Abstract

One of the most important challenges of our time is sustainability which has recently been linked to project management. The logic behind this connection is that sustainability needs change and projects bring about change. Meanwhile, the management of affordable housing projects, conceptually and operationally, has a high capacity to include sustainability in its dimensions; however it has received little attention in the literature. In this study in order to address this knowledge gap, at first the conceptual framework, boundaries, and key factors for incorporating sustainability into project management were identified through a systematic review of the literature. Then, in order to explain the obtained theoretical model, the perception of managers of construction companies in Isfahan Concerning sustainable management of affordable housing projects was measured. Besides explaining the proposed model, the results demonstrated that the six factors: "economic and competitive advantage; contextual conditions dominating project management; stakeholder management; project team; social responsibility and technology and environmental design" together account for 64.76% of the total variance of the model. It is worth noting that, the nature of affordable housing projects in targeting low-income urban groups, has brought about economic and competitive advantages as the most important components which have a significant role in achieving sustainability in Their management.