Maturity Attributes of Designing Out Waste for Building Design Firms in Lower-Income Countries: A Systematic Literature Review

The systemic adoption of ‘Design out Waste (DoW)’ strategies hold significant potentials for achieving the transition to ‘narrowing the loop’ of materials use and promoting regenerative design practices in the building sector. However, building design firms in lower-income countries lack maturity models that provide structured guidance to support the transition. This research conducted a systematic literature review of 61 journal articles to identify the maturity attributes that influence the effective adoption of DoW strategies in building design firms in lower-income countries. Seventeen maturity attributes were identified and categorized into five socio-technical dimensions. Among these, ‘Processes & Procedures’ emerged as the most influential, with ‘Social & Awareness’ identified as the most critical attribute. Moreover, the findings highlight the persistently limited synergy between technological capabilities and financial resources in effectively mitigating construction waste across the building lifecycle. Future research will focus on validating the identified attributes using feedback form industry practitioners and developing a maturity model to support the systemic implementation of DoW strategies in building design firms in lower-income countries.