Advancing Sustainability in the Construction Industry: Integrating Innovation and Practices for Achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Construction Management, and Computers & Digitization".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 December 2025 | Viewed by 1003

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
Interests: circular economy; construction and demolition waste management; reverse logistics; sustainable construction; women in construction

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Guest Editor

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
UniSA Online, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
Interests: building information modelling; circular economy; circularity indicators; reverse logistics; supply chain management; sustainable construction

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The construction industry is often criticized for its role as a massive contributor to environmental degradation and the depletion of natural resources. With the growing extraction of raw materials, massive waste generation, and greenhouse gas emissions, the construction industry must play a pivotal role in global sustainability efforts. This Special Issue, entitled “Advancing Sustainability in the Construction Industry: Integrating Innovation and Practices for Achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals”, focuses on exploring innovative strategies, approaches, and practices that advocate the construction industry to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This primarily aims to identify the potential pathways the construction industry can adopt to enhance environmental, economic, and social sustainability across all construction phases, from planning and designing to operation and decommissioning.

Themes for this Special Issue include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Circular economy approaches in the construction industry, including waste reduction and reverse logistics practices.
  • Application of digital technologies for sustainable construction.
  • Developments in policies and regulations supporting sustainable construction.
  • Green building designs promoting energy efficiency, water conservation, and indoor environmental quality.
  • Integrate renewable energy systems into construction projects to meet sustainability targets.
  • Regional and global perspectives on sustainable construction, focusing on challenges and success stories to achieve SDGs.

This Special Issue will help to bridge the gaps in academic research, policymaking, and industry practice while offering multidisciplinary contributions to transitioning to sustainable construction. Therefore, insightful studies that offer significant contributions to sustainable construction across different regions or case studies, outlining the best practices on the topic, are particularly welcome.  

Dr. Chamitha Sanjani Wijewickrama
Prof. Dr. David J. Edwards
Dr. Ruchini Jayasinghe
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. Buildings 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 2600 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

  • circular economy
  • construction industry
  • digital technologies
  • environmental sustainability
  • green building design
  • renewable energy
  • reverse logistics
  • social and economic sustainability
  • sustainable development
  • United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

24 pages, 1919 KB  
Review
Towards Sustainable Road Pavement Construction: A Material Passport Framework
by Helapura Nuwanshi Yasodara Senarathne, Nilmini Pradeepika Weerasinghe, Jey Parthiban, Brook Hall, Jaimi Harrison, Dilan Robert, Guomin (Kevin) Zhang and Sujeeva Setunge
Buildings 2025, 15(16), 2821; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15162821 - 8 Aug 2025
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Abstract
Sustainable transport infrastructure, highlighted in Agenda 21, Rio+20, and the 2030 Agenda, promotes resource efficiency and reduced environmental impact. Integrating circular economy principles into road construction supports these goals. However, limited material traceability and insufficient lifecycle information hinder the effective adoption of circular [...] Read more.
Sustainable transport infrastructure, highlighted in Agenda 21, Rio+20, and the 2030 Agenda, promotes resource efficiency and reduced environmental impact. Integrating circular economy principles into road construction supports these goals. However, limited material traceability and insufficient lifecycle information hinder the effective adoption of circular practices in the sector. Material passports have emerged as an enabling tool to address this gap by systematically documenting detailed data on material composition, environmental impact, lifecycle history, and potential for reuse or recycling. Despite growing adoption in the building sector, their application in road infrastructure remains limited. Therefore, this study aims to develop a material passport framework tailored for road pavements to enhance circularity and promote sustainable material management. A two-phase research method was used; first, a structured desk review identified relevant attributes; second, these attributes were categorized into six key domains and organized across three hierarchical levels: product, layer, and material to reflect pavement system complexity. The proposed framework enables multi-level documentation. Thus, the outcome of this study majorly contributes to advancing circular economy practices and the achievement of sustainable development goals by promoting resource efficiency, sustainable infrastructure, and responsible material use across the pavement lifecycle. Full article
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