Building Information Modeling as Tool for Enhancing Disaster Resilience of the Construction Industry

As frequencies of the disasters are increasing, new technologies can be used to enhance disaster resilience performance of the construction industry. This paper investigates the usage of BIM (Building Information Modeling) in enhancing disaster resilience of the construction industry and in the establishment of the resilient built environment. In-depth literature review findings reveal BIM’s contribution to the disaster resilience in the pre-disaster and post-disaster phases especially through influencing the performance of the supply chain, construction process, and rescue operations. This paper emphasises the need for BIM’s integration to the education and training curriculums of the built environment professionals. Policy makers, construction professionals, professional bodies, academics can benefit from this research

10-01 "Climate-Resilient Industrial Development Paths: Design Principles and Alternative Models"

Global climate change is here. According to recent scientific reports, the earth has warmed by nearly half a degree centigrade over the last twenty five years. Even with robust mitigation efforts, the global climate could warm by up to 4 degrees centigrade due to past emissions. Under a business-as-usual, high consumption fossil fuel-based development path, it could warm even more, resulting in catastrophic and life-threatening destruction of earth’s eco-systems. The “climate imperative”—the urgent need to both mitigate and adapt to global climate change—has important implications for economic development paths in general and industry and energy policies in particular. Development models and practice historically have treated climate—and indeed, the natural environment in general—as exogenous. Future development models will need to incorporate both climactic uncertainty and the economic threats and opportunities arising from an evolving global climate regime. Developing countries, which are especially vulnerable to climate instability, will need to design energy and industry policies which aim to achieve not only economic and social objectives but which also enhance climate resilience. This paper explores the broad contours of climate resilient industrial development paths. It defines development as an increase in local capacities for production and innovation and argues that the overarching goal of development is the generation of sustainable livelihoods. It suggests that. to be climate resilient, industry policies should have four key design features: 1) they are pro-active; 2) they promote industrial diversification; 3) they focus on mobilizing investment in environmentally sustainable industries and infrastructure, including low-carbon and renewable energy; 4) they are highly responsive to local geo-physical conditions and are based on principles of adaptive management; and 5) they are designed, implemented and governed via accountable partnerships involving government, business, and community actors. The paper evaluates three development macro-models—neo-liberal, sustainable globalization, and new developmental—against the five design principles and finds that aspects of both climate vulnerability and climate-resilience are embodied in each. The paper concludes that responding to the climate imperative will require not a new synthesized one-size-fits-all model but a multiplicity of economic development paths. The effort to articulate the theory and praxis of such paths has barely begun.

Lean and green – a systematic review of the state of the art literature

The move towards greener operations and products has forced companies to seek alternatives to balance efficiency gains and environmental friendliness in their operations and products. The exploration of the sequential or simultaneous deployment of lean and green initiatives is the results of this balancing action. However, the lean-green topic is relatively new, and it lacks of a clear and structured research definition. Thus, this paper’s main contribution is the offering of a systematic review of the existing literature on lean and green, aimed at providing guidance on the topic, uncovering gaps and inconsistencies in the literature, and finding new paths for research. The paper identifies and structures, through a concept map, six main research streams that comprise both conceptual and empirical research conducted within the context of various organisational functions and industrial sectors. Important issues for future research are then suggested in the form of research questions. The paper’s aim is to also contribute by stimulating scholars to further study this area in depth, which will lead to a better understanding of the compatibility and impact on organisational performance of lean and green initiatives. It also holds important implications for industrialists, who can develop a deeper and richer knowledge on lean and green to help them formulate more effective strategies for their deployment

