Advances in Sustainable Lighting for Health and Comfort in the Built Environment

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: 20 January 2026 | Viewed by 16

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Architectural Engineering, Kyung Hee University, Yongin 17104, Republic of Korea
Interests: design and evaluation of architectural daylighting; development of daylighting evaluation methodologies; sustainable facade engineering; assessment of light pollution; evaluation of the right to light
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As urban populations grow and time spent indoors increases, the need for sustainable, health-supportive lighting in architecture has never been more urgent. Lighting—both natural and artificial—is a critical component of the built environment, influencing circadian regulation, visual performance, psychological well-being, and energy consumption. The integration of sustainable lighting strategies within architectural design has emerged as a key area of innovation in both research and practice.

This Special Issue, ‘Advances in Sustainable Lighting for Health and Comfort in the Built Environment’, seeks to explore cutting-edge developments in lighting that promote human health and comfort while advancing environmental sustainability. We aim to gather interdisciplinary perspectives and research that span architectural design, lighting engineering, environmental psychology, and building science.

We welcome original research articles, experimental studies, case studies, reviews, and theoretical contributions addressing innovations in both daylighting and electric lighting. Contributions that demonstrate real-world applications, user-centered design, and performance-based evaluations are particularly encouraged.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Daylighting strategies and their physiological and psychological impacts.
  • Right to light and policies.
  • Human-centric and circadian lighting systems.
  • Integrative design approaches combining daylight and electric lighting.
  • Smart, adaptive, and responsive lighting technologies.
  • Metrics and simulation tools for lighting quality and occupant well-being.
  • Lighting interventions in healthcare, educational, and workplace environments.
  • Energy-efficient lighting systems and sustainable building certification implications.
  • Post-occupancy evaluations and user feedback on lighting conditions.

This Special Issue encourages contributions that bridge the gap between technology, design, and policy, promoting holistic solutions that are not only technically sound but also socially and environmentally responsible. Through this lens, we aim to shape a future in which lighting design becomes a core pillar of sustainable, health-oriented architecture.

Papers selected for this Special Issue will undergo a rigorous peer-review process, with the aim of rapidly disseminating research findings, developments, and applications.

Prof. Dr. Gon Kim
Guest Editor

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

  • sustainable lighting
  • daylighting in architecture: design and analysis
  • innovative façade lighting
  • energy conservative lighting
  • right to llight and policies
  • light pollution and visual comfort
  • indoor and outdoor lighting
  • lighting controls and modeling
  • lighting issues for CPTED (crime prevention through environmental design)
  • healthy lighting and light therapy

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Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
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