Social Network Analysis of Building Energy and Carbon Policy Networks in Developing Countries

Abstract

More than two thirds of countries worldwide, the majority being developing countries still have not implemented mandatory regulations to control building energy usage and carbon emissions despite the rapidly increasing building stock in these regions. Thus, it is vital to develop effective energy and carbon policies for buildings in developing countries. Developing such effective policies in turn, needs well-structured policy networks consisting of efficiently connected key actors in policy implementation. A database search revealed significantly less progress in implementing the building energy and carbon policies in developing countries, compared with developed countries. Previous literature suggested Policy Network Analysis (PNA) as a powerful tool to assess current policy level actor coalitions, determine structural holes in stakeholder integration and decide on future policy improvements. Subsequently, a database search was carried out through the 'Web of Science' publications repository to identify the previous PNA approaches and to identify a potential way forward. Among the available methods, Social Network Analysis (SNA) was identified as the most suitable and frequently used method which provides extensive analytical capabilities for policy network visualization and analysis. The preliminary findings lead to the novel SNA model that is proposed to map and assess required building energy and carbon policy networks which integrate both policy actors and constraints. This proposed model can be effectively utilized to identify the significance, centrality and relational structures of policy actors and policy constraints. This paper will benefit future researchers and relevant policy makers by providing an effective platform on which to further develop more effective energy and carbon policies for the building sector by strengthening stakeholder collaboration and integration.