Integrating Sustainability into Construction Engineering and Project Management
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Engineering and Science".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 8 February 2027 | Viewed by 3
Special Issue Editors
Interests: construction management; project management; sustainable construction; project delivery; risk management; decision making; project scheduling and project controls
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: construction management; project management; sustainable construction; project delivery; risk management; decision making; project scheduling and project controls
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue, “Integrating Sustainability into Construction Engineering and Project Management,” advances sustainability as a delivery discipline integrated into project governance, decision-making, and controls, rather than a technical overlay limited to materials or site practices. While construction engineering innovations are critical, the outcomes of decarbonization, circularity, resilience, and social value often hinge on how projects are defined, planned, contracted, measured, and governed. The Special Issue, therefore, invites research that connects engineering solutions with project management mechanisms that determine what gets prioritized, funded, executed, and verified.
We welcome studies that operationalize sustainability across the full project lifecycle and across the project management knowledge areas. Relevant contributions may propose sustainability-ready approaches to scope definition (requirements, performance-based specifications), schedule management (carbon-aware sequencing, constraints, and buffers), cost management (lifecycle costing, carbon pricing), and quality management (sustainability assurance, commissioning, verification, and performance gap reduction). We encourage work on resource and productivity management (low-impact methods, workforce wellbeing), risk management (climate risk, supply volatility, ESG risks), and procurement/contract management (incentives, supplier qualification, low-carbon procurement, risk allocation). We also seek research on stakeholder and communications management, including reporting, transparency, and legitimacy, supported by digital tools such as BIM–LCA workflows, digital twins, IoT monitoring, and AI-enabled forecasting. Contributions can be empirical, analytical, or practice-based, but should provide clear metrics, governance structures, and implementation pathways that align sustainability with time, cost, quality, safety, and value realization.
Research tracks:
- Sustainability governance, project strategy, and benefits realization;
- Requirements and scope management for sustainability (performance-based scope, ESG deliverables);
- Schedule management for sustainability (carbon-aware planning, constraints, buffers, lean);
- Cost and value management (LCC, carbon pricing, sustainable value engineering);
- Quality, assurance, and commissioning for sustainability;
- Risk and resilience management (climate adaptation, ESG risk registers, scenario planning);
- Procurement and contract management (green procurement, incentives, supplier evaluation, FIDIC/clauses);
- Stakeholder, communication, and reporting (materiality, transparency, ESG reporting systems);
- Resource, productivity, and workforce wellbeing (skills, social sustainability, site impacts);
- Digital PM for sustainability (BIM–LCA, digital twins, IoT, AI decision support, data governance);
- Engineering innovation aligned with PM controls (materials, circularity, logistics).
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Prof. Dr. Sameh M. El-Sayegh
Dr. Salma Ahmed
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.
Keywords
- sustainable construction
- risk management
- building information modeling (BIM)
- procurement
- project scheduling
- project controls
- safety management
- supply chain management
- delays, cost overruns, and claims
- lifecycle cost analysis
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