Melanie Rich

The workplace has evolved significantly over the previous fifteen years, even without the pandemic-driven changes. Collaborative team-based work has become the preferred mode of operation. Existing research into collaborative knowledge-sharing shows a consensus that these are prerequisites to performance, innovation and productivity. Although 22% of the literature acknowledges that the physical environment influences human behaviour, and bibliographic thematic mapping shows that Affordance is a well-established theme in the field. There is a lack of research on the positive or negative impact of the built environment on the User's collaborative behaviour, and only 6% of the literature considers the relationship with the User with Affordance-based design.

The review identifies the Collaboration Ecosystem (CE) components and patterns, including a Boundary object - Affordance Pattern (BAP) in 86% of the literature and the significant disconnect between boundary objects and affordances within the CE. Whilst, Affordance-based theory prioritises the User to improve their effectiveness, such as in collaboration.

The research aims to increase understanding of the interconnectivity between the built environment and the collaborative processes, tools, and techniques. It is the synthesised knowledge from 2012 to 2024 from twenty-one countries across eight broad industry categories, highlighting the global scope and depth of the study.   How is collaboration cultivated, and has existing research considered the relationship with the User and whether the built environment's characteristics influence the User?

These questions are academically valuable and key to unlocking a practical understanding of how the built environment's structural and dynamic characteristics can influence collaborative human behaviour.