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 84

Special Issue Editor


E-Mail Website
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
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

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

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

12 pages, 1419 KiB  
Article
Psychophysiological Effects of Shooting Tree Light Colors on Alertness: A Controlled Laboratory Study
by Xudong Wang, Jiali Mo, Yuqi Zhou and Ziyu Long
Buildings 2025, 15(16), 2907; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15162907 (registering DOI) - 17 Aug 2025
Abstract
As an essential component of the built environment, outdoor artificial lighting at night, has a profound impact on visitors’ experience quality. Research on the light environment extends beyond visual effects to encompass broader psychophysiological impacts, such as perception, emotion, and public health. Shooting [...] Read more.
As an essential component of the built environment, outdoor artificial lighting at night, has a profound impact on visitors’ experience quality. Research on the light environment extends beyond visual effects to encompass broader psychophysiological impacts, such as perception, emotion, and public health. Shooting tree lights (STLs) are a distinctive type of outdoor lighting, commonly installed in landscape environments. This study aims to investigate the effects of different colors (yellow, red, green, and blue) of STL on alertness at night. Sixty participants took part in an experimental design assessing the impact of four different colors on electroencephalogram (EEG) and self-reported alertness. Our results indicate that STL color is a significant factor influencing physiological alertness levels. Exposure to yellow light reduced beta power, diminished alertness, and enhanced relaxation and comfort compared to red, blue, and green light. The study also identified variations in alertness based on age and gender. With respect to age, younger individuals exhibited greater alertness, while women were more alert than men. This study suggests that yellow light is generally more favorable than other colors in enhancing subjective light comfort. These findings underscore the importance of prioritizing yellow-colored STLs in landscape planning and design to promote relaxation and comfort for nighttime visitors. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop