Balancing economical and environmental trade-off in modular construction yard planning: Models and properties

This study investigates an integrated yard planning and module transportation problem in modular integrated construction (MiC). A Stackelberg game model is proposed to characterize the relations between the government and contractors. The government is the leader and decides the locations and areas of temporary storage yards to facilitate the cost-effective and eco-friendly transportation of MiC modules. The contractors are the followers and decide the transport mode (i.e., road transport or intermodal transport) for modules to minimize their total transportation costs. This study provides an in-depth analysis of model properties to derive a number of useful managerial insights. The economical and environmental trade-offs between costs and emissions are observed. Our study further proves that an optimal solution is likely to simultaneously reduce the overall costs and carbon emissions, in comparison to choosing the location with the largest area to construct a temporary storage yard. These insights offer a comprehensive framework for understanding the interactions between government and contractors. Overall, this paper aims to promote the implementation of MiC by achieving the economical and sustainable transportation of MiC modules.