Proceedings of the 27th International Symposium on Advancement of Construction Management and Real Estate

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Frontmatter

2. An Integrated Visualization Framework to Enhance Human–Robot Collaboration in Facility Management

   Yonglin Fu, Junjie Chen, Yipeng Pan, Weisheng Lu

   Abstract

   The global pandemic has sparked the popularity of robots in facility management tasks (FMTs) such as floor cleaning and disinfection. This trend brings many task scenarios where humans and robots need to cooperate with each other. Effective human–robot collaboration (HRC) relies on precise communication of the robots’ intentions (e.g., to move to a position, or to grasp an object), so that their human counterparts can adapt their behaviors/actions accordingly. However, little has been known on how this can be done in FMTs. Visualization technologies have potential to enhance HRC by communicating the robot intention in a visualized manner. This research aims to develop a framework that integrates the latest visualization technologies, e.g., building information modelling (BIM) and augmented reality (AR), to enhance HRC in facility management. The framework includes two complementary modules: (a) a remote monitoring module (RMM) that can remotely transmit and visualize robot information in a Web-based BIM to inform decision-making, and (b) an onsite collaboration module (OCM) that augments human co-workers with real-time robot intention to allow effective cooperation. Experiments were conducted to validate the proposed framework in typical FMTs. Results show that the integrated visualization framework can intuitively and unambiguously convey robots’ intentions to their human counterparts, significantly improving the performance of HRC. Future research is suggested to complement the framework with a reverse mechanism to effectively convey human intentions to robots.

3. Developing a Robotic System for Construction Truck Crane

   Xiao Lin, Songchun Chen, Hongling Guo, Ziyang Guo

   Abstract

   Automation and robot have been strong roles in improving productivity and safety of the construction industry. While a quantity of research and practice are conducted on new-type construction robots, there is a lack of robotization for traditional construction equipment. This research presents a robotic truck crane system (RTCS), which provides traditional truck cranes with automatic operation abilities. It is a system consisting of real hardware and modular-designed software, providing monitoring, path planning and automatic execution functions. An experiment was carried out on a scaled prototype to verify the feasibility and efficiency of the system. The result shows satisfactory operational accuracy, path planning capability, and accessibility of the system.

4. COVID-19 Impact on the Implicit Value of Open Space in High Density Cities: Evidence from the Hong Kong Housing Market

   Ruiyang Wang, Shuai Shi

   Abstract

   Open spaces such as parks and gardens provide a variety of ecosystem services that enhance human physical and mental well-being. Previous studies have extensively investigated the homebuyers’ willingness to pay for the utility of open space. However, few studies have investigated the price elasticity of open space to exogenous shock such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to massive social distancing and travel restrictions, open space within walkable distance is hypothesized to be appreciated under the pandemic, especially in high density cities like Hong Kong. Does this shock a one-off incident or create a lasting effect on price gradient? This article addresses this question by employing a multi-level difference-in-difference (DID) model based on property transaction data from 2019 to 2021 in the Hong Kong housing market, aiming to unravel the dynamic relationship between open space and residential property price during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results show that: (1) the price gap between proximate and distant properties from open space was widened, steepening the price gradient; (2) the premium effect of open space was time-varying and mainly appreciated in the later stage of the pandemic; (3) low-to-medium-wealth communities showed higher elasticity of open space to the COVID-19 pandemic than high-wealth communities; (4) the utility of open space is more appreciated in highly-infected communities. This article contributes to the juxtaposition of price elasticity, exogenous shock, and urban environments. The concerns of open space inequity and housing affordability are also raised, which calls for the policy coordination for housing, public health, and urban planning.

5. Digital Twin Technology for Improving Safety Management in Construction

   Patrick X. W. Zou, Songling Ma

   Abstract

   The application of digital twin technology (DT) in construction is becoming more and more widespread, and within this, construction safety management has always been an important part that cannot be ignored. The development of digital twin technology provides new possibilities on how to improve construction safety management using DT. This paper develops a conceptual human-machine-environment safety detection and control system based on identifying potential applications of digital twin technology focuses on unsafe behavior, unsafe machine/equipment condition and unsafe environment as the main subjects. This system includes a five-dimensional model of the digital twin technology, including cyber-physical modeling, data storage and management, perspective simulation, deep learning, unusual state diagnosis and trend prediction. In addition, key technologies, such as data mining and simulation, and twin collaboration for human-machine-environment co-integration, have also been designed. In addition, the case of Qinling Tunnel digital twin technology application is studied. The research provides several threads for the integration of digital twin technology and construction safety and several areas for future research. The research makes contribution to the field by applying emerging information and communication technology-based management of construction safety.

