Exploring a body of knowledge for promoting the sustainable transition to prefabricated construction
Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management
ISSN: 0969-9988
Article publication date: 29 October 2020
Issue publication date: 2 November 2021
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aimed to introduce a systematic body of knowledge via a scientometric review, guiding the sustainable transition from conventional construction to prefabricated construction. The construction industry currently faces a challenge to balance sustainable development and the construction of new buildings. In this context, one of the most recent debates is prefabricated construction. As an emerging construction approach, although existing knowledge makes contributions to the implementation of prefabricated construction, there is a lack of a comprehensive and in-depth overview of the critical knowledge themes and gaps.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses the scientometric analysis to review the state-of-the-art knowledge of prefabricated construction. It retrieved data from the Web of Science core collection database. CiteSpace software was used to conduct the analysis and visualization; three analysis methods identify the knowledge hotspots, knowledge domains and knowledge topics. Finally, according to integrating the hidden connections among results, a body of knowledge for prefabricated construction application can be inferred.
Findings
The results show that 120 knowledge hotspots, five critical knowledge domains and five prominent knowledge topics are vital for promoting implementation of prefabricated construction. Based on the afore analysis, a body of knowledge for prefabricated construction that can systematically cover a broad knowledge of prefabricated construction-related research and activities are integrated and proposed in this paper.
Originality/value
Body of knowledge systematically covers a broad knowledge of prefabricated construction applications and is vital to guide researchers and practitioners to conduct related research and activities, thereby promoting the sustainable transition to prefabricated construction implementation.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by the National Social Science Fund of China (No. 18ZDA043, 18BGL260). The work described in this paper was also supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (NO. 71671053, NO. 71841024, NO. 71771067, No. 71901077), the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2016YFC0701800 and No. 2016YFC0701808), and the Department of Science and Technology of Guangdong Province (No. 2019B101001019).Corrigendum: It has come to the attention of the publisher that “Exploring a body of knowledge for promoting the sustainable transition to prefabricated construction” by Ting Luo, Xiaolong Xue, Yongtao Tan, Yuna Wang and Yuanxin Zhang, published in the Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management listed the incorrect affiliation details for Yuna Wang. The correct affiliation details for Yuna Wang are as follows: School of Civil Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China. This has been corrected in the article. The authors sincerely apologize for this oversight.
Citation
Luo, T., Xue, X., Tan, Y., Wang, Y. and Zhang, Y. (2021), "Exploring a body of knowledge for promoting the sustainable transition to prefabricated construction", Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, Vol. 28 No. 9, pp. 2637-2666. https://doi.org/10.1108/ECAM-03-2020-0154
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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