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Adams, F K (2004) The management of risks in international infrastructural projects, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Department of Business Studies, University of Edinburgh.
Ahiaga-Dagbui, D D (2014) Rethinking construction cost overruns: an artificial neural network approach to construction cost estimation, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh.
Al-Remal, A M (2013) Risk-based design of structures for fire, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Edinburgh.
Alsedairy, F S (2019) Dynamics of mega infrastructure decision-making in Saudi Arabia, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh.
Baker, A J (2019) ‘Suitable and sufficient’? UK regulation of post-construction fire safety, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Social & Political Science, University of Edinburgh.
Baker, H (2021) A multimethod approach to learning from text-based construction failure data, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Edinburgh.
Bartlett, A I (2018) Auto-extinction of engineered timber, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Edinburgh.
Campbell, J M (2008) Safety hazard and risk identification and management in infrastructure management, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh.
Dunlop, P G (2005) Investigation, modelling and planning of stochastic concrete placing operations, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh.
Eid, M E M (2004) Rethinking relationships in the construction industry: integrating sustainable development into project management processes, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Department of Architecture, University of Edinburgh.
French, T R (2012) Evolutionary optimisation of network flow plans for emergency movement in the built environment, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Edinburgh.
Furber, A (2013) The social and cultural context of rural water and sanitation projects: case studies from Ghana, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh.
Glendinning, M (1991) 'Give the people homes!': Britain's multi-storey housing drive, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh.
Graham, D (2005) Stochastic modelling and analysis of construction processes, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh.
Hashim, R (2018) Green innovation adoption in the construction sector : the role of absorptive capacity and the effect of environmental requirements, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Business School, University of Edinburgh.
Hellowell, M S (2012) Fair return for risk? An examination of structure, competition and profitability in the market for private finance in the National Health Service, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh.
Hsiao, C C (2000) Constructing a sustainable impact assessment methodology : an evaluation of Taiwanese EIA of high-rise building, Unpublished PhD Thesis, College of Art, University of Edinburgh.
Jackson, D J (2020) Addressing the challenges of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the construction industry: a multi-perspective approach, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Business School, University of Edinburgh.
Jiménez-Moreno, P (2020) Mass customisation for zero energy housing: the potential of Japanese manufacturing practices in the context of sustainable housebuilding in the United Kingdom, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Edinburgh.
Kanellopoulos, G (2022) External fire spread from timber lined compartments, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Edinburgh.
Kim, S (1998) Sustainable building practices: minimising the life-cycle environmental impact of high-rise apartments in Korea, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Department of Architecture, University of Edinburgh.
Knebel, V (2006) Preserve and rebuild: the built environment, status transformations and identity construction in eastern Germany after reunification, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Department of Sociology, University of Edinburgh.
Koutsomarkos, V (2023) Developing a fire robustness index for the built environment, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Edinburgh.
Marquardt, G (2017) Economic analysis of contract choice, feelings of entitlement and contract enforcement in relationships governed by incomplete contracts, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Economics, University of Edinburgh.
McArthur, J (2023) Enrolment, technical mediation, and the obligatory passage point: a socio-technical examination of the Canada Green Building Council, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Edinburgh.
McMeel, D (2009) The artistry of construction: an investigation into construction as a creative process and the influence of mobile phones within domestic scale construction projects, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Department of Architecture, University of Edinburgh.
- Type: Thesis
- Keywords: case study; communication; creativity; mobile phones; working practices
- ISBN/ISSN:
- URL: https://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/3441
- Abstract:
This thesis seeks to analyse the influence that mobile phones exert on existing communication and working practices, and on the relationships of participants involved during on-site construction. The complexity of contemporary construction makes it difficult to plot static causal relationships between communications and actions on site, not easily addressed by a managerial framework that often misses the subtleties of the construction process. The aim of this thesis is to increase our understanding of construction as a creative process and the operational influences of mobile phones during on-site construction. I examine the subtleties of mobile phone usage through three studies, and bring evidence to bear on the problematic of communication in construction. The first study analyses the construction of an art installation, positioning construction as a creative process. This description will inform the second and third studies, which examine the perception and usage of mobile phones within construction respectively. The narrative of this thesis operates simultaneously along several different levels, pointing to the interconnection between creative, technological and collaborative factors that shape contemporary construction. I advance and interrogate an alternative description of construction based on the proposition that construction is a creative process and more sensitive to the communication practices within it than is often assumed. How are mobile phones specifically, and communication technology in general, manifested in construction? Beyond the functional considerations of communication as linear channels and construction as a linear process I identify a complexity within communication that challenges established assumptions of linearity evident in much of the construction management literature, both within the construction process and within the communication technologies that it deploys. This research counters the dominant causal description of the construction process and communication within it as fixed channels for the transfer of information. Within this description the mobile phone is revealed not as a static component in a fixed place within the process of construction but as a device best conceived as a medium for tweaking, tuning and calibrating on-site processes. The mobile phone complements, supplements and challenges other communications media and procedures in the construction process. My analysis provides a description of communication technology and mobile phones within construction that asserts its fluidity, enabling a broader description of construction to facilitate further interrogation of its communication procedures and media. Much research into the process of construction is dominated by a scientific management framework, asserting the fixed causal relationships between people. The process of building construction falls within the sciences. This Thesis challenges the exclusively scientific framing of construction and argues that there remains an underlying artistry to the process of construction, commonly theorised by philosophers in terms of "techné" and the craft inherent in the process of making. By this I mean that construction is influenced by the technological sophistication of the context in which it is being carried out. From the clay brick construction of Sub-Saharan Africa to the Millennium Bridge in London, these are a product of both communications and constructional technologies. While there exists significant research addressing the operation of design activities under the influence of communication technologies, there is a significant gap in the research analysing their influence on working practices during construction. It is within this context that I investigate the influence of mobile phones during on-site activities.
Oliver, A K (2020) Perceptions of sustainability and their influence in the design and delivery of Scottish housing, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh.
Oswald, D (2016) Investigating unsafe acts on a large multinational construction project, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh.
Raman, P G (1977) Information and architectural design: A study of certain theoretical aspects, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Edinburgh.
Rodger, R G (1976) Scottish urban housebuilding, 1870-1914, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Edinburgh.
Ronzani, M (2019) Designing for complexity: Data visualizations in megaproject management, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Edinburgh.
Saoud, E A B (1996) Expert systems for management training in the construction industry, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Edinburgh.
Sidwell, N C (1957) A critical examination of new constructional techniques and their influence on productivity in the building industry with special reference to housing in south-east Scotland, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh.
Smith, S D (1994) Production estimation of earthmoving operations using a discrete-event simulation model, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Civil Engineering, University of Edinburgh.
Yang, S-A (1995) Kics: Representation of regulatory information and the use of case-based reasoning to support the relaxation process, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Edinburgh.