Sign Up
ENعربي
All articles

Project Management

Risk management in megaprojects

  • Introduction

Because of their gigantic and detailed nature and their ability to cause large positive or negative effects, megaprojects call for effective risk management systems. Common issues that arise in these projects may be linked to sustainability concerning resources utilized, and costs and time required to complete a project together with rising impacts on social and environmental structures may manifest irreversible effects on the environment. The current literature review seeks to provide a systematic analysis of the literature on megaproject sustainability in light of its development, concerns, methods and the research that is still lacking. This review was conducted using a systematic literature review method described in the source which gives an account of the existing literature.

  • Introduction to megaprojects and subsequently the themes of sustainability.

Megaprojects are distinctive projects that are large scale, complex and, mostly, difficult to control with massive capital investment, multiple and diverse stakeholders, and produce far-reaching effects on a global context. Such projects are important for currently/o contemporary societies as they contribute to a nation’s economic development, social production and a better standard of living. Like guarantee, infrastructure stands out in megaprojects and aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1–17. But megaprojects also involve down side effects which are broader in nature, carrying out severe and irreversible impacts, including social issues, people’s eviction and damages to the environment. Given that megaprojects contribute to creating sustainability and serve as threats to it, it is important to have a critical view of the existing processes. The United Nations has pointed out that many of the targets laid out in the SDGs are currently off course, and that radical changes and nonlinear actions are required.

III. Approach of Conducting the Literature Review

This literature review relies on a systematic literature review (SLR) that was performed in order to classify the extant knowledge on megaproject sustainability. The SLR followed a three-step process: are systematically described according to the methodological framework of planning, conducting, and reporting and according to the Tranfield approach. Web of Sciences’ core collection can be described as the primary data source of the study. Keywords were clearly stated and piloted for measurement equivalence by combining ‘megaproject$’ and ‘sustainability’ with other related terms including ‘mega-event,’ ‘infrastructure,’ ‘social,’ ‘economic,’ ‘environment,’ and ‘stakeholder’. As for the connection of the search strings, Boolean operators were employed. This first search for articles following the above strategies gave a total of 23,659 articles As per inclusion and exclusion criteria like containing at least one search keyword in the title, abstract/keywords, the study is on ‘megaproject sustainability’ and the articles have full text available). Screening of the literature involved quality assessment in terms of the impact factor, the number of citations and the year of publication. Of the major project management journals and after targeted reviews, we reached a final sample of 215 key articles for content analysis. All papers were analyzed using Microsoft Excel and a codebook from Laplume et al. (2008). Publications 1901-2018 were analyzed in terms of publication trends, journal distribution and keywords clusters using Python and VOSviewer and content analysis to analyze the context, purpose, outcome and contribution of the articles.

  • History of Megaproject Sustainability Study

Megaproject sustainability research started in the year 1977, at the time when sustainable development concept emerged, but it remained limited until 2002. Substantial research activity is noticeable from 2008 and the number of publications has increased and exponentially from 2015 onwards. To achieve this, the study proposes an analysis in three dimensions: sustainability, scope, and stakeholders. This framework explains the evolution of megaproject sustainability research, which is categorized into three research agendas: sustainability of mega projects, sustainability for mega projects and sustainability through mega projects. They are representative of a development in the thinking and management of megaproject sustainability.