6. Interview Methods in Construction and Demolition Research: Based on Case Study and Recommended Best Practices

   Zhikun Ding, Xinrui Wang, Jian Zuo, Patrick X. W. Zou, Lili Yuan

   Abstract

   Interview holds a prominent place among qualitative research methods, and it has been widely used in construction and demolition waste management research. Based on the literature review of interview-based related research, the status quo of interview applications is analyzed. Consequently, an interview guideline of interview-related methods is proposed according to the ratio between the number of interviewers and interviewees for effective implementation of interview methods. This paper classifies interview methods into four scenarios: Type I (one to one, 1:1), Type II (one to many, 1: n), Type III (many to one, m:1), and Type IV (many to many, m:n). Through a series of case studies, the application of the guide is demonstrated, and the corresponding best practices are summarized. Overall, this paper provides references for researchers to select the most appropriate interview method in construction and demolition waste research, and manage the interview process effectively.

7. Application of High-Rise Building Fire Rescue Based on BIM and GIS

   Dongmei Huangfu, Lihui Rong, Guanglan Wei

   Abstract

   With the progress of the society and technology, there are more and more high-rise buildings, while followed by high-rise building fire problem has become a worldwide problem. Through stating the number of high-rise building fires, the elaboration of high-rise fire risk and its characteristics, analyse the urgency and difficulties faced by the high-rise building fire rescue. Moreover, make the comparative analysis of data information differences between GIS and BIM. Finally, based on the application of the fire command system of GIS, the fire command flow chart of BIM-GIS applied in building is put forward, which can help improve the high-rise building fire and rescue command management.

8. Analysis of Flow and Stock of Sand and Gravel in Shenzhen Buildings and Associated Environmental Impact

   Yao Zhou, Feng He, Jian Liu, Jing Bai, Huabo Duan

   Abstract

   There is a rapidly spread sand and gravel supply shortage to meet increasing construction material needs. A considerable quantity of sand and gravel are stored in the built environment and have the value of being a secondary material resources. Using the bottom-up material flow analysis (MFA), this study estimates the flow and stock of sand and gravel in Shenzhen buildings and evaluates associated environmental impact from the material production stage. The results show that the consumption of sand and gravel in Shenzhen buildings exceeded 439 million tons (Mt) from 1979 to 2019, with an average annual consumption of 10.9 Mt. Equivalently, 598 kilotons (Kt) of the embodied carbon emissions were generated in the production stage of the sand and gravel. The cumulative outflow (measured by the generation of demolition waste) of sand and gravel exceeded 150Mt, accounting for 34% of the total consumption. Moreover, the sand and gravel stocks in Shenzhen buildings have boomed to 302 Mt in 2019 (23 t/cap), and show characteristics of fast inflow and slow outflow. This study helps understand the dynamic metabolism of sand and gravel in buildings and forms the data basis for further research in urban sand and gravel resources, waste management, and environmental strategy.

9. Developing Virtual Labs for Engineering Education: Lessons from Leveling Experiment

   Baoquan Cheng, Hao Su, Dahao Cheng, Xiaowei Luo

   Abstract

   Virtual labs based on serious games have shown their potential to support experiment teaching, particularly for online engineering education during and after the global COVID-19 pandemic. However, how to develop serious games to support experiment teaching is still unclear. This article applied the Unity game engine to develop a virtual lab for the leveling experiment to show the process of virtual lab development. Ten students majoring in construction were recruited to test the developed virtual lab. After the experiment, participants completed a questionnaire including six questions about their feedback on the developed virtual lab. It can be concluded that the develop a virtual lab that allows students to actively join in and experience the whole experiment process better help students master related knowledge and skills. The developed virtual labs can therefore well aid in future experiment teaching of engineering surveying for construction majors. More efforts are needed to enrich the range of experiments and improve the user experience to promote virtual labs in engineering education.

