Sustainable Homes of Tomorrow: Innovations in Materials and Design

Dear Colleagues,

The built environment is a significant contributor to global resource consumption and waste generation, underscoring the urgent need to transition from linear, extractive models to circular and regenerative paradigms. Conventional approaches to home design, often reliant on energy-intensive materials and short-lived products, are no longer tenable. Therefore, pioneering the next generation of sustainable homes through innovations in materials and design is critical for achieving our global environmental and well-being goals.

This Special Issue, titled “Sustainable Homes of Tomorrow: Innovations in Materials and Design”, is dedicated to advancing the frontier of eco-conscious living spaces. It seeks to showcase the latest breakthroughs in the development, application, and assessment of sustainable materials—from bio-based composites and recycled polymers to modified wood and renewable textiles—and the innovative design strategies that unlock their potential. By harnessing these advancements and embracing principles such as circularity and disassembly, we can pave the way for high-performance, low-carbon homes that align with a sustainable future, promoting resource efficiency, health, and resilience.

We invite the submission of original research articles, comprehensive reviews, and insightful perspective papers that explore the intersection of material science, industrial design, architecture, and environmental sustainability.

Topics of interest for this Special Issue include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Bio-based and recycled materials;
• Circular economy;
• Life cycle assessment (LCA) and environmental impact;
• Sustainable interior and architecture design;
• Design for sustainable user behavior;
• Green home and building decoration materials;
• Digital fabrication and sustainable manufacturing.

We look forward to receiving your contributions. 

Dr. Yi Liu
Guest Editor

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.