Do green buildings drive a better living experience? A systematic literature review of occupant-centred aspects in green building certification

Cao, Danlun;Maskarenj, Marshal;Li, S;Altomonte, Sergio
(2025) CISBAT 2025 - The Built Environment in Transition — Location: Lausanne, Switzerland (3.September.2025)

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Studies on the impacts of green building certification from the perspective of building occupants have not yet comprehensively ascertained: how certification might drive the perception of well-being; to what extent certification may encourage pro-environmental behaviours; whether such behaviours may be sustained by positively-perceived settings in green buildings. To consolidate existing knowledge, a systematic literature review was conducted using two databases, Scopus and the Web of Science. The PICOC (Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome, and Context) criteria guided keyword selection and search string definition, leading to retrieve 303 articles published between 2014 and 2024. After excluding irrelevant records following the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) flowchart, 107 papers were retained using Quality Assessment checklist. Finally, 16 studies were included in this review. The findings highlight a general positive impact of green building certification on occupants' perceptual and behavioural experiences. However, this positive impact is not consistently sustained, owing to multiple contextual factors, individual characteristics, and other influencing variables. Furthermore, due to the complexity of the relationships at play, particularly regarding subjective well-being and related concepts such as comfort and satisfaction, there is still a lack of clarity in definitions and implementation scopes. No conclusive evidence was found on how pro-environmental behaviours might effectively be enhanced among building users. The results of this paper represent the initial steps of a broader research effort aiming to support rating bodies and accredited professionals towards more effectively integrating occupant-centred aspects into the design and implementation of green building certification systems.
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Cao, D., Maskarenj, M., Li, S., & Altomonte, S. (2025). Do green buildings drive a better living experience? A systematic literature review of occupant-centred aspects in green building certification. CISBAT 2025 Conference Proceedings. Published. CISBAT 2025 - The Built Environment in Transition, Lausanne, Switzerland. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/249097