Work

Toward a framework for sustainable reinforced concrete structures based on Multi‐Criteria Decision Analysis

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Reinforced concrete (RC) structures are increasingly required to satisfy not only safety, serviceability, and durability requirements, but also environmental, economic, and social performance targets over the life cycle. This creates competing objectives for which prescriptive approaches and single‐objective optimization are no longer sufficient. This paper examines Multi‐Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) as a decision‐support framework for sustainability‐oriented structural decision‐making. It reviews the regulatory and life‐cycle assessment background that illustrates sustainability requirements in structural engineering, discusses the main MCDA and multi‐objective approaches adopted in RC and infrastructure applications, and synthesizes the main literature trends in the field. On this basis, it synthesizes a life‐cycle‐oriented organization of sustainability criteria across environmental, economic, social, and technical‐functional dimensions, and frames their use within MCDA‐based workflows for design, maintenance, retrofit, and procurement. The paper provides a structured reference for supporting transparent and technically grounded life‐cycle decisions in RC systems.

Source: Structural Concrete

DOI: 10.1002/suco.70759

Authors: Vittoria Borghese, Agnieszka Bigaj‐van Vliet, Alessia Abbozzo, Marco di Prisco, Irene Josa

Institutions: Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, Politecnico di Milano, University College London

Language: English

Topic: Civil and Structural Engineering Research

Subfield: Civil and Structural Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Responsible consumption and production, Sustainable cities and communities

Open Access status: bronze

OpenAlex ID: W7204749690

FWCI:

Cites: 57

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Related to: 10