Sustainability in the Built Environment

The built environment (or the buildings in which we live, work and occupy, the distribution systems that provide us with our utilities, and the physical interconnecting infrastructure systems) is currently responsible for almost 40% of global energy and process-related CO₂ emissions. Ensuring that the building and construction industry and its key players (in the manufacturing, construction and real estate sectors, together with users, occupiers, and financiers) responds rapidly to the climate crisis through mitigation and adaptation strategies, and at scale, is therefore essential if we are to keep global warming to tolerable limits by 2050 and meet net zero targets. This means mainstreaming and embedding ‘sustainability’ as an end goal which can be achieved through ‘sustainable development’ across built environment scales (buildings, neighbourhoods, and cities), including both new and existing built assets in both the Global North and Global South. This presents the building, construction, and real estate sectors with key challenges which revolve around a range of issues including finance availability; real estate value implications; consistency of measurement and assessment systems; and the differing international legislative and regulatory environments.

In this special issue we invite international contributions which focus particularly on researching and resolving the key challenges of achieving sustainability in the built environment across scales.

Examples could include (but are not restricted) to addressing one or more of the following questions:

● Why does sustainability matter in the built environment?
● Why are the UN Sustainable Development Goals important in setting a built environment research agenda?
● What are the value implications of sustainability in the built environment?
● What role can the circular economy play in driving sustainability in the built environment?
● What are the main issues associated with built environment sustainability measurement and assessment systems?
● How can built environment retrofitting be carried out at scale?
● How can the building, construction, and real estate sectors strengthen their ESG credentials?
● How can international best practice and transferable lessons help develop a sustainable built environment?

Professor Masa Noguchi

	Guest Editors Professor Tim Dixon School of Built Environment, University of Reading, UK
	Professor Sara Wilkinson Faculty of Design Architecture and Building, School of Building, University of Technology Sydney, Australia