Adopting a Tool-based
Approach to Achieve Improved Resilience and Increased Socio-economic
Benefits
of the Construction Sector
Rapid
urbanisation necessitates a substantial amount of newly built
environment to support dynamic urban activities. It comes at the cost of
a large quantum of non-renewable resources and energy consumption,
coupled with huge amounts of waste and emissions. At this point, it is
crucial to understand the significance of adopting a tool-based approach
to advance towards a sustainable construction sector. The term ‘tool’
here refers to passive1 and interactive2 instruments that can be used by
the construction stakeholders at different stages of value chain to
enable material efficiency, circularity and improved resilience of the
construction industry. A tool-based approach aids in a better
understanding of local conditions for identifying intervention areas,
allowing for more informed and evidence-based decision-making, and in
efficient designing of the transition strategy.
While a wide range of tools are available
for use at all stages of construction, a tool-based approach is most
commonly used at planning, designing and modelling stages (for example,
Primavera, Revit, AutoCAD, and BIM 360). In many nations, certification
tools are also widely used. On the other hand, other stages of the
construction value chain rarely adopt a tool-based approach. While all
stages of the building value chain require equal attention to ensure the
sector’s circularity and resilience, using a tool-based approach for
policy formulation and related interventions can be a significant driver
in the implementation of circular practices in the construction industry
at the national and sub-national levels.
The following are some of the tools that can
be used by policymakers to achieve a sustainable construction system.
Capacity Assessment Tool for Infrastructure (CAT-I) is a tool that aids
governments in identifying gaps in their enabling environment's capacity
to plan, deliver and maintain infrastructure systems, allowing for more
efficient infrastructure development.![](Image/pg1.jpg)
Mainstreaming Sustainable Social Housing in India Project (MaS-Ship) is
a decision-making tool that enables social housing developers to
integrate environmental performance, affordability and social inclusion.
It helps construction professionals, housing developers and politicians
make well-informed decisions on materials, systems and design strategies
to use in social housing projects.
National Infrastructure System-of-systems
Modelling Platform (NISMOD) is a set of open-source analysis tools that
allows developing countries to develop and evaluate different
infrastructure transition strategies in order to satisfy their long-term
sustainable development goals.
These tools are open source and globally
applicable3. However, in many cases, construction stakeholders are
hesitant to adopt them considering the associated costs, lack of
technical capacity, data deficiency, informal nature of the sector and,
in some cases, due to the lack of awareness. This necessitates educating
and sensitising construction stakeholders, including policymakers, about
the importance of using tools in policy formulation and other stages of
the value chain. By enabling efficient policy formulation and assisting
design change in existing policies to reduce resource consumption and
environmental impacts, a tool-based approach facilitates in achieving
the maximum possible socio-economic benefits, paving the way for a more
sustainable and resilient construction sector.■
Figure 1: The circular economy principle in
the construction
value chain. Source: Ellen McArthur Foundation, 2013
![](Image/pg1-1.jpg)
Figure 2: Cityscape of Jaipur with a crowded
built environment. Source: PXFUEL
Endnote:
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1Passive tools are such instruments that the
user does not have to actively interact with it to apply it into the
analysis. These can be in the form of step-by-step guidelines, data and
information disseminating platform, webpages, etc.
-
2Interactive tools are such instruments that
the user actively interacts with the tool to attain certain results
according to the inputs provided by the user, e.g., LCA tools.
-
3Globally applicable tools refer to tools
that can be directly used or adapted to any geo-climatic conditions,
socio-economic parameters, risk factors, etc.
References:
Sherine Thanduparakkal
stparakkal@devalt.org
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