Social Sustainability in the Planning, Design, and Construction in Developing Countries: Guidelines and Feasibility for México

Abstract

Sustainability is based on three pillars: social, economic, and environmental. However, the main systems of evaluation of the sustainable building, such as Building Research Establishment Assessment Method (BREEAM) and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), have a strong burden towards the environmental aspect, neglecting the social and economic, and underestimating the effects of the building projects on reducing poverty and inequity. The purpose of this research was to identify socioeconomic criteria for the reality of developing countries, specifically México, and systematize them in a conceptual framework for the stages of planning, design, and construction of buildings with a focus on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and human rights. Through semi-structured interviews with experts and surveys, 12 criteria were identified and ranked for the planning stage, 19 for the design stage, and 15 for the construction stage, being especially relevant the contribution to the Sustainable cities and communities (SDG11), Decent work and economic growth (SDG8) and Reduced inequalities (SDG10) goals. It was found that projects considered sustainable were required to have clear policies on the issues of labor rights, social inclusion, zero tolerance for corruption, gender perspective, and prevention of damage to community environmental assets. The criteria identified contribute to the knowledge of social and economic sustainability in developing countries and aim to make those involved aware of the significance of their decisions in the different stages of the life cycle of construction projects.

Sustainability and Resilience Assessment Methods: A Literature Review to Support the Decarbonization Target for the Construction Sector

“…Arcila Novelo, Alvarez Romero, Corona Suarez, Morales Ramirez (2021) [92] Social sustainability in the construction sector "SS in construction projects is the capacity of buildings to positively contribute to the SDGs, and human rights of persons directly or indirectly involved in any of the stages of the life cycle, considering that people in conditions of poverty and vulnerability are those who receive the strongest adverse effects of unsustainable lifestyles, consumption, and construction".…”

SIMURG: A new model for the integrated assessment of sustainability

“…As for the computation process, various studies suggest using a number of methods, such as Multi-Attribute Utility Analysis [3,4], Performance Benchmarking [5][6][7], Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution/TOPSIS [8,9], Multi-Criteria Decision Making [10], Machine Learning [11]. Examples of related studies in the literature include but are not limited to a. built environment dimension [12], b. economic environment dimension [13,14], c. social environment dimension [15][16][17][18][19]. Similarly, these studies are concerned with only one level in selected dimension such as a. product dimension_cities level [16,20,21], b. product dimension_buildings level [15,22], c. process dimension_companies level [13,14], d. process dimension_projects level [23].…”