A Conceptual Framework for Classifying Buildings’ Thermal Resilience Indicators

Rising average annual temperatures and more frequent and severe extreme temperature events highlight the need for buildings that are not only sustainable and energy-efficient but also thermally resilient to climate challenges. Quantifying thermal resilience of buildings is therefore essential. However, no widely accepted standardized approach currently exists; instead, researchers rely on a variety of assessment approaches consisting of single or multiple indicators. Furthermore, the indicators currently used to quantify building thermal resilience remain highly heterogeneous and fragmented, making comparisons among studies and assessment approaches challenging. Therefore, providing a structured organization of these indicators may contribute to their improved interpretation and comparability. To contribute to this goal, this study proposes a conceptual framework for organizing existing building thermal resilience indicators according to three complementary dimensions: “impact domain”, “indicator typology”, and “input-data acquisition feasibility”. The framework was applied illustratively to a purposive sample of indicators extracted from selected studies. Within this sample, indoor-environment indicators were more frequent than outdoor-environment indicators, and the identified indicators generally required a moderate level of data acquisition effort. These observations describe the examined sample only and should not be interpreted as representative of the broader literature. The proposed framework may support researchers and practitioners in developing more structured resilience assessment approaches.