Built Environments and Environmental Buildings: 2nd Edition

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 October 2025 | Viewed by 109

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, 2 CONSTRUCT-LESE, Faculty of Engineering (FEUP), University of Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal
Interests: civil and environmental engineering; bridge design and assessment; rehabilitation and retrofit of structurers; earthquake engineering; experimental testing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
RISCO-Risks and Sustainability in Construction, Civil Engineering Department, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
Interests: advanced building physics; building technology; innovative building solutions and components; material testing; building simulation; sustainable construction
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, Barbosa 44, 4900-347 Viana do Castelo, Portugal
Interests: life-cycle cost analysis; genetic algorithms optimization; sustainable construction materials; degradation models; risk analysis; bridge management systems; structures inspection and assessment; intelligent decision support system
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The sustainability and maintenance of existing buildings and infrastructure remain ongoing challenges and, over time, methodologies for assessing and protecting our built environment have evolved in response to severe events, climatic changes, and economic, architectural, and social developments. Learning from past interventions is key to finding innovative solutions that enhance the durability, resilience, comfort, and sustainability of the built environment.

This Special Issue invites original contributions that explore emerging research trends, case studies, pilot projects, reviews, and state-of-the-art discussions related to built environments and environmental buildings. We welcome submissions covering theoretical or applied research in areas such as building physics, materials science, engineering, structural assessment, life cycle analysis, and other disciplines focusing on the preservation, rehabilitation, retrofitting, and sustainability of buildings and infrastructure.

We encourage papers including, but not limited to, the following topics and related areas:

  • Eco-friendly construction materials (bio-inspired materials, mycelium, bamboo, recycled materials) and their applications in self-repair structures and sustainable buildings;
  • Durable materials for coastal and offshore infrastructure;
  • Offshore renewable energy and resilient urban waterfront designs;
  • Diagnosis and characterization of damage in building structures and infrastructure;
  • In situ testing methods, laboratory tests, numerical simulations, and modeling;
  • Sustainable treatments, products, or solutions;
  • Preventive conservation and rehabilitation of constructions;
  • Environmental monitoring, including moisture, condensation, and related factors;
  • The integration of renewable energy systems into buildings;
  • The design of disaster-resilient buildings and infrastructure;
  • The impacts of climate change on building performance;
  • Smart materials for energy storage systems;
  • Advances in modular, prefabricated, and 3D-printed construction;
  • Circular economy principles, life cycle assessment and cost–benefit analysis;
  • Smart technologies, digital twins, and building information modelling (BIM);
  • AI and machine learning applications for the built environment.

We look forward to receiving your valuable contributions to this Special Issue.

Dr. Pedro Delgado
Dr. Romeu da Silva Vicente
Prof. Dr. Joana Maia de Oliveira Almeida
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

  • civil and environmental engineering
  • sustainability of buildings and constructions
  • digital tools for construction and maintenance
  • risk mitigation in structures and infrastructure
  • life- cycle analysis and cost–benefit assessment
  • assessment of buildings and bridges
  • rehabilitation and strengthening
  • coastal and offshore infrastructures

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Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
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