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Special Issue "Optimization and Evaluation of Climate Responsive Design Solutions for Buildings and Cities"

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 June 2023 | Viewed by 2014

Special Issue Editors

Associate Professor, Department of Architecture, University of Bologna, 40136 Bologna, Italy
Interests: high performing building envelopes; energy efficiency; analysis of construction and operating energy; adaptation and climate responsive strategies; LCA and service life of buildings and components; innovation and smart buildings; smart districts and smart cities
School of Architecture and Cities, University of Westminster, London W1B, UK
Interests: environmental design; natural ventilation and passive cooling; innovative natural cooling methods; sustainability in architecture
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Laboratório Nacional de Energia e Geologia | LNEG, Estr. da Portela 999, Amadora, Portugal
Interests: energy efficiency; positive energy districts; positive energy buildings; energy communities; sustainable development

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The ever-increasing evidence of climate change impact on the built environment and the recent IPCC projections call for effective and innovative design approaches to concretely tackle the most urgent challenges and particularly those dealing with the use of water and resources while supporting the energy transition in time of unprecedented uncertainty. The launch of the EU Recovery Plan represents an urgent claim for a global reaction and for more comprehensive solutions able to consider the complexity of strongly interrelated phenomena.

Climate Responsive Design represents the combination of several approaches and strategies to make buildings and cities able to respond to contemporary challenges optimizing their systems, configuration and operation according to variable and sometimes extreme context conditions.

This Special Issue of Sustainability is aimed at collecting scientific contributions on climate responsive solutions focusing on adaptive capacity, energy efficiency and environmental quality carefully considering technical, social, economic implications.

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

  • Climate Adaptive Building solutions
  • Mitigation and adaptation actions at urban scale
  • New technologies and approaches serving the resilience and adaptation capacity of cities
  • Positive Energy Buildings and Districts
  • Evaluation and simulation tools for climate-responsive buildings
  • Predictive and/or operative frameworks for climate resilient cities
  • User centered design approaches to improve built environment livability

Case study discussions, as well as simulation or theoretical research, are encouraged.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Jacopo Gaspari
Dr. Rosa Schiano-Phan
Dr. Laura Aelenei
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

  • climate responsive design
  • Energy Efficiency
  • climate change
  • adaptation
  • mitigation
  • optimized design
  • sustainability
  • sustainable buildings
  • resilient cities

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

Article
Exploring the Common Ground of Sustainability and Resilience in the Building Sector: A Systematic Literature Review and Analysis of Building Rating Systems
Sustainability 2023, 15(1), 884; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15010884 - 03 Jan 2023
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Abstract
Over the last ten years, due to the increase in frequency and severity of climate change effects, resilience in buildings has become a growing topic in the current global discussion on climate change adaptation. Designing both sustainable and resilient constructions would help to [...] Read more.
Over the last ten years, due to the increase in frequency and severity of climate change effects, resilience in buildings has become a growing topic in the current global discussion on climate change adaptation. Designing both sustainable and resilient constructions would help to face such effects; however, sustainability and resilience in design have been mostly treated separately so far. Since sustainability has been considered more than resilience, paying deeper attention to the latter is indispensable to reducing building vulnerability. The purpose of this article is to examine the commonalities between the sustainability and resilience of buildings using two different approaches: (i) a systematic literature review, taking into consideration a 10-year period for selecting records, and (ii) an analysis of five green building rating systems and five resilience rating systems and guidelines selected according to their popularity and number of certified buildings. There is an overlap in some indicators between the two domains at the building level, as shown by the results from both paths. These aspects could assist in considering sustainability and resilience from the very beginning of the design process. This will ensure that buildings may be designed more effectively by considering and enhancing the synergies between the two domains. This paper targets potential stakeholders who may be interested in including such an integrated implementation in their designs. Full article
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Article
The Role of Architectural Skin Emissivity Influencing Outdoor Microclimatic Comfort: A Case Study in Bologna, Italy
Sustainability 2022, 14(22), 14669; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142214669 - 08 Nov 2022
Viewed by 611
Abstract
This article examines the influence of the emissivity of façade materials on outdoor microclimatic comfort. The developed methodology is based on the collection of input data regarding the site, the geometrical and technological characterization of the building envelope and the definition of the [...] Read more.
This article examines the influence of the emissivity of façade materials on outdoor microclimatic comfort. The developed methodology is based on the collection of input data regarding the site, the geometrical and technological characterization of the building envelope and the definition of the associated emissivity, the development of alternative emissivity-driven scenarios, the scenario simulation to obtain Outdoor Microclimate Maps (OMMs), and their interpretation and discussion. The operative steps of the proposed simplified method are applied to a specific case study in the city of Bologna made of a mix of buildings, including some towers overlooking an inner courtyard. The emissivity of the façade materials is assumed as the main variable. The results show how, by properly addressing the design choices, it is possible to achieve significant improvements in the outdoor microclimate for the space in-between the considered volumes. Full article
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Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.

Title: Transitioning to Climate-Neutral Cities through integrated planning – a prospective framework
Authors: Istrate, Aura-Luciana; Auerbach, Jeremy; Gaspari, Jacopo; Popartan, Lucia-Alexandra; Tavangar, Mohammad Reza
Affiliation: School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy, University College Dublin
Abstract: To achieve climate-neutrality, cities need ongoing support and enhanced capacity for solution assessment and implementation. Given the complex urban activities and the vast range of stakeholders involved, interdisciplinary and comprehensive climate-neutral approaches are required, although still underdeveloped in current research and practice. This paper proposes a framework for climate-neutral city research and practice underpinned by five key themes (Urban Nature; Urban Mobility; Built Form; Energy; and Circularity). It emphasizes cross-scale research dimensions of Citizen Engagement/Participation and City Governance Decision-Making, supported by Digital Technology (but not dominated/obscured by it), to correct/challenge the current assumptions and silo-thinking in city building and inform an integrated planning process

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