Dear Colleagues,

Environmental degradation problems such as climate change and air pollution, combined with the coronavirus pandemic crisis and dramatic increases in the cost of energy and food, have created the ‘perfect storm’, posing dramatic risks for public health and wellbeing worldwide. The problem is further compounded by the risks to vulnerable populations being especially severe, with the potential for significant inequalities affecting areas with the greatest environmental problems. Whilst most evidence to date on some of these challenges focuses on outdoor environmental conditions and is at the city or neighborhood scale, the significance of ‘healthy’ indoor environments—especially buildings such as homes, offices, schools or healthcare buildings—has come to the fore in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Parameters such as thermal conditions, air quality, lighting, soundscape, and space standards are important components of Indoor Environmental Quality affecting public health. At the same time, buildings are complex socio-ecological systems whereby inter- and trans-disciplinary approaches are needed to fully understand and realize the positive impact of indoor environments on health and wellbeing, whilst avoiding negative impacts and unintended consequences.

Evidence is needed on:

• The evaluation of relevant interventions, through quantitative or mixed methods;
• The prevalence of exposure to risk factors (e.g., physical hazards and social determinants), through monitoring or modelling studies;
• Dose–response relationships and/or potential for synergistic effects across parameters of environment quality upon health and wellbeing outcomes; 
• Evaluation of health inequalities arising from relevant parameters such as temperature, air quality, lighting, soundscapes, indoor space provision and access to green space;
• Impact of ‘smart’ technologies and/or artificial intelligence applied to buildings for enhanced health and wellbeing (including aspects related to the digital exclusion);
• Standards, best practices and policy approaches to improve population health via changes to indoor environments and their immediate surroundings.    

Papers addressing the topics above are invited for this Special Issue. Papers on design strategies/technologies are welcome, as long as they discuss explicitly the likely impact on health/wellbeing, preferably based on evidence substantiated by data (e.g., monitoring/modeling). Papers adopting qualitative or mixed methods, whole systems thinking, and participatory or co-production approaches to mapping/understanding problems are also welcome.

Several papers were published in the first edition of this Special Issue, which have attracted a lot of interest since their publication. The website of the 1st edition is https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph/special_issues/Indoor_Environmental_Quality_Health.

For further information, please contact the Guest Editor, Dr. Marcella Ucci at [email protected].

Dr. Marcella Ucci
Guest Editor

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• indoor environment
• public health
• wellbeing
• inequalities
• buildings
• pollution
• ventilation
• thermal performance
• sound
• lighting
• dampness and moisture