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This systematic literature review investigates the contribution of design thinking (DT) as a process and tool to drive innovation in a sustainable built environment (SBE) and develops a new model for sustainability research integrating DT and future thinking approaches toward achieving a unified DT and foresight notion for future research and applications.

This review was based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. Open-access English articles published between 2000 and 2022 identified using the EBSCOhost, Emerald Insight, DOJA, JSTOR, Scopus and Taylor and Francis database searches were reviewed. The review framework deploys a previously proposed modified Ansoff matrix with an integrated innovation matrix to identify and analyze the challenges and opportunities for innovation growth in SBE. Additionally, a citation analysis was conducted to explore the impact of DT for innovation in SBE, and a proposed framework based on design by drawing on foresight theory was developed.

Research on DT for innovation in SBE faces the challenge of unanticipated impacts. According to the average number of citations per document, innovation associated with new solutions within a new context seems to become highly influential. Additionally, research gaps exist in the integration of foresight and DT into sustainability research to identify new contexts and solutions to SBE. A model of foresight design thinking (FDT) is proposed to guide future research and support the practical application of DT in sustainability.

This analysis was limited by the selection criteria as only certain keywords were used and English-only articles were selected. Future research should consider the use of DT for innovation in SBE using various important keywords, which would improve research findings and expand the contribution of DT to SBE.

The FDT model offers a new holistic framework for the iterative process of reframing and reperception, focusing on divergent and convergent thinking with the goal of contributing to SBE practices.

The integrated framework of DT and foresight can contribute to the study and development of sustainable innovation and a strategic shift toward a sustainable society.

The integration of DT, foresight and sustainability can broaden the horizons of sustainability research by systematically addressing future challenges related to SBE, which can be translated into feasible and innovative solutions. Thus, the FDT model complements the application of DT in sustainable innovation in this research field.

The aim of this study was to empirically examine how much traditional attributes and green attributes characterize products within design-oriented firms. Further, we explored how these attributes relate to the perceived level of innovation of the firms.

An exploratory research was carried out in 86 Italian manufacturing companies that are members of the Industrial Design Association. Using the questionnaire method, the entrepreneurs’ perceptions have been analyzed. Data have been treated with hierarchical cluster analysis.

The analysis shows that environmental sustainability is the least important attribute of a design product and four clusters of highly design-oriented firms differ by design-product attributes. Further, the least green firms are also the least innovative in terms of incremental and general innovation.

The small size of the sample and the provenance of firms from a single country imply limited generalizability, and further research on the topic is recommended.

Design-driven innovation based on traditional design attributes provides many competitive advantages to firms. However, given the growing concern about environmental challenges, investing in green attributes in design products allows for remaining competitive and more effective in innovation.

This study, for the first time, reveals the heterogeneity among design-oriented firms, particularly regarding the presence and assortment of traditional design attributes, as well as the incorporation of environmentally friendly attributes in their products. Moreover, the study uncovers the relationship between varying levels of green attributes in the offerings and the perception of the firm’s innovativeness.

During the supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19, logistics service providers (LSPs) have invested heavily in innovations to enhance their supply chain resilience capabilities. However, only little attention has been given so far to the nature of these innovative capabilities, in particular to what extent LSPs were able to repurpose capabilities to build supply chain resilience. In response, using the concept of exaptation, this study identifies to what extent LSPs have discovered and utilized latent functions to build supply chain resilience capabilities during a disruptive event of high impact and low probability.

This conceptual paper uses a theory building approach to advance the literature on supply chain resilience by delineating the relationship between exaptation and supply chain resilience capabilities in the context of COVID-19. To do so, we propose two frameworks: (1) to clarify the role of exaptation for supply chain resilience capabilities and (2) to depict four different exaptation dimensions for the supply chain resilience capabilities of LSPs.

We illustrate how LSPs have repurposed original functions into new products or services to build their supply chain resilience capabilities and combine the two critical concepts of exploitation and exploration capabilities to identify four exaptation dimensions in the context of LSPs, namely impeded exaptation, configurative exaptation, transformative exaptation and ambidextrous exaptation.

As one of the first studies linking exaptation and supply chain resilience, the framework and subsequent categorization advance the understanding of how LSPs can build exapt-driven supply chain resilience capabilities and synthesize the current literature to offer conceptual clarity regarding the varied implications and outcomes linked to the repurposing of capabilities.

