Technologies and Humanities for Sustainability Research

Dear Colleagues,

Amidst increasingly tense geopolitics, discussions on societal approaches to resources have become the core of debates on sustainability, from energy to inequality. At the same time, while technical solutions are being found to many of the segmentary challenges faced by humankind, it has also become clear that the most pressing difficulties relate to the need to choose in the face of often contradictory avenues under the horizons of uncertainty. This awareness of the complexity of issues for sustainability has led to a broadening of the concept of sustainability science (UNESCO, 2017), providing new approaches to sustainability as a web of meanings, as proposed by UNESCO’s BRIGES program. Sustainability is not only a complex technological challenge, but a humanistic discussion on values, priorities, contexts, traditions, and governance.

This Special Issue is aimed at bringing together contributions that will focus on the potential interactions between humanities, sciences, and technologies to address contemporary complex challenges within a multidisciplinary framework. Case studies and experiments with detailed descriptions of chosen methodologies are particularly welcomed.

This converges with the aims of the journal Sustainability, namely the general challenges related to sustainability,  such as the implementation and monitoring of policies for sustainable development, cultural diversity, and social systems; ethical and philosophical concerns; education; health; the sustainable utilization of resources; short-term measures and their long-term effects; and sustainability tools and science.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Authors are invited to reflect on the UNESCO document on sustainability science (see here) and make contributions on the general theme, also considering site-based case-studies in the following topics:

1. Integration of Technologies and Humanities for Resources Management and Sustainability
2. Smart approaches:
   1. Data science tools that support sustainable cities and processes;
   2. Smart systems to improve quality of life;
   3. Sustainable production and storage of renewable energy;
   4. Technologies for sustainable resource management.
3. Humanities and sciences approaches:
   1. Humanities and landscape management;
   2. Cultural heritage, technology, and landscapes;
   3. Archaeology, Materiality, and sustainability;
   4. Geoethics and sustainability
4. Technology, restoration, and arts enhancement:
   1. Sustainable approaches to conservation and the restoration of cultural heritage, traditions, crafts, and folklore;
   2. Sustainable heritage management;
   3. Innovative approaches to the characterization and contextualization of heritage assets;
   4. Sustainable design and innovation in cultural heritage;
   5. Creative conservation approaches;
   6. Digital preservation and sustainability.
5. Nature-based approaches:
   1. Wastewater treatment;
   2. Restoration of natural ecosystems;
   3. Enhancing ecosystem services in urban environments;
   4. Protection and valorization of cultural heritage.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Henrique J.O. Pinho
Prof. Dr. Célio Gonçalo Marques
Prof. Dr. Luiz Oosterbeek
Prof. Dr. Dina M.R. Mateus
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 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.

• circular economy
• conservation
• data science
• heritage
• landscape
• materiality
• renewable energy
• smart systems
• sustainable development
• technology