Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Economic and Environmental Tradeoffs of Concrete Construction in Urban Settings

该奖项的全部或部分资金来自《2021年美国救援计划法案》(公法117-2)。这个博士论文项目考察了导致混凝土成为快速发展城市的主要建筑材料的过程，尽管环境影响可能会降低对极端天气事件的弹性。这项研究考察了推动混凝土住宅增长的金融投资。该研究还通过研究从河床中提取沙子以供随后用于混凝土施工，突出了城市基础设施发展的环境影响，例如洪水风险的增加。该项目提供的数据可以为减少开采沙石对洪水和山体滑坡等与天气有关的灾害的影响的努力提供信息。除了为研究生提供科学数据收集和分析方法方面的培训提供资金外，该项目还有助于推动可持续建筑方法的本地化努力。这项研究的发现可能有助于政策对话，寻求改善建筑工人的工作条件，从而为工人提供安全和可接受的工作条件。研究人员调查了城市地区混凝土建筑的发展，特别是那些受到极端天气影响的地区。在这些情况下，混凝土的广泛使用是在人们担心它会增加自然灾害影响的风险的情况下实施的。根据经济地理学和城市政治生态学的理论，研究人员研究了住宅建设的融资、建筑业工人面临的权衡，以及开采沙子对混凝土生产和相关环境影响的过程。这项研究包括一套互补的人种学方法，如参与者观察、半结构访谈和与建筑业不同利益相关者的焦点小组。这些利益相关者包括房地产开发商、建筑师、城市设计师、建筑和劳务承包商、政府官僚和沙商。这项研究的结果将解决发展背景下城市经济快速增长与混凝土的社会和环境影响之间的不平衡问题。混凝土是许多环境中建筑的主要原材料。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). This doctoral dissertation project examines the processes that result in concrete being a leading construction material in rapidly developing cities despite environmental impacts that may reduce resilience to extreme weather events. The research examines the financial investments that drive the growth of concrete residential buildings. The research also highlights the environmental impacts of urban infrastructure development, such as increased in flood risks, by studying the extraction of sand from riverbeds for subsequent use in concrete construction. The project provides data that can inform attempts to reduce the impacts of sand and stone extraction on weather-related disasters, including floods and landslides. In addition to providing funding for the training of a graduate student in the methods of scientific data collection and analysis, the project contributes to localized efforts to advance sustainable construction methods. The findings from this research have the potential to contribute to policy conversations that seek to improve working conditions for construction workers, thereby providing security and acceptable working conditions to laborers.The researchers examine development of concrete construction in urban areas, particularly those that are impacted by extreme weather. In these settings, the widespread use of concrete is implemented amid concerns that it increases the risk of impacts from natural disasters. Drawing on theory from economic geography and urban political ecology, the researchers examine the financing of residential construction, the tradeoffs faced by laborers in the construction industry, and the processes by which the extraction of sand contributes to concrete production and related environmental impacts. The research includes a complementary set of ethnographic methods, such as participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups with diverse stakeholders in the construction industry. These stakeholders include real estate developers, architects, urban designers, building and labor contractors, government bureaucrats, and sand traders. Findings from this study will address the imbalance between rapid urban economic growth in developing contexts and the social and environmental impacts of concrete, the primary raw material for construction in many settings.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.