Thermal Comfort in Buildings: Scientometric Analysis and Systematic Review

The building sector is one of the most resource-exhausting areas in global energy 12 consumption. Maintaining good thermal comfort for occupants is the leading energy demand 13 in buildings. The primary purpose of the current study is to identify the development of 14 research areas on occupant comfort, pinpoint the gaps in knowledge and recommend 15 directions for future studies. A scientometric analysis and a comprehensive systematic 16 literature review are conducted using 792 sources. It is evident from the exponential increase 17 in published papers that scholars are highly interested in this research topic. However, 18 discrepancies remain between the two fundamental models of evaluating thermal comfort. 19 There is a pressing need to balance thermal comfort while increasing energy efficiency. The 20 foundation of achieving this balance can only be done by correctly evaluating the surrounding 21 environment of occupants and understanding all the factors influencing human thermal 22 comfort conditions. There is also a high potential in employing industry 4.0 technologies to 23 assist in designing more innovative solutions for thermal comfort. Furthermore, there is a 24 need for local thermal standards targeting specific regions. The lack of interoperability 25 between BIM 3D modelling and energy simulation tools remains an obstacle. 26 Yousef Al Horr1, Mohammed Arif2, Amit Kant Kaushik3*, Hord Arsalan4, Ahmed 27 Mazroei5, Muhammad Qasim Rana6 28 1Founding Chairman, Gulf Organisation for Research and Development (GORD), QSTP 29 Tech 1, Level 2, Suite 203, P.O. Box: 210162, Doha, Qatar (alhorr@gord.qa) 30 2FHEA, MCIOB, MIET, CEng, Dean, Dean, Architecture, Technology and Engineering, 31 Professor of Sustainability and Process Management, University of Brighton, C505 32 Cockroft Building, Lewes Road, Brighton, BN2 4GJ, United Kingdom 33 (m.arif@brighton.ac.uk) 34 3FHEA, ACIAT, Assistant Professor, Architecture & Built Environment Department, 35 Northumbria University, ELT 212, Ellison Terrace, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8ST, 36 United Kingdom (Corresponding author: Amit.kaushik@northumbria.ac.uk) 37 4Research Associate, School of Architecture & Built Environment (SoABE), Springfield 38 Campus, Grimstone Street, Wolverhampton, WV10 0JP, UK, (h.f.arsalan@wlv.ac.uk). 39 5Advisor, Qatari Diar Real Estate Development Co. Visitor Center Building, Lusail, Doha, 40 Qatar (qatar22@gmail.com) 41 6Academic Tutor, School of Built Environment, University College of Estate 42 Management, 60 Queens’s Road, Reading, RG1 4BS, UK (m.rana@ucem.ac.uk) 43