Transition from Technological Dominance to Total Management in Future Low-Carbon Building Industry

The room for reducing carbon emissions and improving low-carbon practices in the building industry is significant. In this study, a bibliometric analysis shows that technology is the primary mechanism adopted for driving carbon reduction in the existing practices building industry, which is conducted by using the CiteSpace 6.2.R4 tool. It is considered that there is a limitation in promoting further low-carbon practices by technological dominance without a proper management paradigm. This paper, therefore, aims to search for a new management paradigm in order to help further reduce emissions in the building industry. This study adopts an innovative synergy theory to explain the mechanism by which the efforts of all management dimensions can be synergized to promote low-carbon practices in the building sector. Consequently, the outcome of this paper is the introduction of a total low-carbon management (TLCM) paradigm. Synergy theory supports our assertion that a joint force can be formed within the building industry system to drive TLCM practice, as all building-related elements (government departments, building organizations, building personnel, building activities, and building processes) in the system will have to follow the government’s actions towards low-carbon practices. The TLCM paradigm is integrated by five components: whole regulation, whole industry, whole enterprise, whole staff, and whole process. The new paradigm should be promoted to replace the existing technology-dominated paradigm in order to achieve low-carbon practices in the building industry. The TLCM paradigm will guide low-carbon management decisions and practices across all phases of the building project’s lifecycle, together with integrating quality and risk management.