Low-Carbon Urban Areas and Neighbourhoods

A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Building Energy, Physics, Environment, and Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 674

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300401, China
Interests: phase change energy storage technology; low-carbon urban and cities; renewable energy utilization technology; building energy efficiency
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Guest Editor
China Academy of Building Research, Beijing 100013, China
Interests: green buildings; low-carbon cities; aging-friendly communities

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Guest Editor
School of Civil Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China
Interests: low-carbon urban and cities; renewable energy building applications; green building theory and technology; comprehensive renovation of existing buildings
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300401, China
Interests: indoor environmental regulation; innovative air flow organization; multi-energy coupling utilization

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

According to UN-Habitat statistics, urban areas, which account for less than 2% of the Earth's surface, consume 78% of global energy and are responsible for over 60% of greenhouse gas emissions. Exploration of the impact of multiple renewable energy coupling supply technologies on carbon reduction in urban and neighborhood settings is of paramount importance. Concurrently, the rational application of key carbon reduction technologies presents an ongoing challenge, and research in this area within the planning field merits attention, holding significant potential for advancing urban low-carbon transitions.

This Special Issue aims to solicit analyses of the benefits of low-carbon technology to cities and neighborhoods across their entire life cycle through case studies, simulations, optimizations, and methodological innovations. It is envisioned that such comprehensive planning and the rational integration of carbon emission reduction technologies will foster high-quality economic and social development alongside high-level ecological environmental protection.

Topics for articles include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Carbon accounting methods at urban and neighborhood scales;
  • Modeling and simulation of district energy systems;
  • Integrated systems of carbon reduction technology and their efficiency simulation algorithms;
  • Coordinated control methods and optimization evaluation systems of coupling applications of various low-carbon technologies;
  • Development of city-level carbon reduction simulation technologies;
  • Research on carbon emission reduction technologies in the urban planning field;
  • Energy system planning configurations for low-carbon cities and blocks;
  • Energy efficiency improvements of single buildings.

Prof. Dr. Xiangfei Kong
Prof. Dr. Haizhu Zhou
Prof. Dr. Yong Ding
Dr. Jihui Yuan
Dr. Han Li
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • carbon accounting
  • urban energy systems
  • district energy modeling
  • carbon reduction technologies
  • efficiency simulation algorithms
  • low-carbon technology integration
  • coordinated control methods
  • optimization evaluation systems
  • urban planning and carbon emissions
  • city-level emission reduction
  • sustainable energy configurations
  • building energy efficiency

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 2566 KiB  
Article
Human Responses to Different Built Hyperthermal Environments After Short-Term Heat Acclimation
by Shuai Zhang, Qingqin Wang, Haizhu Zhou, Tianyang Wang and Guanguan Jia
Buildings 2025, 15(14), 2581; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15142581 - 21 Jul 2025
Viewed by 266
Abstract
Hyperthermal environments are encountered in many situations, and significant heat stress can exacerbate the fatigue perception of individuals and potentially threaten their safety. Heat acclimation (HA) interventions have many benefits in preventing the risk of incidents. However, whether HA interventions in specific environments [...] Read more.
Hyperthermal environments are encountered in many situations, and significant heat stress can exacerbate the fatigue perception of individuals and potentially threaten their safety. Heat acclimation (HA) interventions have many benefits in preventing the risk of incidents. However, whether HA interventions in specific environments can cope with other different hyperthermal environments remains uncertain. In this study, forty-three young male participants were heat-acclimated over 10 days of training on a motorized treadmill in a fixed hyperthermal environment, and they were tested in different hyperthermal environments. Physiological indices (rectal temperature (Tr), heart rate (HR), skin temperature (Tsk), and total sweat loss (Msl)) and subjective perception (rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and thermal sensation votes (TSVs)) were measured during both the heat stress test (HST) sessions and HA training sessions. The results show that HR and Tsk significantly differed between pre- and post-heat acclimation (p < 0.05 for all) following the acclimation program. However, after heat acclimation training, the reduction in Tr (ΔTr) was more notable in lower-ET* environments, and Msl showed distinct changes in different ET* environments. The RPE and TSV decreased after HA interventions, although the difference was not significant. The results indicate that HA can effectively reduce the peak of physiological parameters. However, when subjected to stronger heat stress, the improvement effects of heat acclimation on human responses will be affected. In addition, HA can alleviate physiological thermal strain, thereby reducing the adverse effects on mobility, but it has no effect on the supervisor’s ability to perceive the environment. This study suggests that additional HA training can reduce the risk of activities in high-temperature environments but exhibits different effects under different environmental conditions, indicating that hot acclimation suits have selective effects on the environment. This study provides recommendations for additional HA training before high-temperature activities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low-Carbon Urban Areas and Neighbourhoods)
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