Climate-Adaptive Built Environments: Design Strategies for a Low-Carbon and Resilient Future
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 2026 | Viewed by 293
Editors
Interests: embodied carbon (EC) and embodied energy (EE); whole life carbon assessment; carbon-negative materials; circular economy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: urban green infrastructure performance; street-tree ecosystem services; climate-adaptive streetscape design; soil–root–built environment interactions; root-zone engineering and sustainable planting systems; microclimate modeling and field measurements
Interests: building hygrothermal performance; high-performance envelopes; green and low-carbon building technologies; climate-adaptive design; urban resilience and liveability
Interests: embodied carbon (EC) and embodied energy (EE); whole life carbon assessment; sustainable manufacturing; circular economy; design for recycling and reuse
Interests: building thermal environment and human thermal comfort; building energy saving and carbon reduction technologies; building mold prevention
Interests: building energy efficiency technologies; high-efficiency and intelligent building envelopes; building thermal performance testing methods; climate wind tunnels
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Cities are increasingly affected by climate change. For this reason, several countries have recognised the construction sector as a key strategic actor in the transition towards a more sustainable future, since it accounts for approximately 39% of global CO2 emissions and nearly one-third of global energy demand. Moreover, it represents a major consumer of raw materials and water and a significant driver of waste generation and land-use change, thereby exerting pressure on multiple planetary boundaries, including climate stability, biosphere integrity, and resource use.
Given the above, we are pleased to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue of Buildings. This Special Issue aims to collect and advance research addressing the connection between architectural innovation, cutting-edge strategies and technologies, and environmental responsibility. Within this framework, climate-adaptive design reframes buildings and infrastructures from static entities into long-lasting, responsive, and low-carbon systems capable of performing under rising temperatures, increasing extreme events, and evolving energy systems.
We welcome original research articles, comprehensive reviews, and case studies that foster an interdisciplinary dialogue towards a low-carbon and climate-resilient future for buildings and infrastructures, with particular attention to:
- Significant reduction in operational emissions through energy efficiency and climate-responsive design strategies;
- Minimisation of embodied emissions by low-carbon, durable, and recyclable materials, as well as innovative solutions for carbon capture and CO2 uptake;
- Promotion of circular resource flows aimed at reducing material consumption and waste generation throughout the life cycle.
Prof. Dr. Roberto Giordano
Dr. Feng Shi
Dr. Bing Li
Dr. Jacopo Andreotti
Dr. Ling Jin
Dr. Lingling 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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
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-anonymized 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
- climate change adaptation solutions
- Whole Life Carbon (WLC) assessment
- operational and embodied carbon emissions climate-resilient buildings and infrastructure
- low-carbon and carbon-negative materials and solutions
- circular economy in construction
- performance-based building design
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