  • V. Research Agendas and Key Themes
  • Agenda 1: Sustainability of Megaprojects: The essence of this agenda is to ensure that successful megaprojects do not cause or contribute to social damage especially in the construction period.o Fostering integration of sustainable development framework aspects into project delivery.o Measuring sustainability in relation to the physical environment through such techniques as the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).o Green practices like green procuring and green constructing.This agenda focuses on delivering megaprojects that minimize environmental impacts, particularly during the construction phase. Key themes include:
  • Incorporating sustainability principles into project performance.
  • Assessing environmental sustainability using tools like Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
  • Implementing green practices such as green procurement and green construction.
  • Agenda 2: Megaproject Management – Sustainability Aspect: This agenda is aimed to provide a balance satisfaction of economic, social, and environmentally related needs in order to generate sustainable megaprojects that would address the needs of the society and the environment throughout the life cycle of those projects and within the engagement of higher number of external parties.• SWOT-accelerated composite sustainability life-cycle assessment.• Socio analysis of asset light business portfolio.• Project matters such as stakeholder management which encompasses public engagement.ims to deliver sustainable megaprojects that meet economic, social, and environmental demands, with a focus on the entire project lifecycle and the inclusion of more external stakeholders. Key themes include:
  • Sustainability life-cycle assessment.
  • Sustainable design.
  • Sustainable procurement.
  • Social sustainability assessment.
  • Stakeholder management, which includes public engagement.
  • Social responsibility.
  • Anti-corruption measures.
  • Agenda 3: Sustainability by Megaprojects: This agenda considers ways through which megaprojects impact societal sustainability and the realization of the SDGs.• Sustainable economic growth being that economic growth is key to economic development.• Individual and group health and welfare.• Climate change: Mitigation of Green House gases/ Green House effect.ses megaprojects' contributions to broader societal sustainability and the achievement of the SDGs. Key themes include:
  • Sustainable economic growth, which is a catalyst for economic development.
  • Human health and social well-being.
  • Social equity and justice.
  • Climate change and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Limitation of the studies and future research directions

However, there are still plenty of research gaps when it comes to megaproject sustainability. The status quo cannot be adequate to address the novel sustainability issues which arise in relation to investment in and delivery of megaprojects, and thus, new paradigms are needed. The study proposes a future research agenda structured around three dimensions:

  • SDGs-orientation: Based on the study, there is cause to implement the SDGs more effectively and efficiently at the project, organization, and society levels. These range from the creation of sustainability indicators capable of capturing multiple sustainability dimensions, ESG standards effects on megaproject and policy change in line with the SDGs. More studies are required, which investigate the interconnection of SDGs; more investigation is also essential regarding the differences in the penetration of SDGs internationally.
  • Scope enlargement: The research agenda thus simply requires shifting from the ‘project’ paradigm to the ‘system’ paradigm. This is in the relation to the temporal scale where it has been expanded from the normal project lifecycle from the resource view point, and in relation to the spatial scale it has been expanded from the common isolated construct of a megaproject to a system in an ecosystem. One of the CE means is to extend the lifecycle of projects.
  • Stakeholder-inclusiveness: This extents to embracing nature and future generations as stakeholder frameworks. Ideas: natural environment has to be regarded as a primary stakeholder and green and gray infrastructure have to be interlinked. Further, the consequences of megaprojects in terms of bearing capacity spotting the lives of future generations must be considered, with regard to a code by which values of profits and losses could be estimated.

VII. Conclusion

Megaproject sustainability is outlined, and the current literature review and future possibilities of the study area are discussed comprehensively in this work. The findings of this review indicate that the field has changed from a concept of environmental management to sustainable development and from sustainable development to contributions to societal sustainable development by megaprojects and their impacts. The authors argue that there is a paradigm gap and call for disruptive actions to close the various gaps in current theories and practices. Future research directions include: The orientation of the future agenda to SDGs, the expansion of scope and the involvement of multiple stakeholders as the major areas for further investigations. The present research advances the knowledge in this field by indicating the overall progress of megaproject sustainability development and offering practical implications for practitioners, explaining in what spheres sustainable practices exist and where the primary movements for change are expected. The authors recognise limitations of the study where inclusion of grey literature and the authors themselves were involved in the process of the screening and analysis of literature.

The present broader analysis aims at presenting an overview of the main ideas and conclusions presented in the source document, the issues and trends for further investigation of the subject. Feel free to ask anything else if you have any.

(Li et al., 2024)

References

Li, Y., Wang, M., Locatelli, G., & Zhang, Y. (2024). Navigating the future of megaprojects sustainability: a comprehensive framework and research agendas. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 17(3), 533–561. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMPB-02-2024-0027