Sustainable Buildings for a Seismic Future: Integrating Resilience into Design and Retrofit Practices
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Green Building".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2026
Special Issue Editors
Interests: seismic hazard; earthquake seismology; geophysics
2. Department of Civil Engineering, Inha University, Incheon 22212, Republic of Korea
Interests: geotechnical earthquake engineering; seismic risk; machine learning; transportation infrastructure
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue focuses on advancing integrated research at the intersection of seismic resilience, sustainable building design, and next-generation structural engineering practices. As global efforts intensify to establish decarbonization and climate-responsive development, ensuring that green buildings remain structurally robust under seismic hazards is a critical challenge. This Special Issue invites the submission of high-quality contributions that explore how innovative engineering solutions, performance-based methodologies, and smart technologies can enhance the resilience and sustainability of the built environment.
The scope of this publication includes research addressing advanced seismic design principles, resilience-oriented assessment frameworks, and retrofit technologies tailored for sustainable buildings. Submissions may investigate how low-carbon materials, green construction strategies, and energy-efficient systems can be integrated with structural requirements to achieve the dual goals of environmental sustainability and earthquake safety. The issue also welcomes studies that use numerical modeling, digital twins, sensor-based monitoring, and AI-assisted structural evaluation to optimize seismic performance across the building lifecycle. The purpose is to highlight approaches that enable sustainable structures, whether new or existing, to withstand seismic events while maintaining long-term durability, reduced environmental impact, and operational continuity. Contributions may comprise analytical, experimental, computational, or interdisciplinary studies demonstrating how resilience principles can support sustainable development goals, improve community safety, and reduce lifecycle costs.
This Special Issue aims to supplement the existing literature by connecting seismic engineering with sustainability science, offering insights into eco-efficient retrofitting, adaptive structural systems, and resilience-based planning to produce future-ready buildings. We welcome the submission of original research articles, case studies, and systematic reviews on the above themes.
Prof. Dr. Issa El-Hussain
Dr. Abdullah Ansari
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
- seismic resilience
- sustainable buildings
- performance-based design
- seismic retrofitting
- structural health monitoring
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