10. Insights into the Resource Utilization Behavior of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement Based on Theory of Planned Behavior from Different Stakeholders’ Perspective

    Dan Chong, Yihao Huang, Hongyang Li

    Abstract

    The road repair and maintenance process will produce a large amount of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP). The abundant generation of construction waste poses a major challenge to the sustainable development of resources worldwide. Based on the increasingly prominent contradiction between environmental resources and construction development, the implementation of resource utilization of recycled asphalt pavement materials is of great significance for resource sustainability. This paper aims to study the factors influencing the behavior of resource utilization of RAP materials from different stakeholders’ perspectives. Based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), three variables of “government supervision”, “potential benefits” and “project constraints” are introduced to meet the specific situation of road projects, and the model of RAP resource unitization behavior is constructed. Data were collected through questionnaires, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the theoretical model and research hypotheses. The influencing factors that cause the difference of RAP resource utilization behavior among stakeholders were analyzed through multi-group structural equation. The research findings show that attitude towards behavior, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control have a significant positive impact on RAP resource utilization behavioral intentions. Perceived behavioral control, project constraints and behavioral intention have a significant positive impact on RAP resource utilization behavior. The hypothetical path of potential benefits has a non-significant effect on actual RAP resource utilization behavior. The multi-group structural equation analysis with stakeholders as moderating variables showed that the effects of government supervision, project constraints, and behavioral intentions on actual behavior were more significant for the designer; the effects of attitude towards behavior on behavioral intentions of RAP resource utilization were more significant for the contractor; and the effects of perceived behavioral control variables on behavioral intentions and actual behavior of RAP resource utilization were more significant for the owner. The research is expected to provide a theoretical basis to guide the stakeholders better implementing RAP resource utilization measures.

11. Image Quality Assessment for Construction E-inspection: A Case Study

    Zhiming Dong, Weisheng Lu, Junjie Chen

    Abstract

    The E-inspection platform provides a non-physical onsite presence solution for inspectors. The supervision units can inspect the tasks by online submitted documents. The image is an essential data source on the E-inspection platform because it can provide rich and intuitive information for inspectors. However, if the quality of the submitted image is low, the uploader needs to re-upload the record for inspection, which reduces the efficiency. The image quality assessment (IQA) metric can assess image quality quantitatively. The application of the IQA metric in the E-inspection platform can help the inspection record uploader recognize the low-quality image before submission. In this research, different IQA metrics are selected and conducted in an actual E-inspection task to illustrate efficiency and effectiveness.

12. Housing Choice Willingness of Urban Residents: The Interaction of Tenure Choice, Space Choice, and Time Choice

    Xiaodong Yang, Huili Li, Jiayu Yao

    Abstract

    The uncoordinated contradiction between housing supply and demand is serious. To address this issue, it is crucial to focus on the perspective of urban residents and promote the matching between housing and residents through housing choice. Relying on the theory of consumer behavior and “Stimulus-Organism-Response” paradigm, the three dimensions of housing choice motivations were refined as rent-purchase choice, space choice, and time choice. And the two levels of housing consumption perception were refined as perceived value and perceived risk. Then, the interactive relationship between the three dimensions of housing choice motivation, as well as the impact path of pairwise interaction items on housing consumption perception and housing choice willingness was revealed. Through economic experiments, this study has investigated the housing choice willingness of residents in Harbin. The results show a pairwise interaction among rent-purchase choice, space choice, and time choice. All pairwise interactions significantly affect perceived risk. The pairwise interaction between rent-purchase choice and space choice has a significant impact on both perceived value and perceived risk. Perceived value positively affects residents’ willingness to choose housing, while the impact of perceived risk on housing choice willingness is negative. It will help residents to choose housing rationally, and provide implications for the government to formulate housing policies and guide the behavior of housing market participants.

13. A 10-Year Review of the Semantic Web Technology Applications in Building Energy Reductions

    Xiaoyue Yi, Llewellyn Tang, Mengtian Yin, Haotian Li

    Abstract

    Energy consumptions due to buildings account for around 1/3 of the global energy consumptions, which addresses the importance of reducing energy uses in buildings. In the age of big data, the digitalization process is helping the energy savings in the building industry. However, semantic interoperability between data in multiple systems/software is lacking, which hinders green building design and operation management. Semantic Web technologies (SWT), connecting machine-readable concepts that characterize real-world objects, are beneficial for representing and reasoning the data in building energy savings. This study aimed at reviewing the related works from 2011 to 2022 which were relevant to the applications of SWT in the reduction of building energy. Reviewed studies were categorized into 3 groups which were reducing energy loads during the design processes, applying renewable energy in buildings, and energy-efficient building systems. The applications of SWT utilizations of energy savings in building designs and system operations were reviewed. SWT is found beneficial to energy saving because it helps organize resources, supports the decision-making processes, improves design and management efficiency, facilitates querying and interoperability, and assists big data analysis. With the assistance of SWT, building energy could be saved by 2.11% to 40% according to the results of the literature. The SWT-based studies in the field of reducing building energy are still in their infancy. Further studies might focus on more SWT utilizations of building lifecycle for energy reductions, extending ontologies to more building systems and types, more complex HVAC control and FDD, and more energy analysis tools.

