Low-Carbon Transformation of Existing Built Environments: From Retrofit to Regeneration
This special issue belongs to the section "Building Energy, Physics, Environment, and Systems".
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
As global building stocks age while climate goals tighten, the decarbonization of existing built environments has become the defining challenge of urban sustainability. New construction accounts for a declining proportion of building stocks annually, making the retrofit, adaptive reuse, and systemic renewal of existing structures imperative for achieving carbon neutrality. This Special Issue addresses the multi-scale complexities—from individual buildings to neighborhood systems—in transforming existing built environments through integrated technological, behavioral, and policy innovations.
Fields Covered:
- Building stock modeling and carbon accounting;
- Deep retrofit technologies and systemic innovation;
- Adaptive reuse and circular economy strategies;
- Community-scale renewal and energy flexibility;
- Occupant engagement and behavior in retrofitted environments;
- Policy, finance, and governance models;
- Digitalization and performance assurance.
Dr. Xiaojun Li
Dr. Hu Du
Dr. Qunfeng Ji
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-anonymized 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
- building stock modeling
- existing building retrofit
- adaptive reuse
- retrofit policy and finance
- post-occupancy evaluation
- heritage building decarbonization
- urban energy transition
- socio-technical systems
- circular construction
- district-level decarbonization
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Published Papers
Buildings - ISSN 2075-5309