CIB2007-39
Defining a Strategic National Agenda
on the Theory of Construction for
Development
Llewellyn van Wyk
Theuns Knoetze
ABSTRACT AND KEYWORDS
In exploring the possibility of establishing a theory of construction for
development, this paper reviews concepts of theory and theory formulation,
contextualises optimal developmental modalities, describes the role of
construction within the context of the social contract, and explores
postmodern research approaches. The guiding aim is to develop a research
agenda that can lead to the formulation of a new theory of construction for
development that is a viable alternative to the traditional doctrines which
have long dominated construction and development inquiry and practice.
With regard to the theory of construction, the paper finds that where
construction theory has been contemporaneously postulated it has explored
concepts located mainly in the construction management and production
sciences.
Having regard to identifying optimal development modalities, the paper
finds that these have formed the substance of substantial debate within
global forums, and have culminated most recently in the outcome of the
World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), the Millennium
Development Goals (MDG). The paper finds that the role of infrastructure,
and by implication, the delivery of that infrastructure, is now recognised as a
fundamental keystone of development and poverty alleviation.
With regard to the role of construction within the context of the social
contract, the paper finds the main idea of construction to be developmental,
a potential theory of construction that generalises and carries to a higher
level of abstraction the traditional conception of the social contract as found
in Rousseau and Kant.
Having regard for the determination of a strategic research agenda,
the paper considers postmodern research approaches. The paper
constructs a strategic research agenda matrix against the background of
optimal development modalities and construction processes. The
conclusion is that a strategic research agenda aimed at developing a new
theory of construction can provide an effective response to post-millennial
developmental issues.
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Defining a Strategic National Research Agenda on the
Theory of Construction for Development
KEY WORDS
Theory, Development, Construction, Research, Postmodern
INTRODUCTION
The construction industry is widely criticised for its lacklustre performance:
a significant body of published and anecdotal evidence indicates that the
construction industry has among the highest rates of corruption;
construction projects invariably take longer than planned; overrun budgets;
seldom adds value; subject workers to irresponsible and life-threatening
risks; manifests variable quality; and generally under-performs as a
production entity (Woudhuysen and Abley 2004:1).
One of the reasons forwarded for the undesirable circumstance
described above is that there are too many extraneous and variable factors
(internal and external) impacting upon the construction production and
delivery process. Although numerous reform initiatives aimed at improving
construction processes have been devised and, in certain instances,
implemented, few of these initiatives were aimed at developing a new
theory of construction.
One of the groups advocating the formulation of a new theory is the
International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC). Their call for a new
explicit theory of construction is predicated on the assumption that the
generation of new principles and methods for production more closely
aligned with those found in manufacturing will enhance construction
industry performance. This paper argues that before a new theory can be
developed a strategic research agenda aimed at identifying the inquiry
method for theory construction needs to be developed. The paper goes on
to suggest what such a strategic research agenda could be.
For purposes of this paper, the following definitions are used.
Construction sector - "The Construction Sector comprises establishments
primarily engaged in the construction of buildings and other structures,
heavy construction (except buildings), additions, alterations, reconstruction,
installation, and maintenance and repairs. Establishments engaged in
demolition or wrecking of buildings and other structures, clearing of building
sites, and sale of materials from demolished structures are also included.
This sector also includes those establishments engaged in blasting, test
drilling, landfill, levelling, earthmoving, excavating, land drainage, and other
land preparations. The industries within this sector have been defined on
the basis of their unique production processes. As with all industries, the
production processes are distinguished by their use of specialised human
resources and specialised physical capital" (CETA 2004:11).
Infrastructure - are basic physical assets of a country, community or
organisation. These assets are usually referred to as fixed assets (e.g.
buildings, highways, bridges, roads, pipelines, water networks, rail tracks,
signals, power stations, communication systems etc. ) and moving assets
(e.g. aircraft, train rolling-stocks, defence equipment, buses, etc.). Both
Defining a Strategic National Research Agenda on the
Theory of Construction for Development
3
fixed and moving assets are necessary for any economy to function
normally (CIRIA).
