A framework for evaluating user involvement methods in architectural, engineering, and construction projects

Architects can hardly evaluate and compare different user involvement methods and choose appropriate ones for their projects unless they have a framework that connects theoretical concepts of user involvement with practical methods. This paper seeks to develop such a framework that satisfies the following four characteristics: (1) architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) project context; (2) direct mapping of the methods; (3) including virtual users as computational agents; and (4) the architect's perspective. This paper then reviews seven user involvement methods that are used in practice and classifies them using the framework. As a result, two challenges of existing methods are discovered under this framework: most methods in practice involve users indirectly, and the construction phase still lacks formalized user involvement methods. Thus, the use of virtual design and construction is proposed to address such challenges. This research contributes a framework that connects theories of user involvement with the practical methods to AEC projects.