Construction and Climate Change; Challenges and Opportunities: A Case Study of the Northeast U.S

The Northeast megalopolis of the United States, which covers a high-density corridor from Washington, D.C., north to Boston, is one of the most developed environments in the world. It contains a gigantic, complicated, and intertwined network of supporting infrastructure with average score of D+, hence requiring substantial rehabilitation and renewal. The 2020 North American Construction report forecasted a CAGR of 8.4% by 2024 despite the pandemic. The pace of growth will recover from 2021 onwards as the ongoing infrastructure investments and smart city projects will add momentum for the region’s construction industry. On the other hand, climate change impacts are underway across the globe and the Northeast of the U.S. is not an exception. Populations and aging infrastructures that they depend on, are highly vulnerable to climate hazards including heat waves, as well as flooding due to a combination of sea level rise, storm surge, and extreme precipitation events. In this study, future projections of climate change in the Northeast of the U.S. were used to explore their potential impacts on construction industry including but not limited to safety of workforce, selection of building materials and their lifecycle, logistics, scheduling, costs, and insurance. The challenges and opportunities that construction industry faces under climate change were also covered. Later, the feedback loop between the construction and climate change were discussed as well as how sustainable construction practices could mitigate climate change impacts while providing safety for construction workforce. Finally, this paper focuses on resilience, buildings carbon footprint, green infrastructure, sustainability, and a prototype decision-support tool for construction projects to better manage weather risk from contract to project completion, known as Climate-i Construction, and how construction industry can benefit from them under 21st century changing climate.