SITUATING THE RELEVANCE OF THEORY
Etymologically, the word 'theory' is derived from the Greek 'theorein'
meaning 'to look at' although 'theory' has a number of distinct meanings in
different fields of knowledge depending on their methodologies and the
discourse context. While in common usage the word 'theory' often refers to
a conjecture or an opinion, in scientific usage 'theory' is a logically self-
consistent model or framework used to describe the behaviour of a related
set of phenomena. When theory originates from experimental evidence, it is
a systematic and formalised expression of all previous observations that is
predictive, logical and testable. For the purposes of this paper 'theory' is a
proposed description, explanation, or model of the manner of a set of
phenomena, capable of predicting occurrences or observations of the same
kind, and capable of being tested through experiment or otherwise falsified
through empirical observation.
In Paradigms and Fairy Tales: An Introduction to the Science of
Meaning (1975), Julienne Ford describes the development of theories as a
series of stages beginning with a 'puzzle' which demands a solution. From
the moment a researcher begins thinking about the puzzle, the researcher,
she argues, is in the business of theory construction. In most cases the
germ of the theory is implicit in the researcher's 'hunch' as to where the
solution to the puzzle may be found. As the researcher speculates about
the variables which may play a part in bringing about the events which
constitute the puzzle, so an 'analytical theory' begins to take shape. An
'analytical theory' is a theoretical construction in which possible
combinations of elements of an explanation and of the relationships
between them are developed. Models may be used to examine the
relationship between elements, and relationships of functional necessity
may be described without asserting any causal connections between them.
The ultimate goal is to produce a full-blown 'explanatory theory' which
transcends the analytical theory by identifying all relevant variables and,
more importantly, by identifying the causal connections between them.
Finally, the testing of a theory (whether analytical or explanatory) involves
the generation of hypotheses and their subjection to "genuinely risky tests
of truth" by an appropriate research strategy (Best et al, 1979:35).
In a review of her book, Best et al (1979:36) suggest that Ford does
not believe that theories emerge by induction, or that she supports the idea
that theory construction can be explained solely in terms of the deduction of
new ideas from existing premises. According to Best et al, Ford argues that
theory construction takes place in the context of a dialectical interplay
between induction and deduction - what Ford refers to as the 'retroductive
process'. According to Best et al, Ford believes that theories are formulated
in the consciousness of the theorist, in which imagination and serendipity
play a significant part.
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Defining a Strategic National Research Agenda on the
Theory of Construction for Development
CONTEMPORARY APPROACHES TO A THEORY OF CONSTRUCTION
Despite construction's long history, there is a lack of substantial
construction theory formulation. Where such theory exists it has more to do
with architectural theory, and a later theory of structures. Koskela (undated)
argues that insofar as production is concerned, the important functions of a
theory have, neither from the viewpoint of research or practice, been
realised.
As one of the few protagonists for the development of a theory of
construction he submits a vision "that during the next decade, the formation
of a theory of construction will be the single most important force influencing
the construction industry". He predicates the development of such a theory
on two parts, firstly a theory of production in general and secondly, the
application of this theory to the characteristics of construction. His
methodological intention is to integrate the various existing theoretical
strands into a useful theoretical framework which would give direction for
further clarification and experimentation and which is applicable also to
construction. Koskela goes on to describe how an explicit theory of
production will provide an explanation of observed behaviour; contribute to
understanding; predict a future behaviour; facilitate the building of tools for
analysing, designing and controlling; provide a common language or
framework through which the co-operation of people in collective
undertakings - like project, firm, etc. - is facilitated and enabled; and give
direction in pinpointing the sources of further progress.
For Koskela theory is a 'condensed piece of knowledge'; furthermore,
if the theory is explicit it can be constantly tested for validity. He also argues
that a theory of production should be prescriptive revealing how action
contributes to the goals set to production. These actions include: design of
the system; control of the system; and improvement of the system. Notably
he submits that the theory of production should cover all essential areas of
production, especially production proper and product design. He submits
that the significance of the theory is that its application should be lead to
improved performance.
Koskela argues for the conceptualisation of production from three
identified points of view: transformation, flow and value. Thereafter a
number of first principles stemming from each can be induced from practice
or derived from theory. Critically when looking at the endemic management
problems associated with client decision-making, design management and
construction management, he notes that they are self-inflicted and caused
by the prevailing limited view of production: thus the performance problem
is not one of implementation, but the present doctrine itself.
