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Buildings
Special Issues
Cutting-Edge Research on Smart, Sustainable, and Resilient Buildings and Cities
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Cutting-Edge Research on Smart, Sustainable, and Resilient Buildings and Cities

A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Construction Management, and Computers & Digitization".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2026 | Viewed by 2642

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Guoqiang Shen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Interests: architecture; urban planning and design; research methods; creativity in design and planning
Prof. Dr. Qiuxiao Chen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Spatial Planning and Design, Hangzhou City University, Hangzhou 310015, China
Interests: geographical information systems; remote sensing; spatial planning and design; CAD; spatial analysis of smart and resilient cities and regions
Prof. Dr. Jie Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Interests: regional architecture; historic and vernacular buildings; urban and rural landscape and assessment
Prof. Dr. Tian Chen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Architecture, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Interests: architecture and urban theory and design; ecological cities; resilient cities; design presentation; urban residential development
Dr. Bing Xia

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Interests: green and low carbon architecture and cities; digital applications in buildings; urban spatial form
Dr. Yiqiao Sun

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Interests: cinema and buildings; urban architecture; sociology of buildings and cities

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue publishes cutting-edge research on the planning, design, construction, performance, and management of architecture and buildings with a focus on the science, technology, and engineering aspects of the built environment from smart, sustainable, and resilient perspectives at various spatial scales for buildings, neighborhoods, and cities in time. High-quality papers with scientific novelties and technical innovations, together with managerial and social–economic concerns, are welcome. We welcome submissions relating to new paradigms, methods, and tools incorporating artificial intelligence, digital twins, big data, and modelling and simulation for pressing and challenging problems in the built environment. This includes, but is not limited to, building diagnosis, retrofit, safety, resiliency, affordability, livability, and sustainability. Submissions on novel systems or creative solutions to buildings in energy consumption, carbon emissions, microclimate, construction management, prefabrication, and 3D printing, plus new types of building materials, structures, and functions, forms, and aesthetics for representative projects in one country or around the global are particularly encouraged. Research oriented on construction policies, building codes, standards, certifications, and regulations is also welcome.

Prof. Dr. Guoqiang Shen
Prof. Dr. Qiuxiao Chen
Prof. Dr. Jie Wang
Prof. Dr. Tian Chen
Dr. Bing Xia
Dr. Yiqiao Sun
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

  • sustainability and resillience
  • buildings and cities
  • construction and management
  • codes and standars
  • modeling and simulation
  • systems and technologies

