Search

Sustainable construction projects affect various stakeholders with different social, environmental and economic interests. It is essential that the decision makers maintain effective communication with relevant groups to avoid project failures. Although citizen participation offers a means of better addressing and meeting stakeholder concerns and expectations, the decision/evaluations of contemporary sustainable projects are becoming ever more complicated, with an increasing number of stakeholders involved to actively defend their own interests. In response, this paper provides a thorough and comprehensive analysis of the stakeholders of sustainable construction in China and quantifies their influence in decision/evaluations by semi-structured interviews (in research stage I) and a three-round Delphi survey (in research stage II). Follow-up interviews (in research stage III) are carried out to collect more in-depth views concerning the characteristics and the respective importance of each stakeholder group involved. The findings indicate that the government is the most influential entity and the extent to which its intervention is needed in balancing the interests of other stakeholders presents a major challenge. The high potential influence of end-users is also identified, suggesting the need for a more transparent and inclusive participatory decision/evaluation process in the country. An enhanced future role for NGOs is further identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contaminated sites have caused worldwide attention and been dealt with through a variety of policies and practices both nationally and regionally. Unlike the US, Canada, Japan, and Europe, which have accumulated rich experiences in contaminated site management, China, facing serious contaminated site issues, still lacks effective strategies on issues such as remediation standards, funding resources, accountability, and stakeholders coordination. This paper collected policies for contaminated site management from 31 regions in China. A comprehensive analysis was conducted of current policies, including policy framework, number of policies and instruments, policy types, and spatial and temporal variation. We find that most regions in China, such as Beijing and Chongqing, have taken positive measures to manage contaminated sites, and that there are similarities as well as differences in policy responses and mechanisms in different regions. A multi-level objective system, combined with diverse instruments, cooperation between different stakeholders, and a multi-sectoral joint supervision mechanism emphasized by all 31 regions, are extremely important to promote sustainable site management. Specialized policies, site-specific standards, information disclosure, public participation, remediation priority and groundwater protection are urgently needed to strengthen the local framework of contaminated site management and to promote remediation projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]