From Standards to Compliance: Knowledge Structure, Policy Instruments, and Implementation Mechanisms of Indoor Air Quality Governance in Public Buildings—A Scoping Review

Public buildings serve large numbers of occupants, including children and patients, who often have limited control over their exposure, yet the adoption of indoor air quality (IAQ) standards does not automatically ensure sustained compliance. Existing reviews have focused mainly on pollutant exposure, health effects, and engineering controls, and have given less systematic attention to policy instruments and implementation processes. This scoping review followed PRISMA-ScR. Web of Science Core Collection and Scopus were the main databases, supplemented by searches in PubMed/MEDLINE and other databases. Seventy-two peer-reviewed studies were included; 19 standards and policy sources were identified separately to interpret institutional settings and implementation contexts. Publications increased markedly after 2020. Educational and healthcare buildings accounted for 35 and 19 studies, respectively (75.0% combined), whereas only three studies focused specifically on offices. Europe and North America together contributed 37 studies, and 14 studies took World Bank middle-income economies as their main empirical setting. Engineering and technical retrofits and authoritative instruments were discussed more often than economic incentives; monitoring and verification were discussed more often than inspection, enforcement, corrective action, and follow-up. An evidence-informed five-link analytical framework is proposed, running from standard-setting to compliance and governance outcomes. The evidence is concentrated in educational and healthcare buildings; governance evidence for offices and other types remains limited, and cross-type comparison should be strengthened.