon closed-loop supply chain in the presence of machine disruption. A multi-objective model is presented to optimize the total cost, the total time and emissions in a closed-loop supply chain network. The aim is to analyze the trade-off between the objectives of cost, time, and emissions and how these decisions are impacted by the selection of different available machines. A number of solution approaches are tested on a case study from the tire industry. The results suggest the improved performance of the hybrid heuristic and the importance of controlling disruption in a closed-loop supply chain network. Furthermore, there is a trade-off between the different objective functions which can help the decision maker to choose a particular solution according to the preference of an organization. Finally, conclusion and future research avenues are provided.

With the rapid development of materials science and construction technology, the concept of sustainable building (SB) and the Building Sustainability Assessment Tool (BSAT) have also evolved and developed. Understanding the development of BSAT and SB is of great significance to the sustainable development of the construction industry. This research used the bibliometric method to analyze the development and evolution in the relevant literature on SB and BSAT from 1990 to 2021, and the correlations and differences between them were investigated. We found that there are many common trends in the development of research efforts in SB and BSAT: (1) they focused solely on the environment, in the early days, and only later considered economic and social impacts; (2) the scales with which they are concerned continue to expand, from individual buildings to communities and even cities; (3) key areas, such as energy, materials, resources, indoor environmental quality, high-tech applications, adaptability, and concern for people are being given more attention by both SB and BSAT. On the other hand, the difference between them is that SB research focuses on more macro aspects, such as policy, culture, climate change, while BSAT research is more concerned with micro aspects, such as its system of tools. Furthermore, some current research gaps in the BSAT field are identified, clarifying its future research directions. By linking the evolution of the SB concept and the development of the BSAT research field, this review provides a new and valuable perspective for the sustainable assessment of the construction industry, which, itself, is conducive to the sustainable transformation of this industry, which could contribute greatly to the mitigation of global climate change.

The construction industry is considered as one of the least productive, highest energy consuming, and least digitized industries. The Lean Management (LM) philosophy became a significant way for eliminating non-value-added activities and wastes during a building’s lifecycle. However, studies have shown that philosophies are not efficient by themselves to solve the issues of the construction industry. They need to be supported with the appropriate technologies and tools. Therefore, the integrated use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) with LM or Value Engineering (VE) were proposed in the literature. Nonetheless, it was also seen that BIM can provide more insights and improvements when BIM is integrated with data analysis tools to analyze BIM data. In the literature, the synergies between these concepts are generally addressed pairwise, and there is no comprehensive framework which identifies their relationships. Therefore, this study aims to develop a maturity framework that facilitates the adoption of LM, VE, BIM, and Big Data Analytic (BDA) concepts to address long-standing productivity and digitalization issues in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry. Design Science Research (DSR) methodology and its three-cycle view (relevance, rigor, and design cycle) were applied to build the proposed maturity framework. Two interviews were performed to identify and observe research problem in relevance cycle. In the rigor cycle, a comprehensive literature review was performed to create a base for the development of the maturity framework. In addition to the developed base of the framework, lean processes were added to this cycle. In the design cycle, the developed framework was evaluated and validated by five experts through face-to-face interviews. The importance of employer’s requirements to adopt the proposed methodologies, the negative impact of change orders, the importance of pre-construction phases to facilitate value creation and waste elimination, and the usage of common data environment with BIM were identified as the prominent application and adaptation issues.

The rapid urbanization in recent decades has highlighted the impact of rural land utilization, which further affects the spatial structure and efficiency of rural ecosystems. Optimizing the structure of urban green infrastructure is an effective way to alleviate the fragmentation of rural landscapes, coordinate the relationship between rural development and ecosystem services, and ensure sustainable rural development. The purpose of this paper is to provide a clear direction for the optimization of construction for the sustainable development of rural green infrastructure (RGI). This study provides a new method for RGI identification and analysis by taking Suining County, a typical rural area on the North China Plain, as an example. Morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA) was used to distinguish different space scenery elements in RGI and combine them with land utilization elements, so as to obtain two types of overlapping degree data in each village and town. We further combined the overlapping degree data with ecological efficiency indicators to evaluate the spatial structure construction priorities of different land use components in the RGI system. The results show that the MSPA and ecological efficiency analysis method proposed in this paper are conducive to qualitative and quantitative analysis of the relationship between land use type, spatial structure, and ecological efficiency in the RGI system and are suitable for the construction of a green infrastructure network. This method can be used to better understand the spatial distribution and priority of green infrastructure networks to achieve sustainable rural development on the North China Plain.

