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The social dimensions of sustainability's three bottom lines are often overlooked in the construction industry. This is despite attempts to find optimal trade-offs between economic growth, environmental impacts, human health and well-being, as well as social considerations. This study reviews the literature on social sustainability (SS) within the construction arena, identifies research gaps and proposes a forward-looking research agenda. This critical review employes the 'Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses' (PRISMA) technique to retrieve secondary data on SS from available academic, government and industry documents. The literature analysis focuses on seven themes: (1) definition of SS, (2) the theoretical dimensions of SS, (3) primary stakeholders, (4) policy and guidelines, (5) major SS performance indicators, (6) barriers to SS uptake in the construction industry, and (7) SS drivers in the construction industry. The review identifies primary stakeholders and proposes a list of assessment criteria that can be used by the construction industry in measuring progress towards SS. The study proposes a conceptual model that maps out key stakeholders, the major barriers, and enablers of SS in construction projects. The findings will support the development of SS guidelines specific to the construction industry in Australia as well as overseas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern slavery is used to describe forms of coercive labor exploitation that affect more than 40 million persons globally. Such practices are difficult to identify given they exist in the informal economy, and involve vulnerable individuals. Addressing modern slavery by organizations requires awareness of its context and complexities. While corporations have increasingly sought to manage modern slavery risk in their supply chains, their understanding of what modern slavery is and what should be managed remains limited. We argue a key problem with firms' efforts to manage modern slavery risk is that it is a psychologically distant concept for them. We apply construal level theory to explore how organizations' psychological distance from modern slavery risk affects their management of risk. We interviewed purchasing executives at 41 global organizations in Australia, Finland, and the U.S and identified four approaches to managing modern slavery risk at different levels of psychological distance. We also identified that conflicts between organizations' approaches to risk and what they identify in their operating environment, precedes important construal shifts that help to improve organizational understanding of labor‐related risk. We highlight ways that organizations' understanding of modern slavery risk plays a role in their governance of such risk in supply chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conflicts around transport mega-projects, driven by social and environmental impacts, are increasingly prevalent around the world. While environmental impacts have received significant attention, less is known about how the intangible social impacts of these projects stimulate conflict. Assessment of these impacts is crucial; however, the process is often influenced by the underlying power relationships within neoliberal governance. This paper analyses the discursive context of state-community conflicts in transport mega-projects and explores how power dynamics shape the perceptions of both the intensity and extent of its social impacts. Drawing on a case study of the WestConnex project, a controversial motorway development in Sydney, the paper analyses government policy documents and online community submissions to explore the conflicts around the project. Through critical discourse analysis, the paper provides insights into the nature of power relationships that limit the scope of impact assessment and underpin conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large amount of construction and demolition (C&D) waste in Australia has been transported cross-state and cross-country for landfilling or recycling, which affected the performance of the waste management sector. However, there is a lack of practical method to evaluate the impacts. A method is developed in this study to evaluate the economic and social impacts of the cross-regional mobility of C&D waste in Australia. Due to exporting waste overseas, the Australian waste management industry lost 205.16 million AUD, and lost 253.56 p full-time equivalent employment opportunity. The cross-border flow of C&D waste within Australia significantly influenced the economic and social performance of waste management sector of states or territories exporting or receiving the waste. Specifically, QLD is the state that lost the most significant industry income accounting for 222.93 million AUD; NSW lost 1,154.67 p full-time equivalent employment, while ACT is the largest beneficiary regarding the gain of employment due to the mobility of C&D waste. The study not only proposes determines to evaluate the economic and social impacts of the mobility of C&D waste, but also provides practical information to the Australian waste management sector. For instance, if the industry wants to retain more income and employment within Australia, the export of C&D waste overseas should be minimised. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Fishers'' responses to changes in resource access through the imposition of marine protected areas can be a critical factor influencing the likelihood of achieving management objectives. Face-to-face interviews with 114 commercial and charter fishers were conducted to investigate their responses and adaptation strategies to the increase in the size and number of no-take zones imposed by the 2004 Great Barrier Reef Marine Park zoning plan. Despite holding positive attitudes towards marine biodiversity protection, fishers were generally unsupportive of the new zoning plan 5 years after its implementation. Fishers'' lack of support was related to the perception that they had not been adequately engaged in the rezoning process and the perception of significant impacts of the zoning plan on fishing businesses. Fishers generally believed that the new zoning plan had a negative impact on their access to productive fishing areas, the numbers of fish they catch, the profitability of their fishing business, and their personal income. In response to the new no-take zones, fishers tended to redistribute their fishing activity to locations closer to their home port, and to locations already known to them through their previous fishing, resulting in an increase in high density fishing locations within the park. Despite the impacts that fishers experienced, most reported that they have adapted their fishing activity and fishing business at least moderately well to the new zoning plan, suggesting that many of the impacts experienced by fishers might be short-term and may decline over time as fishers learn to adapt to the new zoning system. The information provided should prove valuable as a baseline for continued monitoring of the costs and benefits of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park rezoning into the future. