Rethinking the Future of Sustainable Architectural Design and Practices: High-Tech Innovations, Low-Tech Traditions and Nature-Based Design

Dear Colleagues,

The concept of sustainability has evolved significantly since its early associations with balanced resource use in the eighteenth century, expanding today to encompass circularity, resilience, regenerative design and nature-based approaches within the built environment. In the face of accelerating climate change, biodiversity loss and growing social inequalities, the pursuit of a more sustainable and equitable architecture and construction sector has become both increasingly urgent and complex. Addressing these challenges requires transdisciplinary engagement and critical reflection across technical, environmental, social, cultural, political and economic dimensions.

In recent decades, sustainable architectural design and practice have been strongly shaped by technological innovation, including advanced simulation tools, data-driven design processes, digital fabrication and, more recently, artificial intelligence. These advancements have opened up new possibilities for optimizing building performance and managing systemic complexity. Yet, they also prompt critical questions regarding resource consumption, environmental impacts, ethical implications, data governance and social biases embedded in technological systems.

Concurrently, there is a growing resurgence in low-tech, resource-efficient and context-sensitive approaches to architectural design. Often grounded in traditional practices, vernacular knowledge and local materials, these approaches emphasize simplicity and long-term stewardship of resources. In particular, nature-based and bio-based materials such as earth, timber and bamboo are gaining attention for their low embodied energy, regenerative potential and capacity to foster stronger relationships between buildings, natural ecosystems and communities.

Within this evolving landscape, designers and scholars face a critical juncture. Advancing sustainable architecture requires moving beyond incremental improvements towards a renewed understanding of how buildings are designed, built, operated, experienced and adapted across multiple lifecycles. This transformation entails interrogating the balance between high-tech and low-tech strategies, reconciling global paradigms with context-specific practices, and critically examining the interplay between emerging digital technologies and material processes, social values and environmental responsibilities.  

This Special Issue invites original research articles and reviews that advance knowledge, methodologies and practices in sustainable architectural design and practice, with particular attention to the evolving relationship between technology, materiality and society. Contributions may critically examine innovative theories, tools and applications, as well as alternative or hybrid approaches drawing from traditional, low-tech or nature-based strategies. By fostering dialogue across disciplinary perspectives, this Special Issue aims to explore transformative pathways toward a more inclusive and environmentally responsible built environment.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• The impacts and implications of high-tech and low-tech approaches on sustainable architectural design
• Environmental and ethical implications of artificial intelligence and data-driven tools
• Circular design and construction practices
• Lifecycle thinking and the long-term stewardship of buildings and materials
• Nature-based materials (earth, timber, bamboo) in contemporary architecture
• Vernacular architecture and traditional knowledge in future sustainable building design
• Social equity, ethics and inclusivity in sustainable architectural practices

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Rafael Novais Passarelli
Dr. Paola Leardini
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• sustainable architecture
• circular built environment
• natural construction materials
• sustainability assessment
• nature-based solutions, architectural education for sustainability