Sustainable Living and Low-Carbon Lifestyles and Their Impacts on Building Design

Dear Colleagues,

In order to address global issues of climate change and resource depletion there is a need not only to develop new building technologies and techniques but also to adopt associated principles of ‘sustainable living’. This requires urgent and coordinated research among stakeholders and communities to support better understanding of how to achieve fulfilling human lifestyles that are also resource-efficient. The development and preservation of built and natural environments, optimisation of resource use, adoption of new technologies and consider socio-cultural needs of stakeholders can have positive impacts on developing such lifestyles and modes of living. Traditional knowledge about the built environment that was developed over generations by indigenous communities can also provide information that support the low-carbon living.

This Special Issue therefore calls for a range of papers that include but are not limited to main themes as follows:

• Developing a built environment that is comfortable, sustainable and affordable for users that ensures health and wellbeing but allowing for and promoting changed ways of living/inhabiting;
• A focus on advanced sustainable buildings such as PassivHaus design and construction, and appropriate energy efficient services that may be unfamiliar to users;
• Incorporation of traditional knowledge and vernacular approaches into construction of the built environment that can support low-carbon living in contemporary times.

This Special Issue aims to bring together a community of researchers and practitioners whose research projects reflect the interdisciplinary dimension of sustainability. We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Adrian Pitts
Dr. Yun Gao
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 monthly 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.

• sustainable living
• comfort
• health
• wellbeing
• passive house
• sustainable materials
• traditional knowledge