What is the “DNA” of healthy buildings? A critical review and future directions

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, buildings that provide improved performance have aroused extensive discussion. Nowadays, the connotation of healthy building is becoming complex, performance metrics for healthy buildings vary significantly from different regions in the world and there may be information asymmetry among stakeholders. Consequently, building health performance cannot be effectively achieved. However, previous studies have launched extensive reviews on green building, and there remains a lack of comprehensive and systematic reviews on healthy buildings. To address the above issues, therefore, this research aims to (1) conduct a thorough review of healthy building research and reveal its nature; and (2) identify the current research gaps and propose possible future research directions. Content analysis using NVivo were applied to review 238 relevant publications. A DNA framework of healthy buildings, which clarifies the characteristics, triggers, guides and actions, was then constructed for better understanding of the nature of them. Subsequently, the application of DNA framework and the directions of future research were discussed. Six future research directions were finally recommended, including life-cycle thinking, standard systems improvement, policies & regulations, awareness increase, healthy building examination, and multidisciplinary integration. This research differs from previous ones because it painted a panorama of previous healthy building research. Findings of this research contribute to reveal knowledge map of healthy buildings, guide researchers to fill existing knowledge gaps, provide a standardized platform for healthy building stakeholders, and promote high-quality development of healthy buildings.