Social Sustainability Assessment in Urban Building Construction: A Mixed-Methods Framework for Developing Countries with Evidence from Pakistan

The social dimension of sustainability in building construction has long occupied an uncomfortable position in the research literature; acknowledged in theory, yet sidelined in practice. Environmental performance dominates assessment frameworks globally, while economic viability commands institutional attention. What is left, all too often, is a thin layer of social indicators that lack contextual grounding, statistical validation, or practical operationalizability, particularly in rapidly urbanizing settings across the developing world. This study confronts that gap directly. Drawing on an original mixed-methods investigation conducted across the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan, we develop and validate a comprehensive social sustainability assessment framework specifically tailored to building construction projects in South Asian urban environments. Employing a three-round Delphi technique with industry experts, a structured Likert-scale survey administered to 50 experienced construction professionals, and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using AMOS, the study identifies and statistically validates eighteen social sustainability indicators organized under five latent constructs: (i) Social Responsibility and Human Well-being, (ii) Institutional Governance and Knowledge, (iii) Stakeholder Engagement and Community Trust, (iv) Workforce Development and Labor Equity, and (v) Inclusive Design and Service Accessibility. Reliability analysis returned a Cronbach's alpha of 0.984, while the Relative Importance Index (RII) ranked project experience (SCL8, RII = 0.856), health, safety and environment at the site (SCL7, RII = 0.848), and project manager awareness (SCL12, RII = 0.828) as the most influential indicators. Kruskal-Wallis tests confirmed cross-group consensus. Crucially, the study finds that social sustainability is not merely a welfare afterthought, it is deeply interwoven with economic performance and environmental stewardship through measurable cross-pillar correlations. The resulting framework, the first of its kind validated through expert consensus and inferential statistics within the Pakistan context, offers a practical decision-support tool for project managers, urban planners, and regulatory bodies including the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) and the Capital Development Authority (CDA). Broader implications for South Asian and developing-country construction governance are discussed.