Lean Construction and Sustainability in Construction Industry
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 19
Special Issue Editors
Interests: building engineering; advanced information technologies; energy saving and management; lean construction
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The construction industry is a major global consumer of resources and a significant contributor to energy use and waste generation, creating urgent pressure to adopt more sustainable practices. Lean Construction, a project management philosophy focused on maximizing value and minimizing waste, offers core principles that are inherently aligned with the objectives of sustainable development. This Special Issue seeks to investigate how Lean Construction practices can systematically advance environmental, economic and social sustainability within the construction sector.
This Special Issue aims to collect cutting-edge research that critically examines how Lean theories and methods contribute to improved environmental performance, optimized life-cycle costs and enhanced social well-being in construction projects. We encourage submissions that clarify the intrinsic connections between Lean tools—such as BIM, the Last Planner System™ and Value Stream Mapping—and sustainability outcomes, including carbon reduction, circular economy principles and occupational health and safety. By fostering interdisciplinary research on sustainable solutions, this Issue aligns closely with the scope of sustainability. Our goal is to establish a valuable platform for sharing knowledge among scholars and practitioners.
We welcome the submission of original research articles and review papers. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Lean Construction and carbon footprint management;
- Minimization of construction and demolition waste through Lean thinking;
- Integrated Lean and Green building assessment tools and frameworks;
- Synergies between BIM and Lean Construction for sustainable design and management;
- Social impacts of Lean Construction on safety and community well-being;
- Lean supply chain management for the circular economy;
- Novel methods and case studies for measuring the sustainability benefits of Lean practices.
We look forward to receiving your valuable contributions.
Prof. Dr. Cylde Zhengdao Li
Prof. Dr. Jian Liu
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.
Keywords
- lean construction
- sustainable construction
- waste minimization
- BIM
- circular economy
- life-cycle assessment
- construction management
- green building
- value stream mapping
- project delivery
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