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Special Issue "Sustainable Buildings and Smart Cities"

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Green Building".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2023 | Viewed by 1670

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Ibrahim Abotaleb

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Assistant Professor, Department of Construction Engineering, American University in Cairo, AUC Ave., SSE Bldg., Room 1152, P.O. Box 74, New Cairo 11835, Egypt
Interests: virtual reality; simulation and optimization; statistical modeling for construction applications; decision support systems; contract management and dispute mitigation; site layout planning; project control and productivity enhancement; performance assessment and prediction; green infrastructure

Dr. Fahad Alqahtani

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Civil Engineering Department, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Interests: engineering sustainability; rapid and safe transportation systems; smart cities; safety management in road projects; recycling and circular economy; smart integrated waste management; privatization of infrastructure and waste management projects; smart monitoring and controlling; bim, planning and strategic management; risk and crisis management; lca; innovative green construction materials and technologies; green buildings and concrete

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The current climate crisis and increase in urban populations pose several environmental, social, and economic challenges to advancing city management. Urban developments are now directed towards green buildings (that utilize innovative materials, architectural designs, and electromechanical systems to minimize emissions) and smart cities (where digital technology is integrated into monitoring and controlling all city functions).

This Special Issue aims to tackle modern urbanization and environmental challenges through promoting innovations and creative ideas in sustainable, environmentally friendly, and energy-efficient smart cities. Original research articles and reviews are welcome. Specific research areas of interest include (but are not limited to) the following:

Advances in green building materials;
Technologies and design aspects in net-zero buildings;
Internet of things (IOT) and holistic integration in smart cities;
Blockchain and metaverses and how they could be utilized to shape and enhance sustainable smart cities;
Monitoring technologies (sensors, drones, etc.) for sustainable buildings and smart cities;
Legal frameworks for better enabling sustainable smart cities;
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategies for sustainable development;
Development of rating systems, evaluation metrics, and KPIs for sustainable buildings and smart cities;
Resilience and vulnerability of smart cities in terms of cyber security, public infrastructure, environment, social security, etc.;
Digital twinning and information management systems;
Solid-waste-management technologies.

Dr. Ibrahim Abotaleb
Dr. Fahad Alqahtani
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 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. 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 2200 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

green buildings
green building materials
sustainable infrastructure systems
internet of things
smart cities
operational efficiency
environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategies
automation

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

Open AccessArticle

Construction of Green Concrete Incorporating Fabricated Plastic Aggregate from Waste Processing

Fahad K. Alqahtani

and

Idrees Zafar

Sustainability 2023, 15(5), 4114; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15054114 - 24 Feb 2023

Viewed by 389

Abstract

The recent industrial revolution has improved the quality of human life with technological advancement; adversely, it has also doubled waste generation, including plastic waste, in the last two decades. The concrete industry is under strict scrutiny to deliver tangible sustainable solutions to lessen its carbon footprint; the use of plastic waste in concrete can deliver a potential solution to these global environmental issues. In the current study, the fresh, mechanical and durability properties, including water absorption and chloride ion permeability of green concrete containing a plastic, fabricated aggregate were examined. The compressive and flexural strength gain with time was also examined and compared to reference concrete. All the mechanical parameters including compressive strength, flexural strength, splitting tensile strength and modulus of elasticity were found to decrease with the addition of fabricated plastic aggregates as compared to the reference concrete. The increase in the compressive strength and flexural strength at 100% replacement, with an increase in the curing period from 28 to 90 days, was 13% and 11%, respectively. The flexural deformation of green fabricated plastic aggregate concrete signposted the ductile behavior compared to the reference concrete. The concrete with 100% fabricated plastic aggregates showed an increase of 16.4% and a decrease of 68% in the water absorption and chloride ion permeability in comparison to the reference concrete, respectively. This study presents an effectual method for the utilization of plastic waste with promising results, especially for non-structural applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Buildings and Smart Cities)

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Open AccessArticle

Design and Characteristics of a Hybrid Wood-Soil System Made from Casuarina glauca Wood

and

Sustainability 2023, 15(4), 3579; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15043579 - 15 Feb 2023

Viewed by 538

Abstract

Wood has been used in construction has for several millennia; however, global warming has created situations in which the wood needs to be utilized in a more eco-friendly, sustainable, and cost-effective manner. Using wood from trees farmed on wastewater is an ideal option that has been found to be sound for this use. Casuarina glauca wood has been farmed on wastewater for years, making it eco-friendly and cost effective, in addition to being of relatively high strength when compared to soft woods. Hence, within this research, Casuarina glauca wood is used within a hybrid wood-soil system. A scaled model of the structure was constructed and tested structurally until failure in two horizontal planes: the lateral and transverse. The points of weakness in the connections were identified in order to adjust the design, which mainly involved the nails connecting the studs to the upper and lower beams. The adjusted model was constructed including additional X-braces and tested structurally, and was proven to have sufficient strength compared to the wind loads according to the Egyptian Code of Loading. The design was compared to its reinforced concrete alternative to assess its cost-effectiveness and eco-friendliness in terms of the cost per unit area and the carbon emissions per unit area. The system proved to be more cost-effective and eco-friendly when compared to its reinforced concrete counterpart. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Buildings and Smart Cities)

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Open AccessArticle

Economic Land Utilization Optimization Model

and

Sustainability 2023, 15(3), 2594; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15032594 - 01 Feb 2023

Viewed by 513

Abstract

Recently, population growth and resource depletion have been matched by a growing demand for self-sustaining communities. Numerous studies promote sustainable solutions to the concerns of climate change and food scarcity. This study aims at creating an automated Economic Land Utilization Optimization Model (ELUOM) that identifies sustainable and cost-effective agricultural practices. Soil, water & climatic characteristics of over 400 crops are gathered in a relational database to build the model. Evolutionary algorithms are utilized to filter the database based on user input. Optimization process is then performed on all possible utilization plans of the filtered crops to maximize the 20-year return while minimizing water consumption. The model is verified on a case study in Giza, Egypt where it shows the potential of increasing the return/m³ of water by 370% versus current practices. This research also studies the application of ELOUM on a vacant plot in the American university in Cairo, Egypt. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Buildings and Smart Cities)

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