Sustainability Policy and Green Growth of the South Korean Construction Industry

• Main Author: Jeong, Hwayeon
• Other Authors: Walewski, John
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: sustainability; green growth
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2011-08-9987

South Korea is among a host of countries trying to achieve sustainable development across whole industry sectors by adopting "Green Growth" as the vision of the national development in the Korean government. The government has executed a vast effort regarding the policy, and these efforts have produced several successful results. However, the vision of the Green Growth does not appear to be settled in the construction industry, which is a sector that has a huge impact on sustainability and has made striking economic impacts over the last several decades to Korea's growth and development. Although the performances under the Green Growth are difficult to be evaluated because the Green Growth policy is now in the process of revisions and supplement, this is the time to diagnose the current situation and efforts of Green Growth in the Korean construction industry. A primary goal of the thesis is developing a preliminary framework to promote Green Growth in the Korean construction industry in order to reduce possible trials and errors in the early phase of the implementation of Green Growth. To accomplish this goal, a detailed analysis of the current Korean sustainability system, Green Growth, was then undertaken given this is the current policy guidance for the Korean construction industry. To garner further input on the direction of sustainability policy and methods in Korea, in-depth interviews with professionals in relevant construction-related businesses were conducted. In addition, the study conducts an analysis how sustainable development has occurred in the U.S. construction industry to determine what the driving forces that could transfer and be of assistance to Korea. A preliminary sustainability system framework is developed along with associated guidelines. The guidelines suggest that sustainability policy directed towards the Korean construction industry should be apparent so that stakeholder can implement it with consistency and detail. Also suggested is a movement away from the current policy that largely focuses on green building to one that is more holistic and includes infrastructure and other aspects of the built, environmental, and socio-economic systems. In this light, the primary concept of the policy aligns with the sustainability concept of the triple bottom line: environment, economy and society. Through the feedback from a performance measurement system, the policy is evaluated and is adjusted to stimulate the Green Growth over the construction industry in South Korea.