Koskela (2000) submits that the theory of construction should answer
three fundamental, interrelated questions:
* What is production in general?
* Which principles should be used for achieving the goals set to
production?
Defining a Strategic National Research Agenda on the
Theory of Construction for Development
5
* Which methods and tools can be used for translating these principles
into practice, taking the peculiar characteristics of construction into
account?
The 'puzzle' that this presents is the presupposition that a) there is a
causal relationship between construction industry performance and theory;
and b) that a new theory should be constructed on a production theory.
DEVELOPMENT AND THE GENERAL INTEREST
In general terms development is considered a dynamic process of
improvement implying a change, evolution, growth and advancement. The
Concise Oxford Dictionary's definition places emphasis on change and
growth to "make or become fuller, more elaborate or systematic, or bigger"
(1982:262). Development as a social phenomenon suggests that people
are able to control their future and can improve their condition in the world
(living conditions, capacity to feed, education level, life length, etc.) through
process towards something better (Skeldon, 1997).
The latter context forms the substance of the theory of the social
contract: here one can refer to Thomas Hobbe's Leviathan (1651), John
Locke's Two Treatises on Government (1689), and Rousseau's The Social
Contract (1762)1. While much of the early writings on the social contract
had to do with the gaining and respecting of 'civil rights' per se, the value of
the social contract in terms of this paper is located in the contract being a
means to an end - the benefit of all - and (according to some philosophers
such as Locke or Rousseau), is only legitimate to the extent that it meets
the general interest2 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki.Social_contract ).
Furthermore, since rights come about through agreement when they serve
the general interest, it can be argued that development rights too can be
expected to meet the general interest. Critically the social contract and the
civil rights so gained are neither permanently fixed nor inalienable. Thus,
where it can be proved that the general interest is no longer served the
contract terms and the resultant rights can be renegotiated.
Setting aside issues relating to individualism versus the collective will,
and conventionalism versus contractualism, two critical components arising
from the social contract can be identified for the purposes of this paper: the
first has to do with the emergence of 'corporate social responsibility', and
the second global agreements on development.
Governance, it is now conceded, is not the sole preserve of either
government or corporations: governance has to do with how relationships
within societies are regulated. A significant characteristic of the globalising
world is the dynamic shifting of relationships within the four sectors of
1
Reference can also be made to Kant's ethical works beginning with The Foundations of the
Metaphysics of Morals which, with Rousseau's The Social Contract , arguably serve as the
definitive of the contract tradition. In addition, Gough's The Social Contract and Gieke's
Natural Law and the Theory of Society provides a useful historical background.
2
The emphasis is mine (author).
6
Defining a Strategic National Research Agenda on the
Theory of Construction for Development
society situated among the citizens at large (business, the institutions of
civil society, government, and the media) both intra- and internationally (van
Wyk & Chege 2004:89). Since governance occurs in any form of collective
action, it underscores strategic decisions regarding direction, participation
and capacity. Fundamental to the strategic decisions is the dynamic
interplay between core values and management, and operational 'space'
i.e. cyber, global, national, organisational, and community. Because this
process is so complex and difficult to observe, systems or frameworks are
established to define how agreements, procedures, conventions or policies
are made and how accountability is rendered.
However, good corporate governance extends beyond the decision-
making processes of institutions: an important component of corporate
governance is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) . CSR originates from
the late nineteenth century as a consequence of commentators urging the
private business community "not to undermine social values through their
brand of rapacious capitalism" (Chatterji & Listokin 2007). This lead to
business leaders like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller believing
that they were stewards of a 'social contract' between business and society
and as such were required - through philanthropy and good management -
to hold society's resources in trust in order to increase total social welfare.
This notion developed further in the 1960s and 1970s into an institutional
philosophy that placed business alongside government, local communities,
and religion to collectively enhance society. A variant on the CSR model is
Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) that seeks to direct money toward
responsible companies and away from those that pollute, treat their
employees badly, have poor corporate governance, or operate in dirty
industries.
