An initiative by IPRE – Institute of Property Research

Smart Occupancy refers to intelligent forms of management and use of the built environment. The definition and thoughts behind Smart Occupancy aim to increase the positive effects such as innovation and knowledge transfer between individuals and organizations associated with human activities. Further on, to decrease the negative effects, especially on the environment, public authorities or businesses.

For instance, school rooms, lecture halls and office workplaces are over 90% of their lifetime and about 65% of their operating time without any use, empty. Prof. Dietmar Wiegand pointed this out in a range of extensive research in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The number of supported human activities or the intensity of building usage has been ignored so far in the ecological valuation of properties.

Above all, the initiative states that climate-relevant emissions of a property, as well as the life-cycle costs, should not be based on the gross floor area or gross volume of a property, but rather on the used units of the property.

The researches behind Smart Occupancy have developed new measures for the ecological evaluation of buildings, based on human activities. The Institute is working on tools (more-space.ch) intensively with partners – such as the Swiss GESIM (gesim.ch) -, that make the use of the built environment more intelligent, promote innovation and conserve resources.