A roadmap for present focus and future trends of blockchain technology in the built environment

Blockchain technology has gained attention across the globe within the last 10 years and has taken centre stage in the financial technology sector. Even though innovation that applies to the construction industry is sometimes different from what is obtainable in other sectors, they share the same unique features. Therefore, this makes blockchain technology relevant to the built environment. This study aims to assess the research studies carried out on blockchain technology in the built environment domain in a bid to draw knowledge from the present focus of these studies while identifying research gaps for future studies. To achieve this, a scientometric review was carried out, and SCOPUS database was searched for studies related to blockchain technology in the built environment. The retrieved documents showed the first publication on this study area was made in 2017. Hence, this study covered research publications from 2017 to 2021. The findings revealed that most of these studies are not experimental as they only rely on literature from other sectors to draw conclusions for the built environment. The study further revealed that most of the publications in this domain are from the USA, Australia, India and the United Kingdom with only two publications from the African continent. This shows a research gap that can be explored from the African perspective. From the cluster analysis, research in this domain has focused primarily on blockchain technology components and only a few practical fields of its application. It was thus recommended that experimental and case study research should be carried out on its application in asset management and transfer, smart city development, land use, data/information management, cyber-physical systems, among others. Practically, the study highlighted blockchain technology usefulness in promoting social and economic sustainability of the built environment through its different applicabilities.