Extended reality (XR)—A magic box of digitalization in driving sustainable development of the construction industry: A critical review

Abstract

Against a background of global resource shortage and climate change, there is an urgency for the construction industry to aim towards sustainable development. With the rapid development of information technology, the emergence of extended reality (XR) has provided new ideas and options for sustainable construction (SC). Such technologies are applied in research and practice of the whole construction lifecycle, which can well meet the requirements of SC. This paper presents a critical review of XR applications in SC, aiming to systematically summarize the specific uses and advantages of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR) technologies. This study also examines the gap in research into the imbalance between the use of technology and the construction stages involved. Most XR applications focus on the preconstruction stage, while visualization and interactivity are the main features for further application. Through qualitative analyses, different applications of XR are introduced in stages throughout the entire lifecycle of building projects. In addition, the current challenges and limitations are presented, and several suggestions are proposed to facilitate further advancements in SC research and practice in the near future. This review provides valuable information to help stakeholders understand the advances in XR research and benefit future exploration and practice in the field.

Immersive Technology and Building Information Modeling (BIM) for Sustainable Smart Cities

“…As shown in Table 3, which lists smart city technology applications in immersive technology and BIM in sustainable smart cities since 2014, case studies [6][7][8][20][21][22][23]31,[36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49] are the most used method for integrating smart city in immersive technology, followed by literature reviews [6,7,9,19,31,39,[50][51][52][53][54], interviews [8,20,22,36,37,[43][44][45][46], questionnaires [8,20,22,36,37,[43]…”

Scene Understanding for Dimensional Compliance Checks in Mixed-Reality

“…Extensive research has been conducted on applications of XR in the built industry for use in various construction phases [18,19]. Applications of MR, in particular, facilitate decision-making in the pre-construction phase, as alternative designs can be projected onto existing spaces, enhancing communication [27].…”

“…Specifically in the Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operations (AECO) industry, it was observed that 49% of the research focused on construction phase use cases such as site monitoring and inspections, construction simulations, training tools for assembly, and enhancing construction safety [18]. However, a recent study on XR applications for sustainable construction revealed that most use cases focus on the preconstruction stage [19]. The more prominent occurrence of use cases in the pre-construction stages can be attributed to the focus on sustainable construction, where decisions, such as the selection of sustainable materials, must occur during the pre-construction stages.…”

“…Various XR devices are commercially available, and five common MR devices were identified [8,19,20]. The key specifications of each of these devices are presented in Table 1.…”