Niche-innovations to promote sustainable construction in China: A critical assessment

Rui-Dong Chang*, George Zillante, Zhen-Yu Zhao, Jian Zuo

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionResearchpeer-review

Abstract

As the largest construction industry in the world, the Chinese construction industry significantly influences not only China's economy and environment, but also the resource consumption in the world. To improve the sustainability performance of the Chinese construction industry, innovations of sustainability need to be promoted and popularized in the industry. Based on socio-technical transition theory, this paper offers a critical assessment of the niche-innovations to promote sustainable construction in China. The results show that niche-innovations of sustainable construction have been largely promoted by the Chinese government in recent years and a niche-market of green building has emerged. However, challenges still remain. A prominent challenge is that the Chinese government paid huge attention to the technological innovations of sustainable construction, such as the application of renewable energy in buildings, while largely overlooked the important role of other kinds of innovations in promoting sustainable construction, such as managerial and institutional innovations. To facilitate the sustainability transition process of the Chinese construction industry, a holistic innovation system needs to be established.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationInternational Conference on Energy and Environment Engineering (ICEEE 2015)
PublisherDEStech Publications Inc.
Pages694-699
Number of pages6
Publication statusPublished - 2015
Externally publishedYes
EventInternational Conference on Energy and Environment Engineering - Nanjing, Nanjing, China
Duration: 11 Apr 201512 Apr 2015
Conference number: 2015

Conference

ConferenceInternational Conference on Energy and Environment Engineering
Country/TerritoryChina
CityNanjing
Period11/04/1512/04/15

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