14. An Empirical Analysis of Key Factors of Construction and Demolition Waste Management Using the DEMATEL Approach

    Wei Bin, Hongping Yuan, Xiaozhi Ma

    Abstract

    Nowadays, waste management is more and more important due to the increasing attention paid to the environment and human sustainability. To examine construction and demolition waste (CDW) management factors, this study adopts the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) approach and analyzes data collected from 8 experts. Among the 11 key factors identified from existing research, Government subsidies and other supports and Waste-related trading system of CDW are the most important factors to promote waste management. Interestingly, Investment of the related enterprises, which was taken as an important factor, is identified as a passive key factor in this study. This study provides new evidence to improve the management practice of CDW and can help enhance the related management system. Limitations and future research directions are also introduced.

15. How Can Robot Replacement Be Achieved? – Technology Development Direction for Automatic Construction Robot

    Xinyao Ma, Chao Mao, Xiao Li, Chengke Wu

    Abstract

    Automatic Construction Robot (ACR) replacement is increasingly important in addressing labor shortages, productivity inefficiencies, and other problems in construction activities. However, the development of ACR replacement cannot be separated from technology forecasting. Given patent data as an essential indicator for predicting technology development, this study aims to develop a technology prediction model to analyze the development of ACR replacement. To this end, this study first collected patent data on the ACR. Secondly, this study proposed a technology mining method and patent similarity model based on the subject-action-object (SAO) structure to build the patent similarity matrix. Finally, this similarity matrix was used to draw the patent map for forecasting the development direction of ACR replacement. This study identified the eight development opportunities of ACR replacement and related challenges.

16. A Study of Factors Influencing Community Health Transformation in The Post-epidemic Era

    Lu Liu, HongLin Lu, Xun Zhang

    Abstract

    Affected by the “COVID-19” epidemic, the safety of urban public health has been challenged, and improving the adaptability of community health has become an important link to realize the “Healthy China” strategy. Therefore, this paper analyzes the influencing factors of health adaptability of community transformation in the post-epidemic era, in order to provide theoretical references for improving the construction of healthy communities. Through in-depth analysis of the concept of healthy community and literature investigation, this study established a research model based on four conditional variables (spatial health, environmental health, service health, and health performance optimization) and the outcome variable (community health adaptability), and analyzed 416 questionnaires of community transformation by fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). The results show that spatial health and health performance optimization are the core conditions that affect the adaptability of community health after renovation. Through the analysis of the combination of each condition, this paper establishes the spatial path and the optimization path, the combination of which has an impact on the community health transformation.

17. Research on the Influencing Factors of the Transformation of Migrant Workers into Industrial Workers in China’s Construction Industry

    Zhiyu Huang, Ye Liu, Qili Li, Hongxia Li, Yanling Ruan

    Abstract

    With the modernization, transformation and upgrading of China’s construction industry, the transformation of migrant workers into industrial workers in the construction industry is also an inevitable trend. Therefore, it is particularly important to explore the factors affecting the transformation of migrant workers. First of all, the paper identified 26 factors affecting the transformation of migrant workers in the construction industry into industrial workers through literature research and expert interviews. Secondly, through spss26.0 statistical analysis software, the data recovered from questionnaires are analyzed, key factors are extracted, and five categories of major influencing factors are identified. According to the importance the rankings are: personal and enterprise factors, institutional factors, policy factors, industry factors and market factors. Finally, countermeasures and suggestions are put forward to provide reference for accelerating the industrialization of China’s construction industry and migrant workers.

18. Improving Safety Compliance of Construction Workers: The Role of Safety Communication, Management Commitment to Safety, and Perceived Ease of Use

    Diya Yan, Xianbo Zhao

    Abstract

    Safety compliance is crucial in maintaining construction safety. This study applied the concept of differentiating safety compliance into deep safety compliance and surface safety compliance and set out to investigate the effects of perceived ease of use, management commitment to safety, and safety communication on deep and surface safety compliance, respectively. By using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), a model was developed and validated based on the cross-sectional survey data collected from 239 construction workers in Australia. Results revealed that safety communication could directly and positively impact deep safety compliance, while negatively impact surface safety compliance. Moreover, management commitment to safety was found to impact safety communication directly and positively, while perceived ease of use could moderate this relationship. Last but not least, safety communication played a mediating role in the relationship between management commitment to safety, and deep and surface safety compliance. By investigating the contributing factors of deep and surface safety compliance in the construction industry, this study contributes to the literature on safety management and provides practical implications as understanding the proposed model helps site managers or safety professionals enhance safety performance by achieving deep safety compliance or minimizing surface safety compliance.