Nowadays, designing environmentally compatible buildings with acceptable performance in terms of cost, materials, and energy efficiency is considered crucial for developing sustainable cities. This research aims to identify and rank the most influential factors in the application of Building Information Modeling (BIM) systems in the smartification of green and sustainable buildings.

The present research is applied and descriptive. In this study, we identified the most influential factors in the application of Building Information Modeling (BIM) systems through library studies and expert opinions. Data were collected using a questionnaire, and a combination of the one-sample t-test method with a 95% confidence level and the fuzzy VIKOR method was employed for analysis.

The results show that the most influential factors in the application of Building Information Modeling (BIM) systems in the Smartification of green and sustainable buildings, in order, are: “Energy saving and consumption reduction,” “Increased productivity and efficiency,” “Life-cycle assessment (LCA),” “Eco-friendly design,” “Integration with IoT and other technologies.”

In this study, while addressing the intersection of BIM technology, green building principles, and smart building objectives to optimize the performance of buildings during their life cycle, the most influential factors in the use of this system were ranked based on the criteria of “impact level,” “importance level,” and “availability of necessary tools” for implementation in Kerman. Moreover, solutions for more effectively utilizing this system in the smartification of green and intelligent buildings were proposed.

Master information delivery plan (MIDP) is a key requirement for building information modelling (BIM) execution plan (BEP) that enlists all information deliverables in BIM-based project, containing information about what would be prepared, when, by who, as well as the procedures and protocols to be used. In a well-conceived BEP, the MIDP facilitates collaboration among stakeholders. However, current approaches to generating MIDP are manual, making it tedious, error-prone and inconsistent, thereby limiting some expected benefits of BIM implementation. The purpose of this study is to automate the MIDP and demonstrate a collaborative BIM system that overcomes the problems associated with the traditional approach.

A BIM cloud-based system (named Auto-BIMApp) involving naming that automated MIDP generation is presented. A participatory action research methodology involving academia and industry stakeholders is followed to design and validate the Auto-BIMApp.

A mixed-method experiment is conducted to compare the proposed automated generation of MIDP using Auto-BIMApp with the traditional practice of using spreadsheets. The quantitative results show over 500% increased work efficiency, with improved and error-free collaboration among team members through Auto-BIMApp. Moreover, the responses from the participants using Auto-BIMApp during the experiment shows positive feedback in term of ease of use and automated functionalities of the Auto-BIMApp.

The replacement of traditional practices to a complete automated collaborative system for the generation of MIDP, with substantial productivity improvement, brings novelty to the present research. The Auto-BIMApp involve multidimensional information, multiple platforms, multiple types and levels of users, and generates three different representations of MIDP.

This study used the design process (analysis, development, and evaluation) to understand and refine the process, dimensions, and outcomes of a multi-year, whole-institution approach to social justice education for preservice teachers (PSTs) at one institution. The authors used shared governance to establish a cross-disciplinary faculty-student learning community and provided interdisciplinary social justice learning opportunities to PSTs across multiple years. These were delivered using high-impact practices such as community-engaged learning and ePortfolios.

The authors used formative data to examine and refine this study's program design. The authors assessed engagement within and across the components of the whole-institution approach and the impact on, and change in, social justice learning and orientation for PSTs.

Findings showed deepened engagement within and across the components of the whole-institution approach, however, committee representation, opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration, and coordinated field experiences are areas that can be strengthened. All PSTs demonstrated an understanding of the connections between annual social justice foci and teaching practices, and some documented growth in social justice awareness over time. The authors found more clarity is needed around archiving and keeping social justice event reflections in the ePortfolio each year.

This study adds to the existing literature by using the design process to refine the development of a whole-institution social justice education program for PSTs.

This paper proposes a new metric, named Operational Space Efficiency (OpSE), intended to diagnose and quantify the inefficient use of floor space for stocking materials in industrial workstations. OpSE presents a formulation analogous to the well-known Overall Equipment Effectiveness and can be obtained as the product of three distinct indicators: Standard Compliance Effectiveness, Standards Selection Effectiveness and Design Space-usage Effectiveness.

