Social Network Analysis of Factors Influencing Green Building Development in China

How to effectively prevent alienation behavior of prefabricated construction developers: an optimization analysis of regulatory strategies

Prefabricated buildings (PBs) contribute to sustainable development, and their development largely depends on the active participation of developers. However, based on the characteristics of different stages of PBs' development and the goals of "14th Five-Year Plan" for architecture in China, it is an urgent practical problem for the government to encourage developers' active participation while regulating their alienation behavior. To address such problem, this paper uses the evolutionary game method to explore the government's reasonable regulatory strategies for developers' behavior in different development stages of PBs. Meanwhile, this paper explores the boundary of government's regulatory strength on PBs based on actual situation in China, which help the government to drive high-quality development of PBs with effective policy resources. Results reveal that the strict regulatory strategies have limited effects in the incubation stage of PBs. In the growth stage, it is necessary to adjust the regulatory strategies appropriately. The dynamic linear regulatory strategy can enable the PBs to achieve the phased goal, and the dynamic nonlinear regulatory strategy can help to achieve the optimal goal of PBs in China. In the maturity stage, the government does not need to deliberately regulate due to the considerable profits of developers. The regulatory strategy of "light reward and heavy punishment" is better when it is adopted to promote the development of PBs in the growth stage. The research also provides valuable suggestions for government regulators to formulate reasonable and dynamic regulatory policies for PBs.

Evolutionary Game Theory and the Simulation of Green Building Development Based on Dynamic Government Subsidies

The carbon emissions of the construction industry pose a significant challenge to implementing China’s carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. This study considered how to promote stable green building (GB) development. First, evolutionary game theory (EGT) was applied to examine the interaction mechanism of complex behaviors between governments and developers, constructing two scenarios of static and dynamic subsidies. Second, we proposed the ideal state where the government does not give funding subsidies and developers take the initiative to build GBs. On this basis, the simulation method was used to verify the game models and primary conclusions. Finally, a detailed sensitivity analysis of selected parameters was undertaken. The results demonstrated that subsidy policy phase-outs could help in the development of GBs; the probability of an ideal state was positively correlated with government supervision and punishment, and it was negatively correlated with government funding subsidies. The research results can be used as a reference for the government to improve incentive measures and decision support for stakeholders to adjust their strategies.

Linking the Development of Building Sustainability Assessment Tools with the Concept Evolution of Sustainable Buildings

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.

A comprehensive review on green buildings research: bibliometric analysis during 1998-2018

Buildings account for nearly 2/5ths of global energy expenditure. Due to this figure, the 90s witnessed the rise of green buildings (GBs) that were designed with the purpose of lowering the demand for energy, water, and materials resources while enhancing environmental protection efforts and human well-being over time. This paper examines recent studies and technologies related to the design, construction, and overall operation of GBs and determines potential future research directions in this area of study. This global review of green building development in the last two decades is conducted through bibliometric analysis on the Web of Science, via the Science Citation Index and Social Sciences Citation Index databases. Publication performance, countries' characteristics, and identification of key areas of green building development and popular technologies were conducted via social network analysis, big data method, and S-curve predictions. A total of 5246 articles were evaluated on the basis of subject categories, journals' performance, general publication outputs, and other publication characteristics. Further analysis was made on dominant issues through keyword co-occurrence, green building technologies by patent analysis, and S-curve predictions. The USA, China, and the UK are ranked the top three countries where the majority of publications come from. Australia and China had the closest relationship in the global network cooperation. Global trends of the top 5 countries showed different country characteristics. China had a steady and consistent growth in green building publications each year. The total publications on different cities had a high correlation with cities' GDP by Baidu Search Index. Also, barriers and contradictions such as cost, occupant comfort, and energy consumption were discussed in developed and developing countries. Green buildings, sustainability, and energy efficiency were the top three hotspots identified through the whole research period by the cluster analysis. Additionally, green building energy technologies, including building structures, materials, and energy systems, were the most prevalent technologies of interest determined by the Derwent Innovations Index prediction analysis. This review reveals hotspots and emerging trends in green building research and development and suggests routes for future research. Bibliometric analysis, combined with other useful tools, can quantitatively measure research activities from the past and present, thus bridging the historical gap and predicting the future of green building development.

Dynamic reward and penalty strategies of green building construction incentive: an evolutionary game theory-based analysis

Green building incentives are widely adopted in the world to promote green building construction. However, the incentives from the government are usually predetermined, which cannot obtain a stable effect in green construction practice. To better promote green building construction, this paper studies dynamic government's reward and penalty evolution during the construction process. Based on the prospect theory, the decision of government reward and penalty is formulated as evolutionary game model under four different scenarios: static reward and static penalty, dynamic reward and static penalty, static reward and dynamic penalty, and dynamic reward and dynamic penalty. Through theoretical analysis, our results revealed that the dynamic reward and static penalty is the best strategy to promote green building construction. More specifically, if the intensity of subsidy and penalty increases, contractors tend to green construction; while the probability of active supervision by government is inversely proportional to subsidy and positively proportional to penalty. This study can provide a useful insight for the policy makers to formulate effective reward and penalty policy, thereby standardizing the behavior of contractors, and reducing the negative impact of the construction industry on the environment.

