“Top-Down-Bottom-Up” Methodology as a Common Approach to Defining Bespoke Sets of Sustainability Assessment Criteria for the Built Environment
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Publication date
2014-01Keyword
Noise pollutionSustainability
Project management
Infrastructure planning
Criteria
Noise reducing devices
Sustainable development
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© 2014 ASCE. Reproduced in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy.Peer-Reviewed
YesOpen Access status
openAccessAccepted for publication
2013-01-04
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Show full item recordAbstract
The top-down-bottom-up (TDBU) methodology for defining bespoke sets of sustainability criteria for specific civil engineering project types is introduced and discussed. The need to define sustainability criteria for specific civil engineering project types occurs mainly in one or both of the following cases: (1) when a more comprehensive and indicative assessment of the sustainability of the project type in question is required; and/or (2) there is no readily available bespoke sustainability assessment tool, or set of criteria, for assessing the sustainability of the project type. The construction of roads, buildings, airports, tunnels, dams, flood banks, bridges, water supply, and sewage systems and their supporting systems are considered to be unique civil engineering/infrastructure project types. The normative definition of sustainable civil engineering/infrastructure projects and the framework for assessing its sustainability is defined and provided by the authors. An example of the TDBU methodology being applied to define sustainability criteria for transport noise reducing devices is presented and discussed. The end result of applying the methodology is a systematically researched and industry validated set of criteria that denotes assessing the sustainability of the civil engineering/infrastructure project type. The paper concludes that the top-down-bottom-up will support stakeholders and managers involved in assessing sustainability to consider all major research methods to define general and unique sustainability criteria to assess and so maximize sustainability.Version
Accepted manuscriptCitation
Oltean-Dumbrava C, Watts G and Miah AHS (2014) ‘Top-Down-Bottom-Up’ Methodology as a Common Approach to Defining Bespoke Sets of Sustainability Assessment Criteria for the Built Environment. ASCE Journal of Management in Engineering. 30(1): 19-31.Link to Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000169Type
Articleae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000169