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Review

Applications of Digital Technologies in Promoting Sustainable Construction Practices: A Literature Review

by
Yuanyuan Li
1,
Xiujuan Zhao
1,
Chunlu Liu
2 and
Zhigang Zhang
1,*
1
School of Management Engineering, Shandong Jianzhu University, Jinan 250101, China
2
School of Architecture and Built Environment, Deakin University, Geelong 3220, Australia
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2025, 17(2), 487; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17020487
Submission received: 18 December 2024 / Revised: 2 January 2025 / Accepted: 6 January 2025 / Published: 10 January 2025
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Abstract

:
In recent years, the applications of digital technologies in sustainable construction have gained increasing interest. However, no comprehensive literature review has been conducted. Thus, this paper analyzes 990 relevant articles in this regard published from 2014 to 2023 by using CiteSpace (version 6.3.R1) and HistCite (version Pro 2.1) and identifies the most influential journals, institutions, and regions. The knowledge base was detected through a cluster analysis, which concentrates more on seven core themes: barriers, energy efficiency and building energy performance, life cycle assessment, computer vision, renovation, building sustainability assessment, and management. A citation analysis revealed that the applications of digital technologies were based in four dimensions of sustainable construction: environmental, social, and economic performance and green building assessment are the current hotspots. Finally, the potential future research trends in this field were proposed: (1) strengthening research on the application of more digital technologies; (2) expanding the use of digital technologies in the Operation and Maintenance (O & M) and demolition phases; (3) deepening the research on multi-objective optimization; and (4) exploring how to overcome obstacles. The findings provide highly valuable information for researchers with current research ideas and future directions in this field. This paper also has the potential to deepen practitioners’ comprehension of optimal digital technologies for bolstering construction sustainability.

1. Introduction

Digital technologies refer to advanced information and communication techniques that could capture, store, process, and collaborate related data and information [1]. The development of digital technologies has exerted great impacts on the agriculture, education, and manufacturing industries, which have ultimately changed people’s lives [2]. For example, ChatGPT is an important milestone tool that makes low-cost or even zero-cost automated content creation possible, and it is believed that in the near future, ChatGPT could probably replace most of the content creation work of humans [3]. With the application of digital technologies in the education area, online courses have become popular, and traditional teaching is facing unprecedented challenges [4]. The accelerated emergence of digital technologies has become a key force in reorganizing resources, reshaping economic structures, and changing global competition patterns. Only those who can incorporate and embrace digital technologies have the potential to succeed in the future.
In the last two decades, sustainable construction has been widely employed due to the enormous negative impacts of the construction industry. The application of digital technologies offers an opportunity to promote the sustainable development of buildings in terms of different themes and has gradually attracted the attention of scholars in recent years. Green building assessment methods are frameworks designed to evaluate the sustainability and overall quality of a building. However, high-level ratings of green buildings impose stringent requirements on the environmental performance of structures. Evaluation needs multi-party coordination and is a time-consuming process. Given the optimization functions of BIM in energy consumption, ventilation, and day lighting, various BIM frameworks have been established by scholars to obtain credits for green building assessment methods in different countries, like LEED, BREEAM, Green Building Index, and Green Mark [5], which facilitate the evaluation process. In addition, the carbon emissions of the construction industry contribute about 33% and 40% to the global total [6]. Carbon emission reduction is also a focal point in order to achieve dual carbon targets. Eleftheriadis et al. constructed a new BIM-embedded approach, which could accurately measure the carbon emissions of buildings and help designers optimize design plans [7]. Liu et al. also pointed out that compared with traditional solutions, the design schemes made through digital technologies could cut carbon emissions by 30% [8]. Furthermore, BIM was also used to simulate and reduce the energy consumption of buildings. For example, Shadram et al. proposed a new BIM-based framework that can evaluate the energy consumed in the material supply chain. Practitioners could adopt it to optimize design plans, thereby reducing energy consumption [9]. Additionally, digital technologies, like blockchain, have been explored to address the environmental problems of buildings, like monitoring noise, dust, and wastewater levels during the construction stage, because digital technologies could create a trustworthy and intelligent information management system [10]. Although there has been a substantial amount of relevant research, systematic review studies in this area remain scarce.
A literature review could summarize the research results, reveal unsolved problems, and explore development trends, which will facilitate further in-depth research and promote the practical development of an area. Therefore, as research in a certain field gradually increases, reviews on it will be conducted. For example, with the growing number of studies on Construction and Demolition (C & D) waste, Li et al. have explored the current state of research and future research directions in this field, providing a reference for the government to develop effective C & D waste management measures [11]. Lima et al. reviewed sustainable building assessment methods around the world [12]. It was found that green materials, project management, and energy consumption are the main criteria and future scheme updates should be expanded to social and economic aspects. In recent years, an increasing number of scholars have been investigating the application of digital technologies in the construction industry, and relevant reviews have consequently emerged as well, as shown in Table 1. Ibem et al. were the first to qualitatively review the application of digital technologies in construction procurement [13]. Chowdhury et al. also reviewed 144 studies on digital technologies in New Zealand’s construction industry, summarized their main functions, and proposed potential ways to improve productivity during the construction process [14]. Abioye et al. qualitatively reviewed the literature on AI in building safety management, noting its application status, potential new technologies, and implementation obstacles [15]. Luo et al. qualitatively summarized the digital technologies employed in building quality management [16]. Based on the above discussion, it is known that many limitations still exist that require improvement. (1) Despite the numerous review studies that have been conducted, they focus more on the application of digital technologies in traditional construction performance, such as building productivity, safety, and quality. There is a lack of reviews on the topic of sustainable construction. (2) Most previous reviews were qualitative analyses with a limited number of articles and more subjective results. Quantitative review analysis deserves further exploration, and could offer more precise and objective information. In response, this paper reviewed the research on digital technologies in sustainable construction with the assistance of CiteSpace (version 6.3.R1) and HistCite (version Pro 2.1) to achieve the following main objectives: (1) identifying the journals, institutions, and regions that have made significant contributions in this field; (2) revealing the knowledge bases in this field through a cluster analysis; (3) detecting current research hotspots through a citation analysis; and (4) proposing potential future research directions in this area. The quantitative analysis of the basic information and current themes of these articles will provide a whole picture of the research in this area. The detailed discussion on each theme provides practitioners with new ideas for improvement. Scholars who are interested in this area could also obtain useful information from the further directions proposed in this paper.

