ABSTRACT
In the green building research area, more and more studies have been carried out on prefabricated buildings, as the life cycle assessment (LCA) has found that the carbon footprint and primary energy footprint of prefabricated buildings during their entire life cycle are much lower than the traditional concrete constructions. Few current prefab building studies have focused on the supply of components, which would increase carbon emissions and the cost of delivery. Therefore, measuring the spatial accessibility of prefab suppliers to the areas in demand would be a key step in planning the prefab suppliers for carbon emission reduction, an integral part of conducting urban service facility planning and promoting.
A case study has been carried out in Fuzhou city to address the issue of supply chain and the spatial accessibility of prefab building-related suppliers. A quantitative analysis is carried out with the Gaussian two-step moving search method, and the output is visualized with the ArcGIS software package.
Three significant results emerged. Firstly, the core high-value areas are located in the central regions, including Gulou District, Taijiang District, and Cangshan District. Secondly, there are significant differences in the spatial configuration of the supply of prefab building materials in each region of the city. Finally, from the perspective of industrial development planning, the supply and demand imbalance areas are identified. Correspondently, three planning strategies are proposed to provide a reference for urban operation managers, which would enhance the development of the building industry heading towards the goal of “double carbon.”
