The importance of post-occupancy evaluation (POE) is widely acknowledged in the academic literature, industry press and, increasingly, by professional institutes. Learning from previous projects systematically is central to improving building performance, resulting in a built environment that better fits the needs of clients, end users, wider society and the environment. The key role of architects in pushing forward this agenda has been recognized, however evidence suggests that take up of POE is low across the profession. Whilst research has investigated barriers to POE across the construction industry, very little has considered the unique perspective of architects. In-depth interviews with UK-based architects are presented to explore their experiences in relation to POE and their perspectives on its potential to be a standard part of architectural practice. The findings indicate that a considerable amount of practical work is being undertaken, but uncertainty over what constitutes POE means it is often excluded from the POE label -with significant implications for the development of a rigorous evidence base. An appetite is identified for more holistic evaluation measures that move beyond the current preoccupation with energy efficiency to consider other aspects of building performance, and thereby sustainability, in a wider value framework.

The effective measurement and dissemination of the impact of design on building users requires an evaluative shift away from measuring building performance towards measuring the outcomes experienced by people. This agenda shares considerable overlap with the emerging concept of 'social value' and it is proposed that social impact valuation methods could fill the postoccupancy quantification gap. A review of the social impact sector identifies Social Return on Investment (SROI) as the most developed method with a robust framework for implementation. SROI generates monetized results, anticipated to enhance transferability compared with typical post-occupancy evaluation summaries and facilitate the dissemination and usefulness of findings within the design and construction industry. An in-depth account is presented of a study that trials the six stage SROI method in three non-clinical healthcare buildings; interviews, focus groups, user surveys and financial valuation techniques are used. The SROI results are summarized and the discussion provides a critical reflection on the application of SROI to the built environment: the technical challenges faced, the modifications made as a result, and the lessons learnt from this process. The conclusion offers practical recommendations for future applications of SROI to the built environment.

Brazil is the largest economy in Latin America and the world's leading producer and exporter of coffee. Smallholders are the predominant producers of Brazilian coffee and have been significantly impacted by post‐ISI (import substitution industrialisation) neoliberal reforms that swept the nation's agricultural sector beginning in the 1980s. These reforms stimulated increased coffee production while simultaneously diminishing state interventions, including agricultural subsidies, farmer credits, research and development programmes, extension services, and rural development initiatives. These changes were closely followed by major restructuring of the global coffee market and the elimination of international coffee export quotas. Our research joins a growing body of recent literature exploring how changes related to market liberalisation and globalisation affect localities and regions where producers supply coffee for conventional markets. Through a case study, we describe the impacts of neoliberal globalisation on the lives, livelihoods, and environment of small‐scale coffee producers in Minas Gerais, Brazil. We explore how neoliberal reform, reflected in the specific historical, geographical, and environmental context of Brazilian coffee production, has resulted in the increased marginalisation of small‐scale farmers, the degradation of soils, and overall rural decline.

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Considerable overlap exists between post-occupancy research evaluating building design quality and the concept of ‘social value’, popularised by its recent application to issues of the public realm. To outline this potential research agenda, the paper reviews design quality research on buildings in relation to users and their social context where the term ‘social context’ refers to building user group dynamics, a combination of organisational cultures, management strategies, and social norms and practices. The review is conducted across five key building types, namely housing, workplaces, healthcare, education, and the retail/service sector. Research commonalities and gaps are identified in order to build a more comprehensive picture of the design quality literature and its handling of users in their social context. The key findings concerning each building type are presented visually. It is concluded that the design quality field comprises a patchwork of relatively isolated studies of various building types, with significant potential for theoretical and empirical development through interdisciplinary collaboration. Users tend to be conceived as anonymous and autonomous individuals with little analysis of user identity or interaction. Further, the contextual impact of user group dynamics on the relationship between building design and building user is rarely addressed in the literature. Producing a more nuanced understanding of users in situ is proposed as an important area for future design quality research.