2. Methodology

2.1. Database Selection and Paper Retrieval

Web of Science (WoS) is a database covering a wide range of journals in different fields, such as engineering, management, and social sciences, as well as sustainable construction [23]. CiteSpace and HistiCite can also use WoS as the database for analysis. Thus, WoS is selected as the database for the literature search in this paper. The keywords used in this article are shown in Table 2. The time span of articles was set as 2014–2023. The language was set to “English”. Only “journal articles” were selected in this study to ensure the high quality of data sources. After manual screening and eliminating the duplicate articles, a total of 990 articles were eventually used.

2.2. Software Selection

CiteSpace and HistCite were adopted to comprehensively and objectively analyze the selected literature. CiteSpace, developed by Chaomei Chen, is capable of processing vast amounts of data and exploring research topics in specific knowledge domains through co-citation analysis [11]. In this paper, the most influential journals, institutions, and regions, as well as the knowledge bases were unveiled by using CiteSpace (version 6.3.R1). HistCite, established by Eugene Garfield, could identify articles with high citation rates and study their interrelationships [24]. Through this special function of HistCite (version Pro 2.1), current hot topics will be detected in this paper. The two types of software can enrich and refine literature analysis at different levels, so as to display the development history and main achievements of an area better [24,25].

3. Basic Situation Analysis

3.1. Annual Publishing Trend

The yearly distribution of the selected papers is illustrated in Figure 1. The number of articles increased from 7 in 2014 to 293 in 2023. Before 2018, research articles regarding the application of digital technologies in sustainable construction witnessed slow yet steady growth. Since 2019, there has been explosive growth, which corresponds to the remarkable leaps and bounds that digital technologies have achieved recently [26]. It is expected that with the increasing maturity of digital technologies and the urgency of developing sustainable construction, there will be more studies in this area.

