Current work on social sustainability in the built environment

Abstract

Sustainability is based on the United Nation's (UN) Brundtland Report, which defines economic, social and environmental factors that can ensure long-term economic viability while maintaining an environmental balance and showing commitment to socially desirable practices. Great focus has been on integrating environmental and economic factors into the project processes of construction. There is substantial potential in developing a strategic process to ensure that social sustainability is systematically incorporated into a project equally with economic and environmental factors. Research in the field is scarce and suggests that social sustainability is a secondary parameter even though it is integrated in building projects today. There is a tendency that decisions made regarding which social sustainability aspects is to be integrated in a project is based on experience from previous projects. There is a need of a strategic approach on how to handle and work with social sustainability that is based on more than experience. Can decisions be informed by quantifiable information about social sustainability as is the case with economic and environmental sustainability?