Advances in Low-Carbon, Climate-Resilient, and Sustainable Built Environment

Dear Colleagues,

This Topic titled ‘Advances in Low-Carbon, Climate-Resilient, and Sustainable Built Environment’ is being launched to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the School of Architecture and Fine Art at Dalian University of Technology, China. Cities and communities are the main human settlements. They are expected to provide citizens with inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable production and living environments. Under most conditions, cities and communities can meet these needs well, but there are many gaps because of improper planning, design, construction, operation, and management, reducing urban quality, productivity, human health, and well-being. For instance, climate-related impacts are increasingly intense, severe, and frequent, while many cities and communities cannot mitigate, alleviate, and avoid threats of extreme climate events (e.g., heat waves, cyclones, floods, and drought). Moreover, many cities and communities are not appropriately planned and designed, leading to air quality reduction, heat islands, extensive carbon emission, lack of public space, and psychological illnesses. There is a need to improve, refine, and upgrade the paradigm of urban planning and design, building design and construction, and operation, management and maintenance to enhance human settlements' environmental, social, and economic sustainability. Therefore, this Topic aims to advance knowledge of the theory, methods, and practices to create low-carbon, climate-resilient, and sustainable built environments to address climate change, urbanization, economic growth, environmental deterioration, and human health and well-being challenges. It will build a platform for researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and stakeholders from multiple disciplines, including urban–rural planning, architecture and civil engineering, landscape architecture, urban design, building sciences, construction management, environmental sciences and management, urban climate, and geography, to publish their latest academic results and findings. Relevant themes include but are not limited to the following:

− Urban environmental impact assessment;
− Urban climate resilience and disaster risk;
− Human comfort, health, and well-being;
− Climate change mitigation and adaptation;
− Nature-based solutions;
− Sustainable land use and planning;
− Decarbonization of the built environment;
− Policies, regulations, and initiatives for climate resilience;
− Human-oriented environmental design;
− Ecological safety and green space health;
− Sustainable development goals and urban development.

Prof. Dr. Baojie He
Prof. Dr. Stephen Siu Yu Lau
Prof. Dr. Deshun Zhang
Prof. Dr. Andreas Matzarakis
Prof. Dr. Fei Guo
Topic Editors