A review of research on multi-stakeholder approaches to sustainable built environments

To effectively deal with the role of the built environment regarding global challenges such as energy transition, climate change, and communal resilience, multiple stakeholders must collaborate in a complex spatio-temporal context. These include buildings’ users, planners and engineers, policy makers, as well as experts from fields such as psychology, sociology, and economics. Given the complexity of the challenges and the multiplicity of the agents involved, mono-dimensional (e.g., technology-centric) approaches are unlikely to yield optimal solutions. The relevance of this assertion is further supported by the observation that, whilst challenges such as climate change and energy transition have a global nature, the decision scope of local agents are limited. In this context, the present contribution entails a systematic review, following the PRISMA framework, of recent scientific literature regarding multi-stakeholder approaches to sustainability-oriented interventions in the built environments. After a multi-step identification and screening process, 84 peer-reviewed publications were selected for an in-depth review. The results of the review include key characteristics of stakeholders’ roles and involvement, as well as methods and tools of collaboration. A central finding pertains to the underrepresentation of those stakeholders who are not directly responsible for technical project execution (including occupants, financial consultants, public interest groups) but are rather viewed as consultants. As such, the decision authority lies predominantly with professional actors. Furthermore, the review shows weak formalization of decision-making logic. Moreover, the review highlights lessons learnt from past initiatives in this area and potential implications for future multi-stakeholder strategies for designing and operating sustainable built environments.