3.2. Journal Analysis

3.2.1. Journal Quantity Analysis

The selected papers were published in 214 internationally renowned journals, demonstrating the fact that the application of digital technologies in sustainable construction is a widely discussed topic. As shown in Figure 2, Sustainability (frequency = 139) has the highest number of published articles, followed by Buildings (frequency = 80), Journal of Cleaner Production (frequency = 62), and Automation in Construction (frequency = 60). The total number of articles in these journals is 551, accounting for 55.66%. Thus, these journals are the most important publishing platforms in this field.

3.2.2. Journal Co-Citation Analysis

Journal co-citation analysis could identify the most influential journals in an area. In this paper, the journal co-citation network has a total of 701 nodes and 4086 connections, as shown in Figure 3. As can be seen from Figure 4, Automation in Construction (frequency = 728) is the most cited journal, followed by the Journal of Cleaner Production (frequency = 593), Energy and Buildings (frequency = 521), Building and Environment (frequency = 464), and Sustainability-Basel (frequency = 438). Considering the results of the journal analysis and journal co-citation analysis, Automation in Construction and Journal of Cleaner Production are the journals that published the most related articles and have a high co-citation frequency.

3.3. Cooperation Network Analysis

Figure 5 depicts the cooperation network among the institutions and regions of the selected articles. “Frequency” represents the number of published papers. “Centrality” represents the intensity of cooperation among the institutions and regions. The higher the centrality, the closer the cooperative relationship between them. It can be seen from Table 3 that the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (frequency = 47, centrality = 0.31) and Egyptian Knowledge Bank (frequency = 30, centrality = 0.16) are the most influential institutions. Regarding the influential regions, China leads with the greatest number of publications (frequency = 338), followed by the U.S. (frequency = 97) and England (frequency = 89). The U.S. has the highest centrality (centrality = 0.32), followed by China (centrality = 0.25) and Saudi Arabia (centrality = 0.22). This indicates that China and the U.S. are key players in region cooperation and are active participants and coordinators of regional research projects.

4. Knowledge Base Analysis

A cluster analysis, as one of the special functions of CiteSpace, can effectively reveal the knowledge base of a certain field by dividing large amounts of data into different units based on their correlation with each other [27]. It has been widely applied in numerous studies [28]. The modularity (Q) value and Silhouette (S) value are the indicators for assessing the effectiveness of cluster analysis maps. The Q value usually falls within the range of [0, 1], and a value above 0.3 indicates a notable cluster structure. The S score reflects the average cohesion within clusters [29]. If the S score exceeds 0.5, the cluster is generally deemed to be acceptable. When the value of S is above 0.7, the cluster is convincing. The clustering network of the selected articles contains 362 nodes and 1184 links, as shown in Figure 6. The Q (0.5209) and S (0.7717) values indicate that the cluster structure is significant and convincing. After removing the search keywords, seven main clusters were obtained. Table 4 details all the relevant information about the clusters. The “size” in Table 4 represents the number of the nodes in the cluster. Among them, the cluster of “barriers” has the highest size, indicating that the theme of barriers is the most concerned and popular cluster. The “mean year” shows the average time when each cluster emerged. These data reveal the development and change trends of the clusters over time. The following is a specific discussion of each cluster.

4.1. Barriers

Cluster 2 is “barriers”. This reflects that although digital technologies have been proven to possess certain advantages, numerous obstacles still exist in their application in practice. In fact, many types of barriers were detected, as shown in Table 5. Among them, social and organizational barriers, financial barriers, and technical barriers are the most critical ones highlighted in many studies. At present, the development of digitalization in sustainable construction is much slower than its development in other industries [11]. Exploring how to overcome these barriers will undoubtedly promote genuine applications and deserves further analysis.

4.2. Energy Efficiency and Building Energy Performance

Cluster 3 “energy efficiency” and cluster 6 “building energy performance” are energy-related. Numerous digital technologies have been explored to reduce energy consumption throughout the life cycle of buildings [38]. In the design phase, BIM and digital twins have been investigated to optimize building design schemes in order to reduce energy use [39,40,41]. Many previous studies have analyzed the application of 3D printing in the construction phase, which can combine recycled materials and lightweight aggregates to print walls and other structures [42]. A few digital technologies were also used to assess the operational energy consumption of buildings, and to evaluate the indoor air quality through real-time data collection and sharing [39,43]. However, more studies should be conducted on the utilization of digital technologies during the demolition stages, which could contribute to the reuse and recycling of materials.

