A dynamic approach for evaluating the sustainability performance of infrastructure projects

Implementation for sustainable development principles has been attracting increasing attention across various sectors including the construction industry since the evolution of the concept in the publication of Brundtland Commission Report in 1987. In line with this development, implementation of infrastructure construction projects has been given particular attention as they have more significant impacts on the environment, society and economy. It is considered that proper development and operation of infrastructure construction projects can contribute significantly to the mission of sustainable development.;The focus of this study is to investigate the sustainability of highway projects during construction and operation stages, and illustrate the application of a dynamic approach for evaluating sustainability performance of infrastructure projects. The research objectives include the identification and selection of the indicators for evaluating the sustainability performance of highway projects; the development of a dynamic model for evaluating the sustainability performance of highway projects during construction and operation stages; and the demonstration of applying the dynamic evaluation model by using a practical case.;The major contribution of this study is the introduction of a new methodology for evaluating the sustainability performance of highway projects, which considers collectively the project economic, social and environmental contributions. It provides an alternative which mitigates the weakness of static and isolated evaluation built in traditional evaluation approaches. Other key results from this research include the identification of the key performance indicators for evaluating the sustainability performance of highway project. The dynamic approach introduced also captures a holistic view on a system being assessed. It provides a simple and applicable tool to assist project decision makers in assessing the feasibility of implementing a highway project from the perspective of sustainability performance. The dynamic approach supports the analysis on the impact of dynamic interactions between various factors on project sustainability performance. An understanding on this impact allows project decision-makers to know how a particular level of project sustainability performance is attributed. Improvements in sustainability performance can therefore be made if the performance level is not up to satisfactory level.