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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29 pages, 1580 KB  
Article
Framing Participatory Regeneration in Communal Space Governance: A Case Study of Work-Unit Compound Neighborhoods in Shanghai, China
by Yueli Xu, Han Wang and Bing Xia
Buildings 2025, 15(18), 3384; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15183384 - 18 Sep 2025
Abstract
The Work-Unit Compound (WUC) is a common neighborhood type that became prevalent during China’s socialist era, typically offering communal spaces that serve as vital spatial carriers for communal life. Following the shift in public housing provision from the work-unit (state-owned enterprise) through the [...] Read more.
The Work-Unit Compound (WUC) is a common neighborhood type that became prevalent during China’s socialist era, typically offering communal spaces that serve as vital spatial carriers for communal life. Following the shift in public housing provision from the work-unit (state-owned enterprise) through the social welfare system to a market-oriented system, the decline of work-unit systems and the privatization of housing led to the distribution of responsibility for communal spaces in WUC neighborhoods becoming more intricate. Issues related to these spaces, such as underutilization and poor management, were exacerbated as the built environment deteriorated. By the 2010s, these challenges had become central targets of various participatory regeneration initiatives. However, current discourse on participatory regeneration predominantly focuses on social outcomes, paying limited attention to post-regeneration governance modes. In response, this study develops a framework to examine the continuity and heterogeneity of communal space governance during and after regeneration projects in WUC neighborhoods. It offers a nuanced investigation of context-specific facilitating mechanisms, with the goal of supporting more effective and sustainable communal space governance in the future. Using a case study approach, the research draws on in-depth interviews that were systematically analyzed. The findings indicate that daily communal space governance in the sampled projects continues to rely on internal problem-solving methods inherited from the work-unit system (e.g., the collective sense of honor and a persistent reliance on state actors). Additionally, governance is driven by economic initiatives repurposing underutilized spaces—for instance, vegetable cultivation in enclosed areas is employed for self-sufficiency (Case A), and small-scale business that benefits the neighborhood is performed (Case B). This study also identifies a blend of formal and informal institutional arrangements linked to participatory regeneration, including the coproduction of space management between residents and grassroots government (Case A), and the government-funded purchase of community services (Case B). Moreover, extra-local networks—such as gaining mutual support from Community Garden Networks (Case A) and Community Economic Cooperatives (Case B)—play a significant role. In conclusion, this study highlights the role of facilitating mechanisms associated with participatory regeneration in shaping daily communal space governance and explores the potential of participatory strategies within contemporary neighborhood governance, particularly under recent Chinese policies targeting dilapidated urban neighborhoods. Practically, this study offers recommendations for planners and practitioners regarding incorporating facilitating mechanisms into participatory regeneration to enhance community engagement in communal space governance, especially in other post-socialist cities experiencing similar challenges. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cutting-Edge Research on Smart, Sustainable, and Resilient Buildings and Cities)
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19 pages, 1420 KB  
Article
Does the Multi-Scale Built Environment Impact on Residents’ Subjective Well-Being?
by Haibo Li, Chen Pan, Nengjie Qiu, Jiaming Guo and Jiawei Wu
Buildings 2025, 15(18), 3311; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15183311 - 12 Sep 2025
Viewed by 197
Abstract
Previous studies have demonstrated that the built environment has a significant impact on individual subjective well-being (SWB). However, the majority of these studies primarily examined the impacts of community-level environments on subjective well-being, with limited exploration of the influence of multi-scale environments. This [...] Read more.
Previous studies have demonstrated that the built environment has a significant impact on individual subjective well-being (SWB). However, the majority of these studies primarily examined the impacts of community-level environments on subjective well-being, with limited exploration of the influence of multi-scale environments. This study addresses this gap by utilizing questionnaire surveys and built environment data to examine the effects of built environments at the housing, neighborhood, and community scales on subjective well-being through a multiple regression model (specifically, a hierarchical regression). The results show that environmental variables at the housing scale, neighborhood scale, and community scale can significantly improve the explanatory power of life satisfaction (LS). The findings reveal that the explanatory power of environmental variables on life satisfaction exhibits a diminishing trend from proximate to distal scales. It was found that, in terms of the housing scale, the housing construction environment and quality and the increase in per capita housing area positively contribute to residents’ life satisfaction. At the neighborhood scale, a comfortable environment and enhanced facilities are conducive to improving residents’ life satisfaction, whereas the evaluation of property management and services is linked to reduced life satisfaction. At the community scale, the increase in building density (BD), functional mix density (FMD), road intersection density (RID), and bus stop density (BSD) is not conducive to enhancing residents’ life satisfaction. However, higher bus line density (BLD) is positively correlated with the improvement of residents’ life satisfaction. These findings suggest that in urban community planning and management, attention should be paid not only to housing-scale environmental elements but also to neighborhood-scale environmental elements, and they emphasize the rational planning of community scale environments to enhance residents’ subjective well-being. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cutting-Edge Research on Smart, Sustainable, and Resilient Buildings and Cities)
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19 pages, 3418 KB  
Article
A Two-Stage Evaluation Framework for Underground Space Development in Green Spaces: A Case Study of Binjiang District, Hangzhou
by Qiuxiao Chen, Xiuxiu Chen, Hongbo Li, Xiaoyi Zhang and Geyuan Zhang
Buildings 2025, 15(14), 2418; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15142418 - 10 Jul 2025
Viewed by 474
Abstract
In the current context of tight constraints on land resources in major Chinese cities, the development of underground space in green spaces (USGSs) has become an important approach to exploit land use potential and alleviate the contradiction between human and land resources. Evaluating [...] Read more.
In the current context of tight constraints on land resources in major Chinese cities, the development of underground space in green spaces (USGSs) has become an important approach to exploit land use potential and alleviate the contradiction between human and land resources. Evaluating USGS development potential scientifically is crucial for project site selection and improving underground space utilization. However, most studies have focused on underground space as a whole, with limited attention to single land use types, and research on USGSs has mainly concentrated on planning and design. This study proposes a two-stage evaluation framework for urban green spaces, identifying suitable development areas while safeguarding ecological functions. The framework evaluates from “restrictiveness” and “suitability”: first extracting developable green spaces by restrictiveness evaluation and then assessing development potential by suitability evaluation. This approach overcomes traditional methods that disregard prerequisite relationships among factors. A case study in Binjiang District, Hangzhou, showed that small green spaces and connectivity were key limiting factors for the development of USGSs. The proposed framework could provide some degree of reference for future development potential evaluation of USGSs, and the results could provide actionable guidance for high-density built environments similar to Binjiang District. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cutting-Edge Research on Smart, Sustainable, and Resilient Buildings and Cities)
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Review

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35 pages, 1934 KB  
Review
Environmental Sustainability of Advanced Structures: A Descriptive and Thematic Analysis
by Sarah Elattar, Xiancun Hu, Hamed Golzad and Saeed Banihashemi
Buildings 2025, 15(12), 2027; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15122027 - 12 Jun 2025
Viewed by 1119
Abstract
This systematic review explores how environmental sustainability is addressed in advanced structural systems that utilize innovative materials and technologies such as lightweight designs, adaptive mechanisms, and energy-efficient components. Despite their growing adoption, significant gaps persist across the design–construction–operation continuum, particularly concerning embodied carbon, [...] Read more.
This systematic review explores how environmental sustainability is addressed in advanced structural systems that utilize innovative materials and technologies such as lightweight designs, adaptive mechanisms, and energy-efficient components. Despite their growing adoption, significant gaps persist across the design–construction–operation continuum, particularly concerning embodied carbon, energy efficiency, material performance, and long-term durability. A total of 61 peer-reviewed studies published between 2013 and 2025 were identified from Scopus and Google Scholar using the PRISMA methodology. The review employed a dual-method approach: a descriptive analysis to examine literature outlets, publication trends, and the frequency of advanced structural topics such as lightweight systems, long-span designs, form and aesthetics, and structural safety, and a thematic analysis using NVivo 14 software, which identified ten key environmental sustainability themes—carbon emissions, thermal performance, energy efficiency, construction waste, life cycle assessment, green certifications, material use, air quality, site and land use, and green environment. While research interest is expanding, limited studies offer comprehensive assessments of Tensile Membrane Structures (TMSs) or Long Span Structures (LSSs), with key challenges including inadequate material optimization and performance under extreme conditions. This review contributes a novel synthesis of existing knowledge by combining a PRISMA-guided selection, descriptive trend analysis, and thematic coding to identify critical gaps and emerging directions, offering a structured foundation for future research and practical strategies in designing environmentally sustainable advanced structures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cutting-Edge Research on Smart, Sustainable, and Resilient Buildings and Cities)
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