SUSTAINABLE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT THROUGH BIOPHILIC DESIGN: STAKEHOLDER PERSPECTIVES OF DEVELOPERS AND RESIDENTS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35631/IJIREV.826030Keywords:
Biophilic Design, Residential Development, Stakeholder Perception, Sustainability, Sustainable HousingAbstract
This study examines how stakeholder perception shapes the relationship between biophilic design and sustainability outcomes in residential development. Two stakeholder groups were studied in Bahria Town, Karachi, Pakistan: developers, who decide whether biophilic features enter a project, and residents, who experience them once built. A quantitative cross-sectional survey collected data from 300 respondents (150 developers, 150 residents) using structured questionnaires on a five-point Likert scale. Because the two groups were measured with group-appropriate indicators, two separate partial least squares structural equation models were estimated in SmartPLS, with reliability analysis conducted in SPSS. Biophilic design significantly influenced stakeholder perception in both groups, and perception in turn significantly influenced sustainability outcomes. The resident model showed partial mediation: the direct effect of biophilic design on sustainability outcomes remained significant alongside the indirect effect. The developer model showed full mediation, with no statistically reliable direct pathway once perception was accounted for. Between-group comparisons are descriptive rather than inferential, since no formal statistical test of group difference was conducted and the two instruments use different indicators. Within that limitation, the developer model produced larger coefficients and explained more variance, but its discriminant validity was not established, with two of three construct pairs exceeding the conservative threshold; the resident model's more modest effects rest on a fully validated measurement model and are the better supported of the two. The findings show that design provision alone does not deliver sustainability outcomes, and that stakeholder perception is the pathway through which it does.
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