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Ethics-Aware Application of Digital Technologies in the Construction Industry

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Improving Technology Through Ethics

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology ((BRIEFSPOLIMI))

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Abstract

The construction industry plays a prominent role in global economic and social development, with 15% share of the world’s GDP. Yet, it suffers from inefficient decisions, unproductivity, time-consuming activities, resistance to change, and high rates of accidents, wasting significant monetary and natural resources. With the recent advancements of industry 4.0 technologies, Artificial Intelligence, and Digital Twins, the construction sector is experiencing a drastic shift toward automation, optimization, and digitalization, which could be the perfect solution for the issues mentioned above. However, the potential harms, biases, and discriminations embedded in and caused by such technologies in ethical and social contexts are overlooked. Moving toward the Industry 5.0 revolution, emphasizing the human-centric technology concept, the role of develo** ethical standards and regulations, designing ethical systems to make fair and moral decisions, and assessing the productivity of projects based on their social impacts and not merely financial profit become critical. As creators of the built environment, engineers, architects, and construction managers have a vital social responsibility to represent the needs of all social groups, regardless of ethnicity, race, and gender, in their projects to serve sustainable development goals. This chapter aims to delineate the potential harms and ethical issues that might arise during different stages of digital technologies’ application process, as well as the criteria to consider while designing an ethics-aware technology implementation framework. It can serve as a driver and a basis for an objective and ethical cost–benefit analysis of technology integration with current processes in the industry.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Ania Khodabakhshian

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  1. Ania Khodabakhshian
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Correspondence to Ania Khodabakhshian .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Architecture and Urban Studies, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Simona Chiodo

  2. Program in Science, Technology, and Society, Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    David Kaiser

  3. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Julie Shah

  4. Department of Design, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Paolo Volonté

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Khodabakhshian, A. (2024). Ethics-Aware Application of Digital Technologies in the Construction Industry. In: Chiodo, S., Kaiser, D., Shah, J., Volonté, P. (eds) Improving Technology Through Ethics. SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-52962-7_5

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