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Debate continues to rage as to the veracity of evidence around the permanence of climate change. There is no doubt that changes are occurring across the world and that these changes are causing significant social hardship, including food and water insecurity and large-scale movements of people. What is also emerging in research across the world is that these social impacts and adaptations are highly gendered. This article draws on several years of research on the Australian drought and more recent research on declining water availability in the Murray—Darling Basin of Australia. It notes the significant social impacts, particularly in remote and irrigation areas, and draws out the gendered impacts of these changes. The article argues for more sensitive rights-based social policy to address people who are under extraordinary stress during times of unparalleled change. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Public and corporate policies regarding mine closure focus on bio-physical remediation and ignore the social impacts associated with the end of mine life and the legacies that mining leaves. In a departure from most existing writing on social impact assessment and extractive industry, we show that this situation does not simply reflect the disciplinary dominance of environmental science or a gap in knowledge regarding social impacts that can be addressed by allocation of additional resources and research effort. Rather it reflects the strategic application of ignorance, allowing the social impacts of mining to be ignored and extraction to continue unhindered. We use the contentious Ranger uranium mine on Mirarr Aboriginal land in the Kakadu region of the Northern Territory of Australia to illustrate our argument. Information on the negative social impacts of mining on the Mirrar has been available through the life cycle of the Ranger mine. It has been consistently ignored by the State and by the mine's corporate owners, and social impacts remain conspicuously absent in the mining company's mine closure plans and governmental assessments. In an important theoretical innovation we brings Val Plumwood's concept of "shadow places" into conversation with the ignorance studies literature to explore how the practices of ignorance do not just involve the absence of knowledge but are actively mobilised in order to obscure the social impacts of mining on Indigenous lands, and perpetuate long-standing social and environmental injustices in settler colonies such as Australia. • The Ranger Uranium Mine on the First Nations Mirarr land has recently closed. • Technical knowledges being privileged during mine closure process. • Social impact data collected during mining operations ignored during mine closure. • Ignorance strategically used to avoid complex impacts of mining on First Nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the support of host communities is a precondition for a sustainable industry, regional social impact studies are a crucial input to tourism planning and decision-making. This study assessed the social impacts of tourism in a rural region of Australia where tourism is an important sector of the economy. As well as providing data to aid regional tourism planning, this study identifies differences in personal and community-wide impacts; advances understanding of the factors that influence residents' perceptions of tourism impacts; and assesses the degree to which tourism activity associated with protected areas contributes to the identified social impacts. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine whether childhood familial conditions are associated with the social impact of adult oral health and to investigate the role of psychosocial attributes as potential mechanisms by which risk might be conveyed from childhood to adulthood. Methods: Using a cross-sectional design, self-report data were obtained from a representative sample of adults in Australia with a telephonic interview and a self-completed questionnaire. The dependent variable was the sum of impacts on the short-form Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14). Childhood familial conditions included socioeconomic position assessed by paternal occupation group, family structure and quality of rearing. Current adult sense of control, perceived stress and satisfaction with life were assessed with standard scales and social support was evaluated with four items. Results: Data were obtained for 3678 dentate adults aged 18–91 years. In bivariate analysis controlling for sex, age and household income in adulthood, parenting style was significantly associated with OHIP-14 scores ( anova, P < 0.001). Adults who were reared supportively had more favourable scores on all four current psychosocial attributes ( anova, P < 0.001). All four psychosocial attributes were associated with summed OHIP scores in the expected directions ( anova, P < 0.001). In the multiple regression, parental rearing style was significantly associated with social impact after adjusting for sex, age and household income in adulthood, but was no longer significant in the presence of the psychosocial factors. Conclusion: The importance of parental rearing to adult oral health may be mediated through the quality and nature of psychosocial attributes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]