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Design flexibility in managing infrastructure projects: Contributing factors and research avenues

Atli, Kubra; Krystallis, Ilias; (2025) Design flexibility in managing infrastructure projects: Contributing factors and research avenues. International Journal of Project Management , 43 (1) , Article 102675. 10.1016/j.ijproman.2025.102675. Green open access

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Abstract

Managing infrastructure projects often presents challenges in maintaining flexibility throughout their lifecycle, which limits their ability to adapt to evolving and uncertain conditions. This systematic literature review examines the factors that accelerate design flexibility in the management of infrastructure projects. Analyzing 50 articles from a dataset of 11,443, we identified several key factors, organized into seven clusters across three levels: individuals, organizations, and inter-organizational relationships and three operational dimensions of design flexibility. These factors help to expand the concept of flexibility beyond its traditional association with engineering product design to encompass managerial project design. Building on Simon's design theory, this study frames design flexibility as a proactive and strategic asset. We offer future research directions to further broaden the scope of flexibility in project management. This study contributes to ongoing debates in project management on how to enhance project performance in uncertain conditions, by addressing the challenge of balancing flexibility and control.

Type: Article
Title: Design flexibility in managing infrastructure projects: Contributing factors and research avenues
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2025.102675
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2025.102675
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Keywords: Design flexibility; Construction; Uncertainty; Risk; Project management; Decision-making
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10204031
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