Building better decisions: Why good evidence is used (and ignored) in the built environment sector

Evidence-based decision making (EBDM) is a framework that has yielded huge benefits in fields ranging from medicine to social policy. While the concept is becoming popular in the built environment sector and terms such as “evidence-based design” are now widely used, our research has shown that EBDM is not in fact widely practised, and certainly not to its full potential. The Building Better Decisions report shows that valuable opportunities are being lost as a consequence, including opportunities to create better buildings and increase the expertise of the professionals who make pivotal decisions about how buildings are designed and completed.