Innovative Approaches to Resilient and Sustainable Urban and Built Environment Design
A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Architectural Design, Urban Science, and Real Estate".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2026 | Viewed by 130
Special Issue Editors
Interests: housing and community development; climate resilience; sustainable real estate; urban economics
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Urban areas are confronting accelerating climate risks, environmental degradation, housing affordability pressures, climate-induced population migration, and widening socio-spatial inequalities. Addressing these interdependent challenges requires innovative, evidence-based approaches that integrate resilient urban planning with high-performance, sustainable built environment design. This Special Issue aims to advance cutting-edge research and scalable solutions that enhance environmental resilience, human health, household financial sustainability, and long-term neighborhood and urban stability.
We invite contributions that go beyond incremental improvements and demonstrate measurable innovation in planning and design frameworks, building performance strategies, and integrated urban systems. Particular emphasis is placed on interdisciplinary research linking building-scale and built environment interventions with households and neighborhoods. Submissions should clearly articulate methodological advancements, quantitative/qualitative assessments, or novel conceptual models capable of informing practice and policy. Contributions that align with global resilience agendas, climate adaptation strategies, green infrastructure, and net-zero transitions are strongly encouraged.
By integrating climate adaptation innovation and sustainable design strategies with social and economic outcomes, this Special Issue seeks to advance actionable knowledge that supports healthier, more equitable, climate-resilient, and financially sustainable urban futures.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Innovative climate-resilient planning models and adaptive urban design;
- High-performance and healthy buildings and built environment (e.g., residents’ wellbeing, post-occupancy evaluation, long-term financial feasibility, etc.);
- Net-zero, low-carbon, and lifecycle-based building and environmental design, and how it relates to households and neighborhoods;
- Nature-based and hybrid infrastructure solutions;
- Built environment impacts on physical and mental health;
- Energy poverty, housing affordability, and household financial resilience;
- Climate-induced migration and gentrification, and policies to stabilize housing and neighborhoods;
- Data-driven planning and urban design, digital twins, and simulation-based design for resilient cities.
Dr. Yanmei Li
Dr. Serena Hoermann
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-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
- climate resilience
- sustainable built environment
- health
- housing affordability
- climate gentrification
- climate migration
- sustainable urban policy and design
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