Global developmental agenda and global target setting are also not
new: in 1961, governments agreed at the United Nations to aim for an
average economic growth rate of 5 per cent per annum during the so-called
'first development decade'. In 1966, the objective was set to eliminate
smallpox. In 1992, governments agreed at the United Nations Conference
on Environment and Development (the Earth Summit) to the 27 Principles
of the Rio Declaration and to Agenda 21. In 1996, governments adopted, at
the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements, the Habitat
Agenda. In 2002, governments agreed at the World Summit on Sustainable
Development (WSSD) to the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation,
affirmed UN commitment to the full implementation of Agenda 21, and set
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The Millennium Development Goals, which synthesised the previously
agreed goals and targets, are 18 numerical and time-bound targets.
Achieving them would mean that during the lifespan of this generation, we
would achieve gender equality; halve the proportion of people suffering from
hunger; guarantee that all children complete primary school; reduce by two-
thirds a child's risk of dying before age five; cut by three-quarters a mother's
risk of dying from pregnancy-related causes; and halve the proportion of
people without access to safe drinking water. While opinions differ as to the
validity or otherwise of the MDGs, the fact is that they do represent the
Defining a Strategic National Research Agenda on the
Theory of Construction for Development
7
results of a prolonged process of generating a political consensus on the
elements of the global development agenda. This view is shared by the
South African Government as reflected in the statement of the Minister of
Transport that "at the macro level we are guided and assisted by the vision
and programmes of action of the United Nations (UN) Millennium
development Goals adopted at the World Summit on Sustainable
development (WSSD) in Johannesburg in 2002" (Radebe 2005).
We may therefore conclude that increasingly all future development
(improvement and advancement) and the nature of the improvement and
advancement will be subject to broader societal consensus on the extent to
which the benefits serves the greater interest. This consensus will include
issues of economic, social and environmental accountability. Thus the
consideration of 'construction for development' must take place within this
theoretical context.
SITUATING CONSTRUCTION WITHIN THE GENERAL INTEREST
DEVELOPMENT PARADIGM
Construction is often used as an example when defining the term
'development': the Concise Oxford Dictionary uses construction to define
development, viz. "construct buildings etc. on (land), convert (land) to new
use". However, the 'improvement' or 'advancement' component of the
definition is significantly enhanced by the subsequent words "so as to
realize its potentialities" (1982:262). The potentialities within the context of
the definition in traditional doctrine would include only the potential of the
development itself. However, within the theoretical context set out in the
preceding section, the potentialities must also include the benefits to be
derived in the general interest. Davis (2000) argues that contemporary
buildings - like buildings of the past - are anchored in contexts that are
much larger than the industry, and that these contexts affect both the
content of the buildings and the conduct of practice. Thus when physical
development is considered it must not be confined to the conventional idea
of brick and mortar but must develop a new perspective based on the
recognition that building is fundamentally a social enterprise; that the nature
of this enterprise has changed over history; that it differs from place to
place; and that in particular situations it controls the quality of the bulk of the
buildings that are built. In applying this new perspective to construction for
development the notion that investor's responsibility cannot be limited to
their assets but must include environmental and social stakes in real estate
and must be the subject of investor's benchmarking to prepare property
responsible investment practices. Radebe (2005) argues that infrastructure
development is "not a socially neutral activity" and that in a developmental
state "we must not be dazzled by the brilliance of plans if they do not reflect
the legitimate desires of ordinary people".
The connection between efficient and effective infrastructure and
development is now recognised: the World Banks 'Annual Bank Conference
on Development Economics (ABCDE) held in Tokyo in 2006 was titled
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Defining a Strategic National Research Agenda on the
Theory of Construction for Development
'Rethinking Infrastructure for Development'. One of the impediments
identified at the conference was that the global supply of infrastructure is
not able to answer today's needs resulting in a severe mismatch between
the need for infrastructure and its supply. The World Bank's rethinking on
infrastructure is predicated on two pillars: the first has to do with reengaging
on the lending side, and the second has to do with using
knowledge and technical expertise to more effectively mobilise other
investments and help create the right economic, financial and regulatory
environment for infrastructure investment (Wolfowitz 2006). In his address
Wolfowitz called for a development focus not just on economic growth or
human growth, but also on smart growth. He defined smart growth as
"growth that is economically sound, environmentally friendly, socially
acceptable, locally desirable and most important, growth that makes a real
difference in the lives of poor people" (2006). That means promoting
infrastructure investments that encourage efficiency, are built around smart
technological choices, and bring together cutting edge knowledge on
infrastructure from both theoretical and practical aspects.
