Study on sustainable project management based on lifecycle theory

Sustainable development has been a common principle for the social development of human beings in the 21st century. Constructing green economy and green market is the common target which people are struggling for, and people are paying more attention to the sustainability of projects. This paper will consider nature, community and economy as an integrated system, exercise the idea of sustainability into project management on the administrative level of whole social and economy, and put forward a concept of sustainable project management (SPM). By defining its conception and comparing between the traditional project management and sustainable project management with comparison research method, this paper analyzes its inevitable trend of carrying out sustainable project management and deems the sustainable project management as the way of thought changes from realistic thought to rational thought and then to the philosophy thought. This paper studies how to achieve sustainable project management during stages from decision-making, R&D and design, implementation, and operation all along to life expiry with Life Cycle Theory to make the project satisfy the requirement of harmony development among economy, environment and community. The author deems that only exercise sustainable project management in the entire project life cycle, and stand high at the level of nature and social systems, can ensure the projects to be sustainable. Entire life cycle sustainable project management is the extension and development based on the traditional project management, and it serves the implementation of sustainable development strategy with a new managerial model and tool.