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Driving Sustainability in Civil and Environmental Engineering Through Machine Learning Innovations

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sustainability and Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 13 September 2026 | Viewed by 984

Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates
Interests: alkali-activated materials; recycling industrial solid wastes; performance evaluation of concrete; microstructure of concrete; carbon sequestration; durability of FRP; novel construction materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Balamand, El Kourah P.O. Box 100, Lebanon
Interests: concrete; geopolyme; waste; mortar; machine learning

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Guest Editor
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain 15551, United Arab Emirates
Interests: emission control technologies; biological treatment of air pollutants; fate and transport of emerging contaminants; biohydrogen production; water/wastewater treatment; biological desalination; industrial waste treatment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Civil and environmental engineering are at the forefront of addressing some of the world’s most pressing sustainability challenges, from climate change mitigation and resilient infrastructure to efficient resource utilization and pollution control. In recent years, machine learning (ML) has emerged as a transformative tool in these domains to enable data-driven modeling, predictive analytics, and real-time decision-making that contribute to sustainable engineering solutions.

This Special Issue invites original research articles, state-of-the-art reviews, and case studies focusing on the application of machine learning techniques to promote sustainability in civil and environmental engineering. We welcome multidisciplinary studies and contributions that highlight innovative methodologies, model development, and field implementations aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Papers submitted to this Special Issue should demonstrate how ML contributes to environmentally responsible engineering, efficient system management, and resilient infrastructure design. Submissions integrating artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and automation with practical civil/environmental engineering challenges are also welcomed.

Topics of interest:

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

  • Machine learning for sustainable materials and green construction practices;
  • Predictive maintenance and degradation modeling of infrastructure;
  • AI-based energy, water, and waste system optimization;
  • Machine learning for air and water quality monitoring;
  • Climate risk modeling and adaptation strategies using machine learning;
  • Machine learning in structural, geotechnical, and transportation sustainability assessments;
  • Integration of GIS and remote sensing with machine learning for environmental diagnostics;
  • Carbon footprint and energy consumption prediction using AI;
  • Machine learning-powered decision support systems for urban infrastructure planning;
  • Deep learning and reinforcement learning in environmental process control;
  • Digital twins and machine learning-enhanced BIM for lifecycle sustainability analysis;
  • Case studies of machine learning implementation in sustainable engineering projects.

Dr. Hilal El-Hassan
Dr. Abdulkader El Mir
Dr. Ashraf Aly Hassan
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. Sustainability 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 2400 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

  • machine learning
  • sustainable materials
  • resilient infrastructure
  • environmental modeling
  • artificial intelligence
  • smart cities
  • climate change
  • big data analytics
  • life cycle assessment
  • predictive maintenance
  • environmental engineering

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

29 pages, 2590 KB  
Article
A Multi-Resolution Physics-Informed Neural Network Framework for Sustainable Assessment and Remediation of Hydrocarbon-Contaminated Soils: A Small-Sample Study at Kuwait’s Al-Ahmadi Field
by Humoud M. Aldaihani, Mosab Alrashed, Hamad B. Matar and Saad Kh. Almutairi
Sustainability 2026, 18(13), 6848; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18136848 - 6 Jul 2026
Abstract
The 1991 Gulf War contaminated more than 49 km2 of Kuwaiti desert with hydrocarbon spills, a persistent threat to soil resources, infrastructure and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals embedded in Kuwait Vision 2035. Managing these legacy lands calls for predictive tools [...] Read more.
The 1991 Gulf War contaminated more than 49 km2 of Kuwaiti desert with hydrocarbon spills, a persistent threat to soil resources, infrastructure and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals embedded in Kuwait Vision 2035. Managing these legacy lands calls for predictive tools that capture spatial variability while remaining computationally tractable and statistically defensible at the small sample sizes typical of post-conflict monitoring. This study develops a multi-resolution physics-informed neural network that combines wavelet-based parameter encoding, scale-dependent regularisation and a progressive upsampling training protocol. The framework is evaluated on nine trial-pit observations at a single depth of 30 cm in the Al-Ahmadi field, where the contaminated pits show a mean internal friction angle of 26.8° compared with 36.0° at co-located control pits sampled at the same time. Generalisation is assessed by leave-one-out cross-validation across the nine locations. The framework attains a friction-angle root-mean-square error of 1.29°. Under the same data and compute budget, ordinary kriging and a standard physics-informed neural network remain statistically competitive. This outcome indicates that the physics residual acts as a mass-conservation-consistent smoothness regulariser rather than a site-calibrated transport predictor. A multi-objective remediation workflow produces a cost-versus-residual-risk Pareto front for a scenario-specific 1–2 km2 case, presented as an illustrative decision-support envelope pending external pilot calibration. A projected pathway from these outcomes to six Sustainable Development Goals and two pillars of Kuwait Vision 2035 is also discussed; quantitative attribution at this sample size is beyond scope. The small-sample, single-depth and single-locality limitations that bound the admissible inference are stated explicitly. Full article
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25 pages, 1579 KB  
Article
Climate Change, Hurricanes, and Property Loss: A Machine Learning Approach to Studying Infrastructure Sustainability
by Sanjeeta N. Ghimire, Sunim Acharya and Shankar Ghimire
Sustainability 2026, 18(6), 2799; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18062799 - 12 Mar 2026
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 579
Abstract
Hurricanes have intensified and become more persistent under a changing climate, increasing the risk of infrastructure damage and property loss in coastal regions, threatening their sustainability. This study examines how hurricane intensity and persistence influence infrastructure loss, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding [...] Read more.
Hurricanes have intensified and become more persistent under a changing climate, increasing the risk of infrastructure damage and property loss in coastal regions, threatening their sustainability. This study examines how hurricane intensity and persistence influence infrastructure loss, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of climate-related risks. Using data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Storm Events Database from 1996 to 2024, we develop a series of machine learning models to predict property losses based on storm characteristics and contextual vulnerability factors. Narrative-based text analysis and time-series feature engineering were applied to extract meteorological and temporal attributes, while regression and ensemble models were used for predictive evaluation. Results show that storm intensity alone explains only a small portion of loss variance, with persistence influencing damage primarily through rainfall and hydrological effects. The findings highlight that vulnerability, exposure, and cumulative risk dynamics are essential for accurate long-term prediction and for assessing infrastructure sustainability. Overall, the study demonstrates that combining machine learning techniques with climate and vulnerability data can inform future research on infrastructure sustainability. The quantified vulnerability-versus-intensity breakdown presented here can support post-disaster resource allocation, insurance risk modeling, and the prioritization of infrastructure maintenance in hurricane-prone regions. Full article
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