Human-centric buildings for a changing climate: Introducing a new International Energy Agency research network

As building energy and health targets increase, occupants’ influence on (and interactions with) their buildings is becoming more significant. Behaviors, such as daily routines, purchasing decisions, and responses to extreme events, directly impact energy use and health-related conditions within buildings. This dynamic is further shaped by global shifts such as teleworking, co-working, and home-sharing, which disrupt traditionally assumed occupancy patterns. Additionally, growing expectations for comfort and the integration of new technologies intensify the need to reassess how humans are considered in building design, maintenance, renovation, and operation—bringing a human-centric lens to traditionally building-focused approaches. This paper introduces a new research network that explores four key areas in the context of human-centric buildings in a changing climate: (1) individual human-building interactions, (2) community-scale interactions, (3) building (re)design, and (4) building operations. The Human-Centric Buildings for a Changing Climate (HCB) Network includes over 210 researchers from approximately 30 countries and multiple disciplines, including engineering, architecture, computer science, psychology, urban planning, sociology, public health, economics, and medicine. The objective of this paper is to establish the importance and relevance of these topics and to summarize the planned outcomes of a joint International Energy Agency (IEA) initiative between the Energy in Buildings and Communities (EBC) Programme Annex 95 and a Users Technology Collaboration Programme Task. This work aligns with and advances the goals of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDGs 3 (Health), 7 (Energy), 11 (Sustainable Cities), and 12 (Responsible Consumption), by centering human agency in climate-resilient building strategies.