Future research directions for megaprojects on sustainable and smart cities in the construction 5.0 era

Abstract

Construction projects contributing to smart city (SC) development largely consist of megaprojects due to their complex and multidisciplinary nature and their high costs. Effective project management (PM) is essential for the implementation of these projects in the Construction 5.0 era. This study aims to systematically analyze the research trends and identify FRDs in construction PM for megaprojects, which are essential for the development of SCs in the Construction 5.0 era. With this aim, a systematic literature review based on the PRISMA 2020 checklist was performed through a bibliometric analysis using VOSviewer version 1.6 Studies are gathered under five main clusters (i.e., the PM cluster, the smart construction and data security cluster, the SC and technology cluster, the spatial data integration cluster, and the lifecycle cluster). It has been determined that two main nodes (i.e., SC and digital twin) are located at the center of all these clusters. As a result of the analysis, two future research directions are determined (i.e., the relationship between megaprojects and SCs and the relationship between construction project management and SCs). As the identified clusters, nodes, and future research directions are interrelated and comply with the PMBOK 7th edition performance domains, focusing on them to support construction PM performance complies with efforts to facilitate the successful implementation of megaprojects integrated with SCs. The findings demonstrate the lack of a PM model within the SC ecosystem that synchronizes all phases of megaproject construction with SCs. Thus, this study can contribute to the development of smart, sustainable, and resilient cities.