This indicator scrutinizes how usefully floor space in workstations is used to temporarily stock materials in the form of raw materials, semi-finished products, parts and components. It is suited for analyzing fixed-position layouts as well as product layouts typical of repetitive manufacturing settings, such as assembly lines in the automotive sector. The proposed indicator leverages an appropriate loss structure that features those factors affecting floor space utilization in workstations with regard to supplying and stocking materials.

An Italian manufacturer in the field of electro-technology was used as an industrial case study for the application of the methodology. The application shows how the three indicators work in practice, the effectiveness of OpSE and the methodology as a whole, in diagnosing floor space usage inefficiencies and in properly addressing improvement actions of the internal logistics in industrial settings.

The paper scrutinizes some important Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) dealing with space usage efficiency and identifies some significant drawbacks. Then it suggests a new, inclusive structure of losses and a KPI that not only measures efficiency but also allows to identify viable countermeasures.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the presence of systems thinking after an educational proposal on climate sustainability based on reflection and video creation. To evaluate this competency, an evaluation rubric was constructed.

This research is a case study with a mixed approach. It was carried out with 82 future teachers of Primary Education, making content analysis of the videos made. For the design of the rubric, a specific review of the literature was conducted.

The results showed that trainee teachers can identify, relate and understand interconnected processes, but have difficulties in thinking temporally or in understanding the hidden dimensions of the system. The results reveal how the development of systems thinking in the Climate Change framework is a complex learning process. The rubric created allowed us to systematize the evaluation by making it possible to assess the subskills involved.

To improve the development of systemic thinking, using real data linked to the consequences of this problem and ICT applications that foster an approximation to future realities is suggested. In addition, conscious and fair decision-making should be promoted on the basis of a transformative education that favors this thinking in interaction with other key competences in sustainability. The innovative rubric allows the evaluation of systemic thinking skills for the study of climate change, conceptualized from the interrelationships of the natural, social and economic dimensions and from its implications for life, on different geographical and temporal levels.

This paper aims to analyze the evolution and interaction over time of the functions of a technological innovation system (TIS) based on the concept of an innovation motor.

It is a case study of the innovation system associated with the technology for producing cage-free pullets for laying eggs in Pelotas/Rio Grande do Sul (RS).

The motors proposed by the TIS approach evolve sequentially and are associated with cumulative causality mechanisms. The study's results identified two functionalities: analysis of the chain as a whole and coordination of the actors involved in the system. The study's results also identified the presence of inflection points at the beginning of each of the motors.

The absence of a more accurate detailing of the market motor in discussions of the evolution of the motors and functions of TIS cage free Pelotas.

Innovation Motors as a new guiding approach for participatory innovation initiatives in rural areas.

Application of the TIS approach in agribusiness and proposition of two new functions for motor analysis, in addition to including inflection points as activation triggers in the evolution between motors.

The inherent variability on process times and demand are the factors that prevent the efficient application of lean philosophy in multi-project product development (PD) environments. Considering this variability, a hybrid push–pull project control system is developed, and value stream costing (VSC) analysis is performed to reflect the relation between project lead time, capacity and project cost. The assessment of the push/pull project control on lead time improvement and long-term savings on capacity have been aimed with the proposed complete design structure.

In a team-based structure, formed through clustering, push control techniques for planning tasks within cross-functional teams and pull control techniques for planning tasks between cross-functional teams are developed. The final step evaluates the proposed structure through VSC and long-term savings have been pointed out, especially in terms of freed-up capacity. For the validation of the proposed methodology, an office furniture manufacturing firm’s PD department has been considered and the performance of the hybrid system has been observed through simulation experiments and based on the simulation results, the lean system is evaluated by VSC.

The results of simulation experiments show a superior performance of the proposed hybrid push/pull project control mechanism under different settings of cycle time between projects or shortly project cycle time, dispatching rules within teams and variability levels. The results of the Box-Score (tool to apply VSC) indicate increased capacity in the long term to add extra projects during the planning period with the same project lead time and without additional cost.

Although extensive simulation experiments have been performed to quantify the effect of project control structure and positive results have been reported on lead time and cost, the proposed design structure has not been tested in all existing PD environments.

To the best of authors’ knowledge, the quantification of the effect of hybrid project control with VSC is the first attempt to be applied in lean PD projects.