Addressing Sustainable Development in the Digital Construction Age
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 December 2020) | Viewed by 7041
Special Issue Editors
Interests: BIM and energy modelling; Building Performance Evaluation; energy modelling and sustainability analysis; zero carbon buildings
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The building sector is considered as a major energy consumer as well as a major culprit for the increasing presence of atmospheric carbon. Globally, almost 40% of energy consumption and carbon emissions comes from the construction and operation of buildings. Therefore, awareness on optimizing of energy consumption and carbon reduction in buildings has been increased over the last 10 years, examples of which include the climate strikes and UN developmental goals for mitigating actions of climate change.
At the same time, over the last decade, the building sector has been investing in digital tools and focusing on innovative processes, such as smart buildings and digital coordination methods. One such example, building information modelling (BIM), has seen significant growth within the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry, enabling to improve decision making and performance across the building and infrastructure lifecycle.
Incorporating digital analysis of energy and carbon analysis at stages of the design, construction and use would certainly provide many benefits, including giving more room to create alternative options which optimize the whole building life cycle energy consumption and create better building and infrastructure projects.
The rationale of this Special Issue can be summarized in the following question: What low-carbon, sustainable and other technologies should be implemented in the current and future digital construction age to help the AEC sector address the climate challenge facing our planet?
Contributions from different scientific backgrounds are welcome, such as building physics, architecture computer sciences, information management, information systems, knowledge management, and other related scientific areas. Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:
- Digital methods for accounting for the extraction of raw resources, process materials, assembly of product components, and transport as part of building life cycle analysis;
- The black spot of sustainability analysis in embodied energy;
- How to address the impact of material in the digital age;
- Integrating IOT data analysis with BIM, optimizing the total carbon counting;
- Role of higher education in addressing climate change and sustainability within the architecture and build environment disciplines;
- The role of citizens and end users in optimizing energy consumption by further improving design and construction tools, such as digital representation and community energy action.
Further Reading
Mohamed, R.; Alwan, Z.; McIntyre, L. Bim for Sustainable Project Delivery. In Architectural Science Review. 2 Jan 2020.
Sustainability and Investment Appraisal for Housing Regeneration Projects. Structural Survey, 34, 150–167.
Higham, A.P.; Fortune, C.; Boothman, C. Paper Awarded: Emerald Literati Award for Excellence–Highly Commended Paper, 2017.
Alwan, Z.; Jones, P.; Holgate, P. Strategic sustainable development in the UK construction industry, through the Framework of Strategic Sustainable Development, Using Building Information Modelling, In: Journal of Cleaner Production, 12 Jan 2016.
Dr. Zaid Alwan
Dr. Anthony Higham
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
- education and low carbon education
- parametric modelling
- sustainability in built environment education
- BIM LCA analysis energy modelling
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.
