Khan, Amirkhani and Martek examine modular construction as a possible response to the global shortage of affordable housing, but focus analytically on why adoption remains limited despite claimed efficiencies in time, cost and production. Their systematic review identifies 75 deterrents across environmental, social-cultural, technical, market, administrative, economic and regulatory categories. The study’s central conceptual contribution is interdependence: barriers do not act as isolated obstacles but form linked systems in which financing, regulation, industry structure and technical practice reinforce one another. Methodologically, the authors combine systematic literature review, Pareto analysis and total interpretive structural modelling to move from enumeration toward a hierarchy of relationships and actionable countermeasures. The paper bridges construction management, housing policy and industrialised building research. Its value for architectural theory lies in showing that reproducibility is not simply a technical property of modular systems; it is an institutional achievement dependent on coordinated markets, standards, financing, procurement cultures and policy environments.