Hillebrandt (1974) argues that construction economics is a branch of
general economics insofar as it is about choosing the manner in which
scarce resources are and ought to be allocated between all their possible
uses. Economists contest whether economics is interested in the end, or
just the means. Nonetheless, the economist is required to state the
implications of the use of scarce resources in one application against a
range of alternative applications. One of the methods for doing this is to
employ the Benefits-to-Resources-Used (BRU) ratio. The construction
industry is a significant consumer of raw materials locking in enormous
capital (Edwards 2002:10). Buildings produce or consume:
* Materials: 50 per cent of all resources globally go into construction
* Energy: 45 per cent generated is used to heat, light and ventilate
buildings and 5 per cent to construct them
* Water: 40 per cent of water used globally is for sanitation and other
uses in buildings
* Land: 60 per cent of prime agricultural land lost to farming is used for
building purposes
* Timber: 70 per cent of global timber products end up in building
construction
* Carbon emissions: buildings are the source of nearly 50 per cent of
carbon emissions
Since the interest is always scarce resources, the determination of
means and ends takes on a new significance in the light of issues such as
CSR, sustainable building and construction, and questions of legitimacy
(the right to use scarce resources and the general interest).
POST MODERN APPROACHES TO RESEARCH
From the outset it must be stated that this section is both introductory and
exploratory given the controversy surrounding the term 'postmodern'.
Defining a Strategic National Research Agenda on the
Theory of Construction for Development
9
Besides, postmodern - and poststructural - approaches are not research
methods per se: Cheek suggests they are rather ways of thinking about the
world that shape the type of research that is done and the types of analyses
that are utilised (2000:4). According to Pillow (2000:22), postmodernist
approaches continually question the 'taken-for-granted' structures of
intelligibility, to make visible the foundations of the very categories we are
dependent upon - truth, progress, rationality, humanism, gender, and race
to name a few - and to consider how such questioning would affect what
we research, how we do it, and how we know it.
Research can be described as an active, diligent, and systematic
process of inquiry aimed at discovering, interpreting, and revising facts
(Wikipedia 2006). This intellectual investigation produces a greater
knowledge of events, behaviours, theories, and laws and makes practical
applications possible. Basic research, also referred to as fundamental or
pure research, has as its primary objective the advancement of knowledge
and the theoretical understanding of the relations among the variables. It is
also exploratory and often driven by the researcher's curiosity, interest, or
hunch. The terms 'basic' or 'fundamental' indicate that, through theory
generation, basic research provides the foundation for further, sometimes
applied research.
However it is within the current philosophy of epistemology - the study
of how we know or of what the rules for knowing are (Scheurlich 1997:29) -
that postmodern approaches are founded. There are significant
philosophical issues surrounding quantitative versus qualitative research
methods and the debate over their relative merits dominated first social and
later other sciences, including construction management sciences (Wing et
al 1998:99 - 104). Scheurlich (1997:2) argues that postmodernist theory
challenges all the preconceptions about research methods and suggests
that positivist and postpositivist views of research are inadequate from a
postmodernist perspective. The main point of contention seems to be about
notions of reality: Scheurlich argues that the modernist researcher uses
decontextualised monads of meaning to construct generalisations which
are used to predict, control, and reform. While these generalisations are
said to represent reality, Scheurlich argues they mostly represent the
mindset of the researcher. Modernist research, he suggests, does not
describe as much as it inscribes (Scheurlich 1997:64). Scheurlich suggests
that the positivist perspective - a view that all true knowledge is scientific -
attempts to derive rigorous 'scientific' rules for creating a one-to-one
correspondence between what reality is and how it is represented in
research and that how knowing is accomplished does not shape, frame,
determine, or create what is known. He goes on to claim that all of the main
forms of positivism are now regarded as false (Scheurlich 1997:29).
