The Benefits and Barriers for Promoting Bamboo as a Green Building Material in China—An Integrative Analysis

Liyin Shen, Junsi Yang, Rong Zhang, Changzhuan Shao and Xiangnan Song
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Liyin Shen: School of Construction Management and Real Estate, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China
Junsi Yang: School of Construction Management and Real Estate, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China
Rong Zhang: School of Construction Management and Real Estate, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China
Changzhuan Shao: School of Architecture, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Xiangnan Song: School of Management, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 9, 1-23

Abstract: Bamboo is commonly considered as a green, environmentally friendly material. However, it appears that bamboo finds limited application in the form of green building materials in the Chinese construction sector. In order to explain this phenomenon and promote the material’s application, this study summarizes the benefits of applying bamboo materials and presents an analysis on barriers affecting the effective application of bamboo materials in this specific building sector. Research data are collected from both literature surveys and semi-structured interviews with a group of carefully selected experts from the Chinese building sector. Fifteen characteristic barriers are identified, such as ineffective action by government departments. An integrative analysis is conducted, including investigation on the hierarchy structure among characteristic barriers using the interpretive structural modeling (ISM) method and the classification of barriers from a driving-driven perspective using the Cross-impact Matrix Multiplication Applied to Classification (MICMAC) technique. This classification provides a different profile for the characteristic barriers from that of traditional barrier analysis methods. The findings provide valuable references for helping policy makers and practitioners adopt effective policies and measures to promote the application of bamboo for green materials in building sector.

Keywords: bamboo; green building material; characteristic barriers; interpretive structural modeling (ISM); Cross-impact Matrix Multiplication Applied to Classification (MICMAC) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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