Obstacles to Sustainable Construction in Developing Countries

Creating a sustainable built environment is a growing concern for the construction industry in developed and developing countries. Enormous efforts are required of stakeholders but they face extrinsic and intrinsic obstacles that prevent a smooth transition to sustainable construction (SC) practices. This paper identifies and discusses major barriers to SC in developing countries. It adopts a systematic review of literature in a structured approach. Some of the main obstacles identified include: poor understanding and awareness, lack of education and training among construction professionals, poor public attitude towards sustainability, poor implementation of sustainability principles and lack of accurate data and integrated research. Based on these findings, we have categorised the obstacles as follows: professionals’ judgements, clients’ philosophies, government mechanism and structure of the industry. In conclusion, the paper presents a framework of obstacles to sustainable construction in developing countries.