4.3. Life Cycle Assessment

Life cycle assessment (LCA) (#4) is a useful model for evaluating the favorable impacts of digital technologies on sustainable construction from a long-term perspective. For example, Santos et al. established a BIM-LCA/LCC framework and pointed out that BIM, as a relatively mature digital technology, has the ability to evaluate the environmental and economic performance of buildings [44]. Khan et al. and Tinoco et al. have studied the impact of 3D concrete printing on the environmental, economic, and social performance of the construction process guided by an LCA [45,46]. It was concluded that 3D printing promotes the use of the latest sustainable materials, which could reduce the carbon footprint and construction costs of the construction process, and provide high-quality job opportunities. However, there is currently no clear definition of social sustainability, which leads to research in the social dimension often being intertwined with the environmental and economic dimensions [47]. Strengthening the research on the social aspect is a key focus for future research efforts.

4.4. Computer Vision

Computer vision (#4) refers to the process of analyzing, identifying, understanding and processing images, videos, or other types of visual data in the construction industry using digital image processing techniques. Computer vision is one of the subfields of AI. At present, it is primarily used for structural and on-site inspections during the construction process [48]. For instance, computer vision could detect the concrete quality [49,50], and capture unsafe behaviors of operators, thereby enhancing the quality and safety of the construction production process [51]. Some scholars have begun to extend its use to existing buildings. Wang et al. conducted a survey on the energy consumption of existing buildings using computer vision, achieving an accuracy rate of 86%, which is higher than that of other sensing technologies [52]. However, research on the application of computer vision in the Operation and Maintenance (O & M) phase, as well as the demolition and reuse phase, is still lacking and weak.

4.5. Renovation

Renovation (#7) emphasizes the process of restoring and remedying buildings to a better condition. Since the energy efficiency of aging buildings is far lower than that of new buildings, renovation has become an important topic for energy saving and emission reduction, as well as improving residents’ comfort levels. Many parameters of a building, such as the orientation, wall thermal conductivity, and even the behavior of its occupants, could affect its energy performance, making the energy optimization of renovation challenging. The application of digital technologies could improve the efficiency of information flow during the renovation process, thereby promoting energy simulation and monitoring [53]. For example, Stegnar et al. proposed a BIM-based digital method that can simply and efficiently predict energy consumption and reduce investment costs of office energy retrofits [54]. In addition, Tang et al. emphasized that based on BIM, one can test the suitability and durability of existing buildings and compare various reinforcement schemes with the least cost and duration of simulation [55]. Furthermore, the potential applications of other digital technologies such as AI, big data, and blockchain in this area can be explored.

4.6. Building Sustainability Assessment

Building sustainability assessment (BSA) (#8) typically focuses on the environmental, social, and economic performance of buildings. Integrating digital technologies into the assessment can enhance its accuracy and efficiency. Carvalho et al., with the help of BIM, translated all criteria into measurable standards during the early stages of a project to achieve more objective and reliable scores for buildings [56]. In addition, BIM could be used to optimize decision-making in building design [57]. However, different BIM operation platforms have been established in previous studies, leading to poor interoperability between them, which has hindered their widespread application in practical uses [58]. Thus, it is worthwhile to explore the standard development of digital technologies in the future, such as data mining, machine learning and digital twins, as well as their integration into BSA [59].

4.7. Management

Cluster #9 is management. Currently, it is widely acknowledged that project management is crucial for achieving sustainability [60]. Integrating digital technologies such as BIM, digital twins, and blockchain into the project management process can enhance productivity, improve collaboration, and contribute to the project’s success [61]. The use of a BIM-blockchain model in the construction process significantly reduces risks and makes the construction process more efficient [62]. Schamne et al. and Pellegrini et al. have also proposed a BIM-based conceptual model that enhances the transparency and efficiency of waste management throughout the life cycle of a building [63,64]. Incorporating digital technologies into the operational management of buildings, such as energy consumption monitoring, is worth exploring in the future.

