| Summary: | This thesis examines cultural values embedded in the LEED-Canada and CASBEE building environmental performance assessment methods, with particular emphasis on those that relate to collective attitudes toward nature in two different contexts: Canada and Japan. The structure and content of LEED-Canada and CASBEE are compared through the lenses of biophilia, technology, and information to expose how the implicit factors that shape society’s composition, structure, industries and understanding influence the priorities and emphases in the two assessment methods. The consequences of the study are fourfold. Firstly, it provides a critically important lens through which to view side-by-side comparisons of building environmental assessment systems. Secondly, by contrasting the differences and identifying similarities in the two countries, the work provides a more informed basis for understanding the transferability of green building design ideas from one culture to another and what problems/opportunities could potentially arise. Thirdly, the study adds weight to the argument that it is critically important to look at buildings as an integral part of natural, cultural, social and economic systems rather than isolated entities. Finally, it seriously questions whether the lack of culture-specific considerations has potentially adverse effects when promoting built environment sustainability in the long term. === Applied Science, Faculty of === Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), School of === Graduate
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