According to the European Commission, green infrastructure (GI) is conceived as a strategically planned network of natural and semi-natural areas. This definition highlights three important issues: environment protection, ecosystems multifunctionality and ecological connectivity. Building upon a methodology that identifies a Sardinian regional GI in relation to four values (conservation value, natural value, recreational value and landscape value), this study aims at assessing the suitability of areas situated within and outside protected areas’ boundaries to be included in the above-mentioned Sardinian regional GI. In relation to conservation value, outcomes reveal a higher suitability of patches situated within protected areas to be included in the regional GI, whereas in relation to the other three values, the behavioral patterns are less evident. These results suggest specific policy recommendations such as mitigation of land-taking processes, increase of Natura 2000 Network’s size, accurate identification of landscape goods, and improved accessibility to sites characterized by outstanding natural beauty.

Air pollution, particularly SO2 emission, has become a global problem, seriously threatening the sustainable development and health of mankind. Based on the panel data of 248 prefecture-level cities in China during 2003–2018, this study used the Propensity Score Matching-Difference in Difference (PSM-DID) method within the counterfactual framework to evaluate the treatment effect of the policy made by the National Resource-Based Economic Transformation Comprehensive Supporting Reform Pilot Zone (CRZ) on sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions. The results show the following. (1) The benchmark regression results demonstrate that the CRZ policy has significantly decreased per capita SO2 emissions (PCSO2) and SO2 emissions per unit of GDP (PGSO2) in the pilot zone, and the placebo test indicates that the evaluation of the policy effect is robust. (2) The dynamic effect test indicates that there is a lag in the effect of the CRZ policy on reducing SO2 emissions. The policy effect of the CRZ policy on PCSO2 and PGSO2 was not obvious in the first stage (2011–2015), the CRZ policy significantly reduced the PCSO2 and PGSO2 in the second stage of policy implementation (2016 and beyond), and the reduction effect of CRZ policy on SO2 emissions is increasing over time. (3) The mechanism analysis shows that optimizing industrial structure, increasing human capital, strengthening technological innovation, and expanding opening to the outside world are the main ways for the CRZ policy to reduce SO2 emissions. The study will help promote SO2 emissions reduction in Shanxi Province, providing a reference for the transformation and development of other resource-based cities in China and the world and contributing to accelerating the achievement of regional emission reduction targets and sustainable development.

This paper explores the coupling relationship between land use and rural development to improve the environmentally friendly level of land use and attain accelerated rural revitalization. On the basis of the coupling framework, the quantitative study included the dimensionless method, the entropy method, and the coupling measure model with an empirical study in the Hainan province of China. Specifically, we evaluated levels of environmental friendliness and rural revitalization, and further calculated the coupling degree, coupling coordination degree, and the relative development degree between the two. Results demonstrated that (1) both the levels of environmentally friendly land use and rural revitalization showed an upward trend; (2) the coupling degree between environmentally friendly land use and rural revitalization was always at a high level; (3) the coupling coordination degree was improved from reluctant coordination to a quality coordination level; and (4) the relative development degree has changed since 2014, and environmentally friendly land use began to lag behind rural revitalization. This study contributes to the literature by integrating the coupling model into the relationship between land use and rural development, and the results of the article can provide a reference for China and other developing countries to coordinate land use and rural development.

Construction is a complex activity, characterized by high levels of capital investment, relatively long delivery durations, multitudinous risks and uncertainties, as well as requiring the integration of multiple skills delivering a huge volume of tasks and processes. All of these must be coordinated carefully if time, cost, and quality constraints are to be met. At the same time, construction is renowned for performing poorly regarding sustainability metrics. Construction activity generates high volumes of waste, requires vast amounts of resources and materials, while consuming a significant proportion of total energy generated. Digitalization of the construction workplace and construction activities has the potential of improving construction performance both in terms of business results as well as sustainability outcomes. This is because, to put it simply, reduced energy usage, for example, impacts economic and “green” performance, simultaneously. Firms tinkering with digitalization, however, do not always achieve the hoped-for outcomes. The challenge faced is that a digital transition of construction firms must be carried out at a strategic level—requiring a comprehensive change management protocol. What then does a digital strategy entail? This study puts forward an argument for the combined economic and sustainability dividends to be had from digitizing construction firm activities. It outlines the requirements for achieving digitalization. The elements of a comprehensive digitalization strategy are cataloged, while the various approaches to developing a digitalization strategy are discussed. This study offers practitioners a useful framework by which to consider their own firm-level efforts at digitalization transition.