The strength - and validity - of postmodernism is that it is Western
civilization's best attempt to date at critiquing its own fundamental
assumptions, particularly those assumptions that constitute reality,
subjectivity, research, and knowledge (Scheurlich 1997:2). All approaches
and propositions considered as postmodern question the assumptions
embedded within modernist thought. Postmodern approaches can thus be
10
Defining a Strategic National Research Agenda on the
Theory of Construction for Development
described, at least in part, as a response to what has come to be viewed as
a crises of representation - a challenge to the view that it is possible to
represent reality, speak for others, make truth claims and attain universal
essential understandings (a decidedly common perspective of Modernist
architectural movement).
Postmodern approaches recognise the presence of multiple voices,
multiple views and multiple methods when analysing any aspect of reality,
including the reality of construction - an approach traceable in the
architectural attack on modernism of Jane Jacob's The Death and Life of
Great American Cities (1961), Robert Venturi's Complexity and
Contradiction in Architecture (1966), Robert Stern's New Directions in
American Architecture (1969), Learning from Las Vegas by Robert Venturi
and his South Africa-born wife Denise Scott-Brown, and Steven Izenour
(1972), and Peter Blake's Form Follows Fiasco (1974).
DEFINING A STRATEGIC NATIONAL RESEARCH AGENDA ON THE
THEORY OF CONSTRUCTION FOR DEVELOPMENT
Having regard for the above arguments, the construction of a strategic
research agenda could be predicated on three factors: one, the production
processes of construction; two, the resources used; and three, 'benefits' or
resources so created. Koskela makes a valid linkage between poor doctrine
and weak construction performance: however, the processes of production,
the allocation of the resources so employed, and the capital derived need
expansion for completeness. A useful analogy in this case could be the
Rocky Mountain Institute's Factor Ten Engineering (10xE) project aimed at
accelerating reform of engineering pedagogy and practice (RMI 2006). The
RMI submits that the 'Next Industrial Revolution' will raise natural resource
productivity 10- to 100-fold, and suggests that such radically efficient
solutions are possible through integrative design that optimizes whole
systems for multiple benefits - not isolated components for single benefits.
Thus all construction processes from 'cradle' to 'grave' must be included in
the agenda.
Identifying the resources used can be easily satisfied by applying the
five types of capital identified in the report of the World Commission on
Environment and Development, also known as the Brundtland Commission,
after its chair, Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. The
report, which pretty much invented the concept of sustainable development
and led to the Earth Summit in Rio, was entitled Our Common Future .
Significantly, the year of the CIB Conference Construction for Development ,
2007, marks the 20th anniversary of the publication. Brundtland define types
of capital, namely economic, social, environmental, technological, and
ecological. Finally, since construction is about immovable capital formation,
the benefits derived can just as easily be measured in terms of the five
types of capital.
Placing 'capital' and 'processes' in a matrix therefore generates the
following research agenda as depicted in Table 39.2 below.
Defining a Strategic National Research Agenda on the
Theory of Construction for Development
11
Table 39.2 A Strategic Research Agenda Matrix for Construction for Development
Capital
Processes
Economic
Social
Environmental
Technological
Ecological
Regulatory
Typologies
Morphologies
Topologies
Design
Viability
Documentation
Management
Production
Operation
Deconstruction
CONCLUSION
The paper argues that the development of a new theory of construction for
development could generate a postmodernist doctrine based on new
knowledge founded on the 'social contract' notion. In this theoretical context
construction is a means to an end, where the end is a legitimate allocation
of scarce resources in the general interest. Thus, the acceptability of what
construction delivers is inseparably linked to satisfying the legitimate
aspirations of ordinary people.
However, before a new theory can be developed, a strategic research
agenda aimed at identifying the inquiry method for theory construction
needs to be developed. Despite the controversy around the concept of
'postmodernism', the paper posits that such research approaches should
be postmodernist insofar as it continually questions the 'taken-for-granted'
structures of intelligibility, makes visible the foundations of the very
categories we are dependent upon - including truth, progress, rationality,
humanism, gender, race, ethics - and considers how such questioning
would affect what we research, how we do it, and how we know it.
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