نمذجة معوقات تطبيق البناء المستدام في مشاريع المجمعات السكنية في محافظة كربلاء المقدسة

Modeling the Obstacles to Implementing Sustainable Construction in Residential Complex Projects in the Holy Karbala Province

Abstract
Housing complex development initiatives in the Governorate of Karbala encounter substantial obstacles in implementing sustainable construction techniques, notwithstanding the increasing significance of this methodology in mitigating the environmental, economic, and social problems impacting the construction industry. This construction industry is considered one of the most energy and resource-consuming sectors, and it is a major contributor to waste and harmful emissions. However, sustainability requirements remain inadequately enforced in residential developments within the province, prompting inquiries into the underlying causes of this disparity and the specific obstacles hindering the attainment of sustainable development objectives.
This study seeks to identify and evaluate the obstacles impeding the implementation of sustainable construction principles in residential complex projects in Karbala, while proposing practical methods to surmount these challenges and actualize sustainability principles.
The methodology of this study comprised three primary stages: an extensive theoretical review of existing literature, an open exploratory study utilizing a questionnaire aimed at various experts, and a field study employing a closed questionnaire disseminated to a random sample of specialists in sustainable construction. The data were analyzed by Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) using Smart PLS software to evaluate the hypotheses and assess the influence of various impediments.
The analysis revealed six major categories of obstacles: political and organizational, social, technological, design and technical, economic, and efficiency and training. The statistical results demonstrated that all obstacles have a significant direct impact on the implementation of sustainable construction (p < 0.05). In this model, the adjusted R² value was 0.907, indicating a high explanatory power and confirming that the independent variables—the six categories of obstacles—account for 90.7% of the variance in the dependent variable, sustainable construction implementation.
Among the obstacles, social obstacles exhibited the strongest effect (β = 0.327), followed by efficiency and training obstacles (β = 0.314), confirming their critical influence. These include weak market demand and resistance to change as part of the social obstacles, while efficiency and training obstacles involve factors such as the lack of contractor experience, limited sustainability-related training, insufficient university curricula, weak monitoring and control within the project scope, and the scarcity of companies and engineers familiar with sustainability principles. technological and Economic obstacles also showed significant yet moderate effects (β = 0.277 and β = 0.240, respectively). Meanwhile, political/organizational and design obstacles/technical obstacles, although less influential, still demonstrated statistically significant contributions to the challenges hindering sustainable construction implementation.
The study proposes several practical recommendations, the most prominent of which include establishing specialized vocational training programs, integrating sustainability concepts into engineering curricula, strengthening regulatory frameworks, enhancing infrastructure and technological support, and developing a national classification system for sustainable buildings. Additionally, a prototype computer program was developed to help the stockholders to
Assess the alignment of proposed housing projects with sustainability standards based on technical and environmental criteria.
The study concludes with future directions that emphasize expanding sustainability applications and generalizing the model to other Iraqi provinces.