Human-Centric Buildings and Communities: Prioritising Comfort, Health, Well-being and Energy Efficiency

Dear Colleagues,

The built environment profoundly influences the comfort, health, and overall well-being of occupants. While energy efficiency and carbon reduction remain critical, there is a growing need to shift from purely performance-driven design towards human-centric building and community design and operation.

We invite original research, reviews, case studies and methodological papers that advance a human‑centric paradigm where comfort, health, productivity and overall well‑being are primary performance metrics throughout the design, construction and operation of buildings and communities. Contributions may address experimental studies, numerical simulations, monitoring approaches, design or operational strategies, and policy and standards that integrate the needs of occupants.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Human-centric design strategies for buildings and communities;
• Human-centric building and community-scale operation;
• Multimodal thermal comfort;
• Building performance and occupant health outcomes;
• Real-time monitoring of comfort and health metrics;
• Adaptive control systems that respond to real-time occupant feedback;
• Policy, standards and certification schemes that embed human-centric criteria;
• Design of flexible, inclusive spaces that accommodate diverse user needs;
• Quantification of productivity;
• Indoor conditions and well-being gains in workplaces, schools, healthcare settings, housing, and community facilities;
• Personal environmental control systems (PECS).

This Special Issue was also developed in the context of the Human-Centric-Buildings (HCB) Network/IEA EBC Annex 95/Users TCP Task Human-Centric Buildings for a Changing Climate.

Dr. Hu Du
Dr. Roberto Rugani
Dr. Marco Picco
Guest Editors

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