Publication Date:
2020-09-30
Description:
Multi-story wooden buildings are hailed as a favorable means towards reducing the embodied energy of the construction sector, however, the construction sector’s path-dependent nature hinders acceptance towards using wood in multi-story construction. As a result, research predominantly focuses on examining the perceptions of construction professionals to identify means of breaking the path-dependency. We propose using citizens’ perceptions towards the use of wood to inform professional decision makers, thus, this research aims to answer two questions: What are citizens’ perceptions about using wood as a construction material, and are there country-based cultural differences between perceptions? To elicit this spectrum of citizen views, an online survey was deployed in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze 6 633 open-ended responses from the survey. Respondents held multifaceted opinions about the physical properties, environmental, social, and economic aspects of using wood as a construction material. Citizens from Finland, Norway, and Sweden placed acceptability for using wood in discernably different aspects than citizens from Austrian, Denmark, Norway, and the UK. Overall, respondents from all countries held high approval for using wood in construction.
Print ISSN:
0045-5067
Electronic ISSN:
1208-6037
Topics:
Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
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