SOCIAL LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT
[ GSAPP | Natural Materials Lab ]

YEAR 2022-2023
ADVISOR(S) Dr Lola Ben Alon
ROLE Research assistant
PUBLICATIONS EARTH USA 2022 , ACSA/AIA 2023

Keywords | Social equity, worker conditions, community impact, health and well-being, tools/frameworks/policy

It is widely known that the life cycle of building materials impacts the well-being of the ecosystems and communities that interact with the material and their production. These societal, or “social”, impacts apply to all materials: from cement to metal to brick. Yet materials that are more “natural”, such as earth and biobased products, are suggested to be more equitable, positive for communities, and non-toxic. While there is widespread consensus on the social benefits of natural materials, a systematic analysis that quantifies these benefits is still missing.

This study develops a social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) tool to contribute to a fully integrated ecosystem approach that combines the analysis of societal, environmental, and economic attributes of any building material. Similar to an environmental LCA, this S-LCA impact assessment is quantified using indicators across the entire life cycle of the building material while prioritizing hot spots in the analysis, expressed as health and safety, worker conditions, regional impacts and community engagement, and regional sustainability. The outcomes show that earth and biobased materials outperform concrete and steel materials in almost all aspects of the S-LCA framework, with the exception of social benefits and professional development opportunities for workers in the extraction, production, and construction phases.