Leveraging Virtual Reality (VR) to Enhance Construction Design Management (CDM)

Abstract

This study presents a systematic and bibliometric review exploring how Virtual Reality (VR) enhances Construction Design Management (CDM) through improved visualization, collaboration, and safety integration. Using the Web of Science Core Collection as the primary database, 59 peer-reviewed publications from 1999 to 2025 were analyzed using VOSviewer for keyword co-occurrence, author and journal co-citation, and document clustering to map the intellectual and thematic structure of VR-CDM research. The analysis reveals that global interest in VR applications within CDM has accelerated significantly since 2017, driven by the industry’s digital transformation under Construction 4.0. The United States, the United Kingdom, and Italy dominate the research landscape, while developing nations, including Malaysia, remain underrepresented. Four dominant research clusters were identified: (1) design visualization and collaborative review, (2) BIM–VR integration, (3) safety management and training, and (4) human–technology interaction. The findings underscore VR’s transformative potential in supporting safe-by-design and prevention-through-design principles by enabling early hazard identification and participatory design reviews. However, adoption remains constrained by high costs, interoperability challenges, a lack of standardization, and limited empirical validation. This review concludes that VR serves as a pivotal enabler for proactive, data-driven, and safety-oriented design management in the Construction 4.0 era. Future research should integrate VR with Artificial Intelligence (AI), Digital Twins, and Extended Reality (XR) to create intelligent safety design ecosystems aligned with evolving regulatory frameworks such as Malaysia’s Occupational Safety and Health (Construction Work) (Design and Management) Regulations 2024.