5. Current Research Hotspots

Citation analysis is a special feature of HistCite. It can detect relationships between highly cited articles and uncover the hot research topics of a field [25]. Figure 7 displays the citation network in chronological order, illustrating the citation relationships among the top 30 selected papers in this field. The circles represent the articles, and the size of the circles indicates the frequency with which they have been cited. The number reflects the article’s position within the literature collection, as given by HistCite (version Pro 2.1). The arrow represents citation relationships and points to the referenced literature [24]. These articles mainly focus on four major themes: the environmental, economic, and social performance of buildings, and green building assessment. These are marked with different colors.

5.1. Environmental Performance

BIM is the oldest and most studied digital technology, which is usually employed to simulate daylight and energy consumption. As shown in Figure 7, Kota et al. (Paper 7) were the first to use BIM, in combination with Radiance and DAYSIM, to optimize daylight design solutions, which could reduce the energy consumption of buildings [66]. A semi-automated BIM energy assessment method was established by calculating the embodied energy, transportation distance, quantity, and volume of building materials in Paper 38. This method can significantly reduce the energy use and carbon emissions of new buildings [9]. By using BIM and LCA, Najjar et al. (Paper 75) measured the energy consumption at each stage of the building and proposed that a material review in construction could effectively control the energy consumption during the construction and operation stages [77]. Currently, there are still many obstacles to the application of BIM in real projects, like the lack of a database platform. Rezaei et al. (Paper 155) developed a functional database, called ecoinvent, which could be used for material selection through BIM-LCA framework [89]. Previous studies have focused more BIM applications in new building design. Future research should expand the application of digital technologies in the O & M and demolition as well as reuse and recycling stages.

5.2. Economic Performance

Considering the characteristics of green buildings with high initial costs and low O & M costs, how to balance the life cycle cost and environmental performance of buildings has also attracted attention. In 2015, Liu et al. (Paper 19) first established a BIM model for optimizing the design scheme of new buildings with dual goals of environmental and economic benefits [8]. Paper 26 utilized BIM models to analyze the impact of the orientation of existing buildings on energy consumption and costs, and proposed that compared to the worst orientation (45°), the best orientation (180°) could save GBP 878 in energy costs [71]. Paper 162 proposed a BIM-LCA/LCC framework for automated/semi-automated building economic assessment [44]. Besides BIM, introducing other mature digital technologies will be beneficial for further improving the efficiency and accuracy of the evaluation.

5.3. Social Performance

Research on the application of digital technologies for evaluating the social performance of buildings started relatively late. The social aspect typically revolves around studies on user comfort, safety, and productivity [76]. At present, the application of 3D printing in the construction phase has attracted significant attention from many scholars (Paper 79 and 123), aiming to enhance the production efficiency of concrete components [78,87]. In the design phase, using BIM for simulation and optimization can greatly enhance the overall quality, productivity, and efficiency of a project (Paper 108) [85]. Furthermore, BIM can improve the indoor environmental quality, thereby enhancing user comfort [76]. It is evident that the application of digital technologies in the operation and demolition stages of buildings is relatively limited. Additionally, increasing research on the safety aspects of digital technologies such as 3D printing and diversifying the types of digital technology will further improve the social attributes of buildings.

5.4. Green Building Assessment

Many scholars have been attempting to apply digital technologies in green building assessment methods to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of evaluations. As early as 2014, Wong and Kuan analyzed ‘BEAM Plus’ in Hong Kong and pointed out that the application of BIM can automatically update assessment data and improve the submission efficiency (Paper 4) [65]. Paper 21 demonstrates that by applying BIM to LEED assessment, not only can the decision-making efficiency of designers be improved but the certification costs can also be reduced [68]. Paper 39 also suggested that BIM can achieve data optimization and automatically generate required documents, thereby significantly improving the certification efficiency of BREEAM [72]. Currently, research in this field mainly focuses on well-known standards such as LEED and BREEAM. In the future, research efforts should be directed towards other standards, such as China’s Green Building Evaluation Label and Australia’s Green Star. Additionally, the integration of other digital technologies like digital twins and blockchain will help improve the efficiency and accuracy of the assessment process.

