Mapping Building Performance and Wellbeing Assessment Approaches: A Bibliometric Analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33003/fjs-2026-1021-6253Keywords:
Bibliometric Analysis, Building Health Assessment, Wellbeing, occupant experience Assessment modelsAbstract
In research, the environmental quality of the indoor environment is usually assessed through building performance and wellbeing assessment approaches, which studies show are usually disconnected. Historically, building performance assessment approaches have largely focused on energy efficiency, carbon emissions, and resource consumption, while occupant experience studies focus on factors such as thermal and visual comfort, indoor air quality, perceived comfort, and psychological well-being. This separation creates a limited understanding of how building performance conditions interact with human experience. Therefore, this paper aims to examine how building performance and wellbeing assessment approaches have been integrated over time, employing a literature review method that combines bibliometric analysis of studies which span from 1989 - September 2026 through papers sourced on Scopus database. The findings reveal that building performance and wellbeing are assessed largely through separate pathways, with indoor environmental quality emerging as the main point of convergence between them. The geographic spread, spanning North-America, Europe, the Middle-East and East-Asia indicates that building performance and wellbeing assessment is a genuinely international research priority which highlights a gap in this study for the African context. Furthermore, building performance is mainly assessed through green building rating systems, Particularly BREEAM and wellbeing through WELL. The study highlights the need for more integrated assessment frameworks that consider physical building performance, occupant wellbeing and organisational outcomes within a common approach.
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