Integrating Users Satisfaction to Support Decisions in Sustainable Developments

With the growing concerns on the environment and the rapid consumption of scarce re-sources, the green building movement and sustainability initiatives started to rapidly grow and stress the importance of sustainable developments and the related benefits under sustainability three dimensions (3D): social, economic, and environmental. Studies showed that current sustainability initiatives and rating systems could not successfully capture the claimed 3-dimensional benefits of sustainability. Most of the sustainability assessment systems and frameworks assign significant weight to environmental credits with an insufficient concentration on social and economic dimensions. Environmental consultants are inclined to follow the client aspirations without balancing user needs and satisfaction to achieve the highest 3D benefits. The study survey showed that lack of knowledge on the impact of green buildings solutions on business value and the lack of public awareness on sustainable developments are two main obstacles towards capturing 3D benefits in the UAE market. The aim of the study is to optimise the sustainability value by integrating the user preferences and levels of satisfaction as a leading role-player in balance with the extent of the scoring points. A survey was conducted to scale the users’ satisfaction on several environmental, social and physical factors, wellbeing provisions selected from LEED and WELL building standards. LEED framework was chosen as a foundation of the study. Hence, the results were transformed to user preferences weight and associated with LEED credit options and UNSDG’s to support practitioners in the UAE on accreditation decisions towards better sustainability benefits.