6. Future Research Directions

The application of digital technologies to sustainable construction is still in its early stages, with many significant issues yet to be explored. Based on the analysis above, potential directions for future development are proposed.

6.1. Strengthening Research on the Application of More Digital Technologies

From Section 5.1 and Section 5.4, BIM was the most widely studied technology in sustainable construction, which has accelerated its application in practice [90]. In the past two years, many scholars have begun to study 3D printing (Section 4.3 and Section 5.3), which has been proven to reduce carbon emissions, improve efficiency, and minimize costs [45]. In the future, with the maturity of technical conditions, such as smart sensor technologies [91] and standardized data platforms, the applications of AR, VR, and BEM could be explored, which provide a potential opportunity to tackle the current challenges of the sustainable construction industry.

6.2. Expanding the Use of Digital Technologies in O & M and Demolition Phases

The use of digital technologies throughout the life cycle of buildings facilitates global optimization. From the discussion in Section 4.2, Section 4.4, Section 4.7 and Section 5.1, it is evident that current research is primarily focused on the design and construction phases. Despite some research focusing on the O & M theme, its specific applications are still insufficient compared to the design and construction phases. Collecting, integrating, and sharing foundational data at various stages of a building can lay a solid foundation for the effective application of digital technologies. Conducting an in-depth exploration into the application of digital technologies during the O & M and demolition phases might contribute to the achievement of integrated management, cost reduction, and efficiency enhancement.

6.3. Deepening the Research on Multi-Objective Optimization

The advantage of digital technology lies in its ability to achieve multi-objective integration and optimization. The analysis from Section 5 indicates that most studies focus on a single objective, with only a few addressing dual objectives. For instance, Papers 19 and 26 conducted analyses on the environment and economy, respectively, while Paper 108 explored the environmental and social aspects. Enhancing research on the integration and optimization of multiple objectives will contribute to advancing sustainable construction and improving the green building assessment efficiency.

6.4. Exploring How to Overcome Obstacles

From the cluster analysis in Section 4.1, it is known that “barriers” are an important theme. How to overcome these obstacles and explore the application scenarios of digital technologies is essential for promoting their real applications in sustainable construction practice. The construction industry, being one of the slowest-growing sectors in terms of digitalization [33], faces several barriers to the adoption of digital technologies. These include social and organizational barriers, financial constraints, and technical challenges. To overcome these obstacles, several measures can be taken: regulating the use of digital technologies, developing harmonized standards, formulating policy frameworks, investing in cost-reduction strategies, and designing digital technology training programs. These are all compelling areas to address.

7. Conclusions

Digital technologies are playing increasingly prominent roles in the development of sustainable construction. In recent years, a growing number of scholars have been concentrating on this area. To obtain a comprehensive understanding of the research status in this field, the CiteSpace (version 6.3.R1) and HistCite (version Pro 2.1) tools were utilized to visually analyze 990 relevant documents spanning from 2014 to 2023. It is indicated that research in this field has experienced explosive growth since 2019. The results demonstrated that these articles were published in 214 international journals and the most influential journals including Automation in Construction and Journal of Cleaner Production, which deserve the attention of interested scholars. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Egyptian Knowledge Bank are the most influential institutions. China and the U.S. are at the forefront compared to various regions. Through a cluster analysis, the knowledge base in this area was classified into seven themes: barriers, energy efficiency and building energy performance, life cycle assessment, computer vision, renovation, building sustainability assessment, and management. The current hotspots, derived from highly cited articles, concentrated on the applications of digital technologies in the environment and the economic and social performance as well as green building assessment. In terms of environmental aspects, the literature focused more on the applications of digital technologies in energy and carbon emissions simulation in existing buildings. On the economic front, digital technologies were investigated and developed to reduce the life cycle costs of buildings. Regarding the social dimension, these documents have shown a particular interest in user comfort, productivity, and efficiency. In the realm of green building assessment, the applications of digital technologies to some well-known assessment standards, such as LEED and BREEAM, were investigated. Four potential research directions were consequently proposed: (1) strengthening research on the application of more digital technologies; (2) expanding the use of digital technologies in O & M and demolition phases; (3) deepening the research on multi-objective optimization; and (4) exploring how to overcome obstacles.
This paper significantly contributes to broadening the scope of review studies regarding the application of digital technologies in sustainable construction. The quantitative and objective results obtained through visualization software could help researchers grasp the whole picture of the research within this domain. In addition, this paper will assist practitioners in improving digital technologies and identifying latent business opportunities in the sustainable construction industry. Notwithstanding the abundant innovative features presented in this paper, certain aspects remain that call for enhancement: (1) This paper only searched the research database platform WoS. More website documents and information should be searched to explore the applications of digital technologies from a more comprehensive perspective. (2) This paper focused more on theoretical analysis, which, to some extent, limited the in-depth exploration of practical applications and technical details. Future related studies can be further expanded to various types of research, including empirical studies, case studies, and technical assessments, thereby enhancing the depth and practicality of the research.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, writing—review and editing, Y.L.; writing—original draft, X.Z.; supervision, funding acquisition, Z.Z.; supervision, project administration, C.L. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

