Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) plays a key role in determining occupants' productivity at work; however, the analyses in the interconnected factors among building physical, attitudinal, social and demographic components in one study are lacking. To link this research gap, this study investigates these interconnected factors' influence on occupants' IEQ-productivity belief, defined as personal subjective evaluation on the linkage between the impacts of five IEQ aspects (the qualities of indoor temperature, air, natural and electric lighting and acoustics) and productivity.A cross-sectional survey data is collected in university offices from six countries (Brazil, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, Taiwan and the U.S.). Results of multiple linear regression model indicate that IEQ satisfaction is the strongest positive predictor of the IEQ-productivity belief; this relationship is stronger in private offices. Country of residence is the second primary predictor.Several attitudinal-behavioral factors, including thermal comfort, perceived ease of controlling indoor environmental features, attitudes toward sharing controls, and are all positively associated with IEQ-productivity belief. Interestingly, the level of control accessibility to light switches has the strongest impact on as opposed to other controls. On the other hand, group norms and conformity intention were not significant predictors. Regarding demographics, men are more likely to perceive the IEQs has positive impacts on their productivity than women without considering other variables in the regression model; on the contrary, women are more likely to consider all IEQs as having positive impacts on productivity than men, after considering other variables. Our findings provide suggestions in helping prioritize wellness in workplaces.

This study investigates human-building interaction in office spaces across multiple countries including Brazil, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, the United States, and Taiwan. We analyze social-psychological, contextual, and demographic factors to explain crosscountry differences in adaptive thermal actions (i.e. cooling and heating behaviors) and conformity to the norms of sharing indoor environmental control features, an indicator of energy consumption. Specifically, personal adjustments such as putting on extra clothes are generally preferred over technological solutions such as adjusting thermostats in reaction to thermal discomfort. Social-psychological factors including attitudes, perceived behavioral control, injunctive norms, and perceived impact of indoor environmental quality on work productivity influence occupants' intention to conform to the norms of sharing environmental control features. Lastly, accessibility to environmental control features, office type, gender, and age are also important factors. These findings demonstrate the roles of social-psychological and certain contextual factors in occupants' interactions with building design as well as their behavior of sharing environmental control features, both of which 2 significantly influence building energy consumption, and thus, broader decarbonization.

Hot and dry climate and air pollution is a growing problem in urban areas, and this can have an adverse impact on life and health of urban residents. One of the ways to protect people from this hazard is the use of urban green or street greenery. However, its implementation can be problematic in highly urbanized areas. This paper presents a concept of the green structure (GS), designed, and is still being developed, by Adam Kalinowski where cooling efficiency is based on the synergy of shade and evapotranspiration. The GS that could be used as street furniture, small architecture form or a public utility structure intended to protect people and objects from an adverse urban environment, at the same time providing pleasant and healthy microclimate inside. The pilot project-the first application of the GS in the urban environment-is presented and the results of short-term measurements of temperature and humidity are provided and analyzed. Moreover, a simple dynamic simulation of the GS performance in courtyards has been conducted. The obtained results show the decrease of the perceived temperature within this structure. Depending on climate type, an average potential reduction of Universal Thermal Comfort Index (UTCI) and mean radiant temperature (Tmrt), caused by the GS in a courtyard case study, is 5–8 °C and 17–29 °C, respectively. Performed simulation also confirms that TRNSYS software is an appropriate tool for simple outdoor microclimate analysis. Further research to develop this concept, increase its performance and customize it for different applications are proposed.

This paper introduces a database of 34 field-measured building occupant behavior datasets collected from 15 countries and 39 institutions across 10 climatic zones covering various building types in both commercial and residential sectors. This is a comprehensive global database about building occupant behavior. The database includes occupancy patterns (i.e., presence and people count) and occupant behaviors (i.e., interactions with devices, equipment, and technical systems in buildings). Brick schema models were developed to represent sensor and room metadata information. The database is publicly available, and a website was created for the public to access, query, and download specific datasets or the whole database interactively. The database can help to advance the knowledge and understanding of realistic occupancy patterns and human-building interactions with building systems (e.g., light switching, set-point changes on thermostats, fans on/off, etc.) and envelopes (e.g., window opening/closing). With these more realistic inputs of occupants’ schedules and their interactions with buildings and systems, building designers, energy modelers, and consultants can improve the accuracy of building energy simulation and building load forecasting.