Sustainable and resilient supply chain management : scale development

Paper delivered at the 21st Logistics Research Network annual conference 2016, 7th-9th September 2016, Hull. Abstract Purpose: This paper reports on the status of an ongoing empirical study to enhance our understanding of factors contributing to better supply chain performance in the context of sustainable and resilient supply chain management, and updates the literature review and research framework presented in Joradon et al. (2015). That paper operationalized eight firm practices that are now being tested in a quantitative study to investigate how sustainable and resilient supply chain management might improve supply chain performance. Sustainable and resilient supply chain management requires firms to consider supply chain performance within environmental, economic, social, vulnerability, and capability parameters. This paper presents the scale development for this study which will analyse the current level of sustainable and resilient supply chain management practices in firms and help guide them to assess and amend their procedures and processes to become more sustainable and resilient in future. Research approach: The empirical study contains measurement scale and constructs developed according to Churchill (1979) two-phase framework. The first phase was based on data gathered from interviews with nine managers across four electronic companies and two distributors in Thailand using semi-structured interviews. The data from the interviews as well as the extant literature was then used to develop measurement scales and constructs for the next phase, which was a survey with approximately 500 electronic companies in Thailand. Findings and Originality: At the date of writing semi-structured interviews have been conducted and some opportunities to shape the measurement scale and constructs have been identified. The survey is currently being completed and the conference presentation will provide results from analysis to date. While the investigation of sustainable and resilient supply chain management together has yet to be explored in a focused way, this paper is original since it offers an investigation of these two topics and their relationship with supply chain performance. Research Impact: The study will produce new performance measurement scales for sustainable and resilient supply chain management as well as an agenda for future research to validate the findings across other sectors and contexts. Mixed-methodologies were applied in this study to ensure face, content and construct validity. Practical Impact: The study will provide direction for firms to measure their supply chain performance in the context of sustainable and resilient supply chain management practices, as well as a proposed set of measurement scales based on sustainable supply chain management and supply chain resilience management practices to measure the impact of these practices to the firm. The findings will help firms to understand their level of sustainable and resilient supply chain management in order to improve and adjust their procedures to be more sustainable and resilient in future

Chapter 5: Food Security

The current food system (production, transport, processing, packaging, storage, retail, consumption, loss and waste) feeds the great majority of world population and supports the livelihoods of over 1 billion people. Since 1961, food supply per capita has increased more than 30%, accompanied by greater use of nitrogen fertilisers (increase of about 800%) and water resources for irrigation (increase of more than 100%). However, an estimated 821 million people are currently undernourished, 151 million children under five are stunted, 613 million women and girls aged 15 to 49 suffer from iron deficiency, and 2 billion adults are overweight or obese. The food system is under pressure from non-climate stressors (e.g., population and income growth, demand for animal-sourced products), and from climate change. These climate and non-climate stresses are impacting the four pillars of food security (availability, access, utilisation, and stability)

Modeling Sustainable Supply Chain Management as a Complex Adaptive System: The Emergence of Cooperation

The aim of this chapter is to characterize sustainable supply chain management as a complex adaptive system (CAS) and develop an evolutionary game theory-based model to understand how cooperation emerges from interactions among companies to adopt sustainable management practices. We consider two interacting populations 1 and 2, each one with heterogeneous companies belonging to the same supply chain. One population is expected to behave cooperatively in adopting sustainable management practices while the other is expected to behave uncooperatively. The mathematical model we propose is game-dynamical replicator equations for multiple populations in the prisoner´s dilemma (PD) game and we implement it using NetLogo software. The proportion of cooperative companies in each population that adopt sustainable management practices evolves positively over time as companies only imitate the adoption of sustainable management practices in their own population and in the populations of their partners when the benefit obtained by cooperating is maximum. The spatial patterns observed help us to clarify the preconditions for the emergence of cooperation among companies in managing material, information and capital flows in a sustainable way. Finally, our simulation results show that the sustainable management of supply chains needs to be studied as CASs, in order to take into account the social side of sustainability

System Dynamics Modelling and System Analysis Applied in Complex Research Projects - the Case of VALUMICS

VALUMICS is a Horizon 2020 project funded by the European Commission (2017-2021). The project structure is highly integrated and transdisciplinary, building on the expertise of over 30 specialists in various fields of research including knowledge integration through systems analysis and system dynamics modelling, food science, supply chain management, life cycle assessment, logistics, economics and social science. The aim of the project is to analyze the dynamics of food supply- and value chain systems using a structural analysis including system analysis and perform system simulations using system dynamics. The VALUMICS research approach and the project design are explained and it is justified why system analysis is needed to obtain an understanding of the complex connections and interactions of the distinct parts of food systems. Patterns will be recognized and thus causes and effects of complex relations within the selected food supply system and networks will be identified. This understanding of the functioning of the system can in turn be used to identify policy interventions

The SmartAG partner: CCAFS East Africa Bi-Annual Newsletter, July - December 2019

We are pleased to share with you our SmartAg Partner bi-annual newsletter, highlighting policy engagement, ongoing research, field updates and activities with partners from the second half of 2019