Evaluating risk factors at building construction processes with actor network theory

The aim of the building production is to complete the project with the determined quality, time and sources. Perception of building production at Turkey has been evolved during globalisation process according to the World building production trends. Rising of construction sector at last decade made processes more complicated and dynamic with its multi-actored context. This complex contexture is related with each actor's actions according their own interests. So this disagreements and conflicts between actors brings risks. Investigating these elements of risks helps to minimize conflicts and disagreements. The limited zoning areas at metropolis causes the one-story houses transform to high-rised buildings through technological developments and possibility of various construction materials. In addition to this traffic-jam at big cities as Istanbul triggered mixed-use buldings that provides plenty of functions. Higher purchasing power at 2000's, the meta value of structures, prestige advertisings and the life style of the day made users prefer mixed-use buildings. Space perception has been configured according social and economic effects, so the structured become to host various functions. This new structural style transformed building production processes in a complex way. Mixed-use buildings (are compose of office, dwelling, playfield, entertainment venues, playgrounds, educational fields, hotels) that includes various functional structures made project scale get bigger, so the production processes get longer and complicated. Various actors takes places at production processes according to their own interests since mixed-use buildings handles different functionaled spaces in the same project. In this regard, various work items, materials, machines, standards, contracts, specifications are defines the relation between actors also the style of transact business. This multi-actored relations can handle in various ways, but these relations are formed by contracts that determined by actors. The number of materials also the standards and regulations are determined by actors. Also the number of these participators (Actors like humans and non-humans like contracts, regulations) are related to project's scale and nowadays structure formats are getting more and more complicated. Thus, building production processes are bring up against with various conflicts and uncertainties that can be named as risks among building production processes. These risks are effecting business quality and style, due date, materials, cost and staff. Multi-participated building production processes's relations among these actors is handles at construction industry, but also it is possible to handle this subject among one of social science's methodology: Actor-Network Theory (ANT). So this social science product methodology can handle building production processes due to it's essence: Various participants can rally and these participant's several relations can be revealed. Some problems among actors are originated of their contacts and these relations are formed with a set of factors at building production processes. In accordance with this purpose, our aim is to set out the relation among stakeholders to visualise problems and negative risks in the context of relations. Each project harbor different participants, distinctive risks due to different conditions. Even same actor takes role at different projects; contracts, materials, location are unique, so the business relationship between actors. The methodology apparents risk factors and problems among stakeholders with visualising the relations between stakeholders. So it is possible to creating different relation maps, showing different relation styles, handling the importance of materials apart from social relations between actors effects in the meaning of strength and how it affects to determinate risks before risk happening. The distinctive point of the methodology is to handle each project's building production processes in the meaning of handling the risky building production processes with it's multi-actored and complicated work-items due to altered building production processes. In this regard due to it's multi-actored, mixed-use structure, large-scaled, frequently revised processes, dynamic phases we studied BDDK Building Project at this thesis. Interviews with actors of BDDK Building Project, their approaches at process, projects, documents had been studied; influencing factors and general situation has been scrutinised as fieldwork research.Then various risk factors as materials, user needs, contracts that prepared by actors, codes that related about building production processes has been mapped with an relation-network at this research to determinate relations at all along building production processes that alter and form relations. The relations among building production processes aims to determine these complicated, huge scaled big building production processes with the help of Actor-Network Theory. This study aims to lead to future studies in Turkey about ANT especially at building production since current studies are mostly consist of ANT theory. • In this regard, the 1st Chapter of this thesis is about literature survey, aim of the study and fiction of study. Theorical informations has been studied about Risk subject In the Regard of Building Production and Actor-Network Theory with the help of articles, thesises, boks, magazines to set up a substructure of this stud. • Second chapter is about risk subject in regard of building production among of risk concept and risk factors. According to this idea, each building production process has its own risks, so Actor-Network Theory methodology can be used to understand relations between all participators with forecasting of risk factors. • 3rd Chapter of thesis in both theorical way and also in regard of building production. At this point, building production processes can be handled at Actor-Network due to it's essence that is about multi-actored complicated phases. So our aim is to determine both actor's reletions among themselves and their relations among Actor-Network. • 4th Chapter of the study is about field survey. This chapter is about the method of study, knowledge acquisition processes and it also includes informations about investment phases and production phases of the choosen work item BDDK Building Project. Also this chapter aims to understand how to put theory into practice of Actor-Network Theory. So, the potential risks factors: actors and actant participants has been tabulated systematically. Then vectors has been added, Kara Kutu has been formed and Actor-Network mapping phases determined. Keywords: Actor Network Theory (ANT), Actor-Network, Building Production, Risk, Mixed-Use Buildings