Interdisciplinary Design for Sustainable Well-Being

Dear Colleagues,

In recent decades, sustainability has emerged as a central research paradigm that tackles the intricate and interconnected environmental, social, economic, and technological challenges confronting modern societies. Alongside this evolution, human well-being has become an important part of sustainable development. This means that we need to improve quality of life while staying within the planet's limits, promoting social equity, and ensuring long-term resilience.

These challenges are fundamentally systemic and cannot be sufficiently resolved through unidisciplinary methods. Research is increasingly emphasizing the significance of interdisciplinary perspectives that combine scientific, technological, social, and cultural knowledge. In this context, design-informed approaches, broadly defined as practices of problem framing, systems thinking, co-creation, and iterative experimentation, are essential for bridging disciplines and transforming knowledge into relevant, context-specific solutions.

Interdisciplinary design approaches are especially important when it comes to dealing with big changes around the world, such as climate change, environmental damage, urbanization, changes in population, social inequality, and fast technological progress. By linking analytical research with real-world applications, these methods help create systems, environments, and services that have a positive impact for both people and the environment in the long run.

Aim of the Special issue and how the subject relates to the journal scope.

The goal of this Special Issue, “Interdisciplinary Design for Sustainable Well-Being”, is to create a space for academic work that looks at how sustainability and well-being can be addressed together from different fields and design-focused points of view.

We invite original research from a wide range of fields, such as design and architecture, engineering, environmental sciences, social sciences, health and well-being studies, urban and regional planning, digital technologies, and research on governance and policy. Contributions may focus on conceptual frameworks, empirical investigations, methodological innovations, or applied interventions at local, regional, or global levels.

We welcome submissions that use qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-methods approaches, as well as collaborations between different fields that work with real-world situations and people.

Suggest themes.

• Interdisciplinary and design-led approaches to sustainable development
• Human-centered, inclusive, and participatory design for well-being
• Sustainable built environments and urban systems
• Design for social and environmental resilience and adaptation
• Well-being-oriented metrics and evaluation frameworks for sustainability
• Innovation, digital technologies, and data-driven tools for sustainable well-being
• Circular economy, resource efficiency, and regenerative design strategies
• Health, comfort, and quality of life in sustainable environments
• Social equity, inclusion, and community-based design practices
• Governance, policy, and decision-making processes supporting sustainable well-being
• Education, knowledge integration, and transdisciplinary methodologies

In this Special Issue, original research articles, reviews, and case studies are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Design
• Architecture
• Engineering
• Environmental Sciences
• Social Sciences
• Health Studies
• Urban and Regional Studies
• Digital Technologies
• Policy and Governance Research

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Vasile Gherheș
Dr. Diana Giurea
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. 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.

• sustainability
• sustainable well-being
• interdisciplinary research
• interdisciplinary design
• sustainable design
• systems thinking
• resilience
• innovation for sustainability
• quality of life