The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in significant delays and cost overrun in construction projects. The implementation of health and safety (H&S) technologies is one of the most important strategies to alleviate the adverse impacts of COVID-19 on the construction industry and help the industry adapt to the new normal. This study aims to evaluate the adoption of H&S technologies for pandemic management in the construction sector under the COVID-19 pandemic. Semi-structured interviews with eighteen practitioners engaged from construction companies and technology firms were conducted to collect their views on the driving forces and issues of the adoption of H&S technologies for pandemic management in Chinese construction projects. The results reveal that the major H&S technologies used included the health quick response (QR) code system, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered fever monitoring, and site access control system. These technologies were reported to be effective in preventing the spread of the pandemic in workplaces. The findings of the study amplify that the pandemic may serve as an acceleration of the adoption of H&S technologies in the construction sector. Other technologies, such as building information modeling, drones, AI-based safety monitoring, and robotics, however, were seldom used in the studied projects. The interviewees addressed several problems regarding the implementation of these technologies. High costs of technologies, a lack of client support, and disruptions to the normal work process were the main hurdles of the adoption of these technologies. The results indicated that the external influence factor—the COVID-19 pandemic—could considerably drive the use of H&S technologies, whereas the internal influence factors—cost and compatibility of technology—might be the major barriers to technology adoption. To encourage the wider use of H&S technologies in construction, the government is recommended to support the technology transformation by granting financial subsidies for costs involved in innovation adoption. Project owners may consider investing substantially in H&S technologies that can strengthen their resilient and innovative ability to adapt to the post-COVID-19 landscape. The present results will be useful to industry stakeholders and researchers interested in developing H&S technologies for combating the COVID-19 pandemic and future crises.

Wearable devices as an emerging technology to collect safety data on construction site is gaining increasing attention from researchers and practitioners. Given the rapid development of wearable devices research and the high application prospects of wearable devices in construction safety, a state-of-the-art review of research and implementations in this field is needed. The aim of this study is to provide an objective and extensive bibliometric analysis of the published articles on wearable applications in construction safety for the period of 2005–2021. CiteSpace software was used to conduct co-citation analysis, co-occurrence analysis, and cluster identification on 169 identified articles. The results show that 10 research clusters (e.g., attentional failure, brain-computer interface) were extremely important in the development of wearable devices for construction safety. The results highlight the evolution of wearable devices in construction-safety-related research, revealing the underlying structure of this cross-cutting research area. The analysis also summarizes the status quo of wearable devices in the construction safety field and provides a dynamic platform for integrating future applications.

Stakeholder management is a crucial component in the implementation of off-site construction (OSC) projects, while stakeholder mapping serves as a practical technique to facilitate an in-depth understanding of different project stakeholders. Various topics have been explored in the OSC stakeholder management field, but research on OSC stakeholder analysis based on stakeholder mapping is still lacking. This study addresses this gap by developing two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) stakeholder mapping models. Data were collected from 167 stakeholders involved in OSC projects. The 2D model utilizes a power–interest matrix to classify 12 identified OSC stakeholder groups, while the 3D model further explores these groups by incorporating an additional dimension of stakeholder salience across different stages of project implementation. The results show that OSC stakeholders predominantly fall into the “key players” or “minimal effort” categories across various project stages. Key players include the client, modular manufacturer, main contractor, government, and designer, while the public and industry organizations generally require minimal effort. Additionally, stakeholders such as the supervision company, supplier, and subcontractor play key roles at specific stages, with varying levels of salience throughout the project lifecycle, reflecting shifts in their influence and involvement. The findings contribute to stakeholder management knowledge by providing an in-depth understanding of OSC stakeholders’ interrelationships during project implementation, especially through uncovered stakeholder mapping in the OSC field.

In the current era, as modern cities increasingly face environmental disasters and inherent challenges, the creation and enhancement of resilient cities have become critical. China’s urban resilience exhibits significant imbalances and inadequacies at the provincial level. This study delves into the evolution of urban resilience in various Chinese provinces, offering valuable insights for building and nurturing resilient cities. Initially, a comprehensive evaluation system for China’s urban resilience was established, incorporating 24 indicators across three key resilience aspects: resistance, adaptability, and recovery. The entropy weight method was used to develop an urban resilience evaluation model, and the Moran index and spatial cold–hot-spot analysis were applied to examine the spatiotemporal dynamics of urban resilience across China’s 31 provinces from 2012 to 2021. Moreover, the geographically and temporally weighted regression model was employed to analyze the spatial distribution of factors affecting urban resilience. The results show a general upward trend in urban resilience across Chinese provinces, with notable regional differences and concentrations. A significant decrease in urban resilience is observed from southeastern coastal cities to inland regions. The regression model highlights spatial variations in the impact of different factors, with the same factor having varying effects in different provinces. This research provides a thorough understanding of the factors influencing urban resilience in China, contributing to both theoretical and practical discussions on the topic. It lays a strong scientific groundwork for the development and advancement of resilient cities in China.

Rapid urban development has promoted economic development, but it has also created social problems. Urban renewal provides an important means of achieving sustainable urban development. After 2012, it became a research hotspot with people-oriented and organic renewal concepts. To understand the research trends in urban renewal during 2012–2022, a comprehensive bibliometric analysis was conducted to identify research progress, fields, hotspots, and trends. The core collection is based on the Web of Science (WoS) database, with a total of 2692 publications. The volume of publications, journal of publication, country, institution, research scope, and keywords were selected as the object of analysis. The results reveal that since 2012, the volume of urban renewal articles has been gradually increasing, reaching a maximum of 417 in 2022. China is the largest and most influential country in terms of the number of articles published, but the cooperation between institutions and authors is not strong. The research hotspots can be summarized as the connotation and practice of urban renewal, approaches to urban renewal, and sustainable urban development. Future directions for research are identified as including an innovative multi-corporate governance model, community-based renewal, further exploration of sustainable renewal practices, and interdisciplinary applications of urban renewal.

The construction industry, a major global employer, increasingly relies on migrant construction workers (MCWs) to mitigate labor shortages and enhance cost efficiency. Despite their vital role, MCWs face numerous challenges, including exploitation during recruitment, safety risks, health issues, and difficulties with social integration. Current research into MCWs is dispersed across various disciplines—such as occupational safety, health, and social issues—and lacks a cohesive review of achievements and gaps. To address this, the present study employs bibliometric and qualitative content analysis to evaluate research progress, domains, hotspots, and trends from 2004 to 2024. The dataset, sourced from the Web of Science (WoS), includes 112 publications. The analysis reveals a steady growth in MCWs research, divided into two distinct phases, with significant contributions from 307 authors across 30 countries. The study also examines robust international collaboration and the prominent role of influential research institutions. The research identified ten key areas of focus and engaged in discussion. This comprehensive overview of MCWs research provides valuable insights for future studies and policy development, aiming to enhance conditions for MCWs and inform effective intervention strategies for this vulnerable workforce.