A call for action: Constructing solutions for the sustainable development goals

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the current, global call for action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. The built environment, hereunder the construction management community, plays a central role in developing solution to meet the SDGs. This paper reports on the findings from a workshop organised as part of ARCOM 2017 conference, where the participants explored "what the academic community around construction management can do to address the SDGs?" The results reveal a consensus that the SDGs are important and that researchers and educators have a pivotal role in addressing them. However, this requires connecting research and education with other domains like policy, industry, technology and civil society. In addition, the suggested strategies all includes social and technological components, including winning the hearts and minds of the wider public and creating international mind-sets, and bridging developing and developed countries. Based on the findings from the workshop, a research agenda informed by the SDGs is suggested. The agenda should cover activities like (1) understanding the complex relationships between different goals, solutions and stakeholders, (2) establishing measures for evaluating progress and impact, (3) formulating specific projects for addressing targets of the goals globally and locally and (4) facilitating knowledge transfer between developed and
developing countries.