Disaster Management and Resilience in Building Construction/Re-Construction

Dear Colleagues,

The increasing frequency and intensity of disasters have resulted in severe disruptions of built-environment facilities. As such, there is an evident increase in human and property losses from disaster events over the past few decades. Every year, a significant number of houses are destroyed and damaged by natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, landslides, and cyclones. Buildings are becoming more vulnerable to disasters due to the growing population and their inherent features, such as location specificity, immobility, durability, and stability. However, the protective characteristics of buildings offer an important means by which humanity can reduce the risk posed by hazards, thereby preventing destruction. The need to reduce disaster vulnerability from buildings, new and existing, is becoming increasingly important. How buildings are designed and built, and where they are located, is critical to their ability to withstand different types of natural or man-made hazards. However, this entails a multi-sectoral and interdisciplinary effort from all stakeholders in the construction industry.

The Special Issue editors aim to investigate the latest understanding on disaster resilience in building construction/re-construction by inviting new research within the field. Papers are sought concerning (but not limited to) the capacity building needs for disaster mitigation and reconstruction; disaster risk identification techniques and risk reduction measures; the effects of improved collaboration within stakeholders; best practices and lessons learned from disaster reconstruction and new construction projects; ways and effects of community engagement and participation in housing reconstruction process; and social and cultural impact of housing new and reconstruction. Papers that span the technical and social disciplines, and highlight the interdisciplinary nature of disaster resilience are particularly encouraged.

Dr. Chaminda Pathirage
Prof. Dr. Bingunath Ingirige
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.