The financial support from the Humanities and Social Science Foundation of the Ministry of Education in China (23YJA630052) is gratefully acknowledged.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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Sustainability 17 00487 g001
Figure 1. Annual number of the selected articles.
Figure 1. Annual number of the selected articles.
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Figure 2. Major journals of the selected articles.
Figure 2. Major journals of the selected articles.
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Figure 3. Journal co-citation network.
Figure 3. Journal co-citation network.
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Figure 4. Major journal co-citation of the selected articles.
Figure 4. Major journal co-citation of the selected articles.
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Figure 5. Cooperation network among institutions and regions.
Figure 5. Cooperation network among institutions and regions.
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Figure 6. Document keyword clustering diagram.
Figure 6. Document keyword clustering diagram.
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Figure 7. Citation analysis network of the top 30 publications. The numbers correspond to references as follows: 4. [65], 7. [66], 9. [67], 19. [8], 21. [68], 24. [69], 25. [70], 26. [71], 38. [9], 39. [72], 51. [73], 56. [74], 65. [75], 73. [76], 75. [77], 79. [78], 82. [79], 91. [80] 109. [81], 110. [82], 103. [83], 104. [84], 108. [85], 112. [7], 118. [86], 123. [87], 124. [88], 155. [89], 159. [57], 162. [44].
Figure 7. Citation analysis network of the top 30 publications. The numbers correspond to references as follows: 4. [65], 7. [66], 9. [67], 19. [8], 21. [68], 24. [69], 25. [70], 26. [71], 38. [9], 39. [72], 51. [73], 56. [74], 65. [75], 73. [76], 75. [77], 79. [78], 82. [79], 91. [80] 109. [81], 110. [82], 103. [83], 104. [84], 108. [85], 112. [7], 118. [86], 123. [87], 124. [88], 155. [89], 159. [57], 162. [44].
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Table 1. List of previous reviews on digital technologies in the construction industry.
Table 1. List of previous reviews on digital technologies in the construction industry.
No.AuthorsNumber of ArticlesData TypeToolsFindings
1Ibem et al. [13]78Qualitative-- *The digital technologies applicable to construction procurement activities and their applications were reviewed.
2Ansah et al. [5] 43Qualitative--The current application status of BIM in Green Building Assessment Schemes (GBASs) were summarized.
3Chowdhury et al. [14] 144Quantitative, qualitativeExcelThe main functions of digital technologies in construction productivity were reviewed and the potential methods for improvement were proposed.
4Wang et al. [17]113Quantitative, qualitativeVOSviewerThe digital technologies used in off-site construction were summarized and their application limitations were analyzed.
5Abioye et al. [15]1272Qualitative--The AI tools used in building safety management were reviewed.
6Opoku et al. [18]22Quantitative, qualitativeExcelThe application status and development potentials of digital twins in the design and construction stages were analyzed.
7Luo et al. [16]108Qualitative--The digital technologies employed in building quality management were summarized.
8Olawumi et al. [19]82Quantitative, qualitativeVOSviewerThe digital technologies adopted in building quality management.
9Cascone [20]54Qualitative--BIM plugins for LEED certification were summarized and methods to improve BIM integration were proposed.
10Trask et al. [21]24Qualitative--The digital technologies in building safety management were identified.
11Iyiola et al. [22]126Quantitative, qualitativeVOSviewer (version 1.6.20)The digital technologies used in C & D management were reviewed and the implementation obstacles were discussed.
* It means that no tools were used.
Table 2. Keywords for searching.
Table 2. Keywords for searching.
Search CloudsSustainable ConstructionDigital Technologies
KeywordsSustainable/sustainability architecture/construction/building, green building/construction, high-performance building, building environmental performance, ecological building/constructionDigital technologies, BIM, 3D printing, Building Energy Modeling (BEM), Virtual Reality (VR), AR (Augmented Reality), IoT, big data, blockchain, Artificial Intelligence (AI), digital twins, cloud computing
Table 3. Major regions and institutions.
Table 3. Major regions and institutions.
No.RegionFrequencyCentralityInstitutionFrequencyCentrality
1China3240.25Hong Kong Polytechnic University470.31
2U.S.970.32Egyptian Knowledge Bank300.16
3England890.12Shenzhen University210.03
4Australia850.05Tongji University160.04
5Italy600.11Chongqing University150.04
6Spain520.06University of Sevilla140.00
7Saudi Arabia460.22University of Hong Kong140.01
8Canada420.05Nanyang Technological University140.04
9Malaysia380.10University of New South Wales Sydney130.07
10India350.05Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University130.01
Table 4. The relevant information about the clusters.
Table 4. The relevant information about the clusters.
Cluster IDCluster Label (LLR)SizeMean Year
2Barriers382019
3Energy efficiency342019
4Building energy performance292015
5Life cycle assessment292019
6Computer vision292019
7Renovation292019
8Building sustainability assessment282018
9Management162017
Table 5. Barriers to the application of digital technologies in sustainable construction.
Table 5. Barriers to the application of digital technologies in sustainable construction.
CategoryBarriersReferences
Social and organizational
barriers
  • Resistance to digital technologies
  • Lack of standardized guidelines and limited training
  • Insufficient digital technological infrastructure support
[30,31,32,33,34,35]
Financial barriers
  • Associated cost (high cost of software, hardware, etc.)
  • Ambiguous allocation of operational expenses among the involved parties
[30,31,32,33,36]
Technical barriers
  • Interoperability and compatibility issues in different digital technologies
  • Shortage of qualified professionals to oversee the models
[30,31,32,33,34,35]
Data barriers
  • Poor quality data and information-sharing culture
  • Unavailability of data
  • Data management complexity
[31,36]
Stakeholder barriers
  • Lack of customer awareness about digital technologies
  • Deficiency in trust between consultants and contractors
[30,31,32,37]
Legal barriers
  • The contractual practices in the construction industry still do not encourage the use of digital technologies
  • Integrating digital technologies into the current building codes and practices is still insufficient
[31,33,37]
Security barriers
  • Privacy and security risks associated with data breaches
  • Difficulties in data analytics and information processing
[32,35,36,37]
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Li, Y.; Zhao, X.; Liu, C.; Zhang, Z. Applications of Digital Technologies in Promoting Sustainable Construction Practices: A Literature Review. Sustainability 2025, 17, 487. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17020487

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Li Y, Zhao X, Liu C, Zhang Z. Applications of Digital Technologies in Promoting Sustainable Construction Practices: A Literature Review. Sustainability. 2025; 17(2):487. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17020487

Chicago/Turabian Style

Li, Yuanyuan, Xiujuan Zhao, Chunlu Liu, and Zhigang Zhang. 2025. "Applications of Digital Technologies in Promoting Sustainable Construction Practices: A Literature Review" Sustainability 17, no. 2: 487. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17020487

APA Style

Li, Y., Zhao, X., Liu, C., & Zhang, Z. (2025). Applications of Digital Technologies in Promoting Sustainable Construction Practices: A Literature Review. Sustainability, 17(2), 487. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17020487

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