Who cares? Developing a Framework for Social Sustainability in Infrastructure for the Swedish AEC Industry

Abstract

Although sustainable development is increasingly prioritized and mandated, the social dimension often remains largely neglected in favour of environmental and economic sustainability. This thesis aims to develop a better understanding of social sustainability in the Swedish AEC industry and identify the knowledge gap between corporate strategy and practice. The paper provides practitioners a framework to enhance their decision-making process to considersocial sustainability in infrastructure development. Following an extensive literature review to explore the current state of social sustainability development, discrepancies between the corporate narrative and current practice are identified and discussed. The results are gathered by studying publicly available reports and guidelines of the contractor, and through semi-structured interviews with project managers and operations managers. As a result, relevant criteria to develop social sustainability in infrastructure projects considering the perspective of the contractor are presented, and the cohesion of strategy and practice are evaluated. Finally, a framework is presented to guide managers at both the project and organizational levels in incorporating social sustainability in a holistic manner, thereby improving decision-making towards sustainable development, and enhancing project outcomes. As such, this thesis aims to support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and provide researchers and educators with a comprehensive study of social sustainability in the AEC field.