System Dynamics versus Agent-Based Modeling: A Review of Complexity Simulation in Construction Waste Management

Abstract

The environmental impacts caused by construction waste have attracted increasing attention in recent years. The effective management of construction waste is essential in order to reduce negative environmental influences. Construction waste management (CWM) can be viewed as a complex adaptive system, as it involves not only various factors (e.g., social, economic, and environmental), but also different stakeholders (such as developers, contractors, designers, and governmental departments) simultaneously. System dynamics (SD) and agent-based modeling (ABM) are the two most popular approaches to deal with the complexity in CWM systems. However, the two approaches have their own advantages and drawbacks. The aim of this research is to conduct a comprehensive review and develop a novel model for combining the advantages of both SD and ABM. The research findings revealed that two options can be considered when combining SD with ABM; the two options are discussed.