Improving the Urban Resilience of Built Assets Through Industrialized Construction Systems

Dear Colleagues,

The confirmation of 2023 as the hottest year on record, coupled with an escalating frequency of extreme weather events, has underscored the vulnerability of urban environments to climate-induced disruptions. As urban areas now host more than half of the global population, the resilience of the built environment becomes a central pillar in addressing both immediate and long-term climate challenges.

Industrialized construction systems—ranging from modular and prefabricated methods to digitally enabled off-site manufacturing—offer transformative potential in fortifying urban infrastructure against environmental, economic, and social stresses. By rethinking how buildings and urban assets are conceived, produced, and maintained, we can better equip cities to respond adaptively and equitably to future uncertainties.

This Special Issue invites contributions that explore how industrialized construction methods can be leveraged to enhance the resilience of urban built assets. We seek to redefine urban design and development strategies by integrating systemic thinking across material, technological, and human-centered dimensions. Submissions may address a range of topics including (but not limited to) digital fabrication and automation, adaptive reuse of materials, circular construction, modular housing solutions, and policy frameworks that support agile urban transformation.

We encourage interdisciplinary perspectives that bridge engineering, architecture, urban planning, and the social sciences, and that recognize the interdependence of environmental performance, construction innovation, and social equity. Of particular interest are submissions that demonstrate how industrialized systems can support inclusive, scalable, and context-sensitive solutions, particularly in vulnerable or rapidly urbanizing regions.

This issue welcomes theoretical explorations, methodological innovations, case studies, and policy discussions that foreground resilience through industrialized construction. We especially welcome contributions that critically engage with equity, inclusivity, and the role of industrialization in mitigating urban risk and reinforcing sustainable development.

Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following themes:

1. Modular and prefabricated construction: Innovations in off-site fabrication techniques that enhance speed, quality, and adaptability of urban infrastructure;
2. Digital design and construction technologies: Use of BIM, digital twins, AI, and automation in resilient construction and lifecycle asset management;
3. Climate-responsive building systems: Integration of passive and active systems in industrialized construction to respond to extreme weather and environmental changes;
4. Circular construction and sustainable materials: Application of recyclable, low-carbon, and regenerative materials in scalable industrialized building processes;
5. Urban risk and resilience assessment frameworks: Development of tools and metrics to assess resilience of built assets under different climate and hazard scenarios;
6. Policy and regulatory innovations for industrialized systems: Exploration of governance, codes, and incentives supporting resilient construction at the urban scale;
7. Equity and inclusive design in industrialized construction: Ensuring marginalized communities benefit from resilient construction practices through inclusive frameworks;
8. Adaptive reuse and retrofitting of existing Infrastructure: Industrialized approaches to upgrading legacy urban assets for resilience and performance;
9. Integration of nature-based and hybrid solutions: Combining industrialized systems with ecological design to enhance resilience through hybrid infrastructures;
10. Socio-technical systems and community-centered design: Engaging communities in the co-design and deployment of industrialized solutions to ensure social relevance and long-term resilience.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Maria João Falcão Silva
Dr. Filipa Salvado
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. Urban Science is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 1600 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.

• urban resilience
• built assets
• industrialized construction
• extreme events
• sustainable environmental design
• equity and inclusive design
• digital design and construction
• policy and regulatory innovation