Connectivity in model-based collaboration: a metaphor perspective on learning and innovation in construction projects

This paper explores how model-based collaboration methods (MBCMs), such as the Last Planner System, both enable and constrain connectivity in construction project settings. Drawing on a 17-month ethnographic case study of a large-scale housing renovation project in Denmark, we examine how formal collaboration structures shape the agency of project actors and influence knowledge sharing. Using metaphor theory as analytical lens, we reveal a paradox between collaborative ideals and situated practices. While MBCMs aim to foster integration through structured coordination, they may simultaneously suppress emergent agency and reinforce disconnection. Our findings demonstrate that connectivity is not a neutral or purely technical outcome, but an emergent property shaped by the interplay of formal structures and situated agency. Using metaphors as analytical lenses, we explain why MBCMs both enable and constrain learning and innovation, offering new insights into their paradoxical role in construction practice.