Social impacts on users and community : methodological approach and a sustainable building case study

The buildings have an important environmental and social footprint, and to respond to that, the sustainable buildings are the new tendency of the building sector. To reduce the negative impacts associated to it, accreditations like LEED were developed, but it is mostly focused on the environmental aspects, and the social criteria are sadly neglected. This project research aims to develop a methodological approach to measure the social impacts of sustainable building projects, on the users (residents, employees) and the local community. The methodology includes a literature review on various field of research (architecture, urbanism, environmental psychology, social life cycle assessment), a series of semi-directed interviews with experts in these fields, and finally a case study of a sustainable building. The internship at Gestion Immobilière Quo Vadis will enable to develop the appropriate tool to evaluate the social performance of a sustainable building.

Faculty Supervisor:

Cécile Bulle

Student:

Marie-Hélène Vaillancourt

Partner:

Gestion immobilière Quo Vadis Inc

Discipline:

Environmental sciences

Sector:

Construction and infrastructure

University:

Université du Québec à Montréal