On the Active Involvement of Occupants for Improving the Thermal Resilience of Buildings: An Opportunity Still Overlooked

Abstract

Climate change and extreme weather compromise building energy performance and Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, impacting occupant wellbeing and health. However, occupants can naturally adapt through their behaviors, representing a form of intrinsic resilience that enhances the building’s capacity to handle thermal extremes. This study explores the role of occupants in buildings’ thermal resilience; it begins by investigating passive and active strategies commonly discussed in the literature, then analyzes whether occupants are treated as passive or active subjects with adaptive capacity. Four databases were consulted, and 22 peer-reviewed papers were screened based on the following criteria: a clear definition of thermal resilient buildings, inclusion of at least one quantitative method for assessing whole-building resilience, original scientific contribution, and a focus on whole-building rather than component-level resilience. Analysis highlights that the intrinsic thermal resilience of occupants has received limited importance in current discourse on building resilience; in most studies (12 out of 22), occupants are treated as passive thermal loads, with no adaptive behavior considered. This study also suggests examining strategies traditionally used in energy efficiency and indoor comfort as a preliminary approach to encourage adaptive behaviors, and, above all, opens a discussion on integrating occupant behavior into resilience strategies.