A conceptual review of social infrastructure projects

Abstract

Social infrastructure projects (SIP), as the name implies, is defined as those buildings, structures and facilities specifically constructed to serve the community at large. The most apparent form of the social infrastructure projects are hospitals, schools and community facilities. Consequently, the nature of the infrastructure attracts less attention. In a sense, social infrastructure projects are one of the main criteria to enhance the economic productivity. This paper aims to contribute to this overlooked but important research line. There are two objectives of this paper. Semantically, this paper comprehensively reviews the social infrastructure literature from various aspects and applications. Then, it reviews nine journal papers and one conference paper in terms of ontology, epistemology and methodology. The preliminary finding reveals that ontological subjectivism, epistemological interpretivism, and qualitative analysis have dominated the social infrastructure domain. Last sections of this paper discuss the limitations and future research directions. The outcome can be used to improve general understanding of the social infrastructure projects.