Factors Influencing Modern Timber Structure Building Development in China

In China, modern timber structure (MTS) has great market potential as an advanced architectural technology and corresponds to the direction of construction industrialization. However, the MTS building sector is still developing slowly, despite previous efforts by the Chinese government to promote its development. The development of the MTS building industry involves numerous stakeholders, and the complex relationships and behaviors of stakeholders are regarded as the reason for slow development. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the influencing factors related to MTS building from the stakeholders’ perspectives. The social network analysis (SNA) method was used to explore the key factors affecting MTS building development and analyze the interactions of influencing factors. Nine stakeholders were identified, and 23 influencing factors associated with these stakeholders were determined based on a literature review, questionnaire survey and interviews with specialists. The critical factors were government policy, the public’s understanding and acceptance, market positioning and development cost. In addition, the relationships of designer, prefabricated component manufacturer, and construction enterprise were very close. Based on the findings, corresponding countermeasures were put forward, including policy incentives and support expansion, technical specification system improvements, public awareness reinforcement, and the strengthening of personnel training, etc. This paper contributes to the developmental improvement of the MTS building sector in China.

Exploring Residents' Purchase Intention of Green Housings in China: An Extended Perspective of Perceived Value

The promotion of green housings (GHs) is considered a potentially effective way to save energy, reduce air pollution, and promote industrial upgrading. However, the low level of public acceptance of GHs leads to insufficient GH market penetration in China. Thus, it is significant to explore GH purchase decisions to understand and enhance the market demand for GHs effectively. From an extended perspective of perceived value, this study proposes a comprehensive research model that integrates residents’ perceptions and personal traits to examine the influencing mechanism of residents’ intention to purchase GHs. The proposed model is empirically tested using data collected from 728 urban residents in China. The results reveal that perceived value is a crucial predictor of GH purchase intention. All dimensions of perceived benefits—including perceived functional benefits, perceived emotional benefits, perceived green benefits, and perceived social benefits—have a positive influence on perceived value, while perceived performance risks have a negative influence on perceived value. Two types of personal traits, namely, environmental concern and social trust, significantly affect residents’ perceived benefits and perceived risks. The findings contribute to a more in-depth analysis of the effects of residents’ perceptions and personal traits on GH purchase behavior. Furthermore, suggestions for policymakers and developers on popularizing GHs are proposed.

Evolutionary Games of Low-Carbon Behaviors of Construction Stakeholders under Carbon Taxes

The development of low-carbon buildings (LCBs) in China has not reached its expected status, although the Chinese government has formulated many relevant regulations. The real estate developers and consumers are essential participants in the development of LCBs. This paper explores whether the government's implementation of the carbon tax will change their choices of LCBs. Evolutionary game models between developers and consumers are established under static and dynamic carbon taxes. Their evolutionarily stable strategies (ESS) are deduced in different situations. According to the real scenarios in China, numerical simulations are further conducted to show that carbon tax influences the low-carbon behaviors of stakeholders in the construction industry. Under a static carbon tax, the two players cannot reach an equilibrium state, while the game system is stable under a dynamic tax. The probability of the developers constructing LCBs is positively related to the carbon tax, while its degree is gradually weakened as the tax rate increases. Therefore, an appropriate tax should be set to promote the development of LCBs effectively. Finally, policy implications are put forwarded to guide the participants' low-carbon behaviors and reduce the carbon emissions in the Chinese construction industry.

Overcoming Barriers to Agriculture Green Technology Diffusion through Stakeholders in China: A Social Network Analysis

It is crucial to actively encourage the development of agriculture green technology, which has been regarded as one of the most effective solutions to the environmental degradation caused by agricultural activities. However, agriculture green technology diffusion is indeed a challenging task and still faces numerous barriers. The stakeholders who can potentially deal with these barriers, however, have been overlooked by previous studies. To address these issues, social network analysis was performed to identify critical stakeholders and barriers. Their interactions in agriculture green technology diffusion were analyzed based on the literature, a questionnaire survey and expert judgments. A two-mode network and two one-mode networks were used to analyze the relationships among the identified 12 barriers and 14 stakeholders who can influence these 12 barriers identified. The results show that agricultural research institutes, universities, agribusiness, agencies of township promotion, the government and farmers’ relatives are key stakeholders and that the limited market demand for green technology and the high cost of its diffusion are two main barriers. However, poor green technology operability and farmer families in distress are factors that are not as important as previously perceived. Finally, some recommendations and suggestions are provided to promote agriculture green technology diffusion in China.