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Next Built Conference: Call for Abstracts
Deadline for abstracts: 05 December 2025
The 3rd International Conference "Challenges for the NEXT generation BUILT Environment" (NEXTBUILT 2026) takes place 4-5 June 2026 and is hosted by the University of Bologna and the Next Built Observatory.
Housing has emerged globally as one of the most pressing social and economic challenges. The supply of affordable, adequate and sustainable housing is struggling to keep pace with demand. Ageing, inefficient and inadequate dwelling stocks, partially influenced by the dynamics of the property market, as well as the need for climate adaptation, and the rising cost of construction materials, are putting significant pressure on the construction sector.
The conference is organised with 4 themes. Abstracts are sought across 4 topics:
- Room for housing: reflecting on affordability, equity and resilience
- Livability, comfort and health: reflecting on the nature of the built environment
- Process workflow and services: reflecting on innovation in the building sector
- Materials without borders: reflecting on reuse and impacts
All abstracts will be double-blind peer reviewed by the Scientific Committee. NEXT BUILT ensures a fair and transparent process is undertaken by all the members involved.
WEBSITE: https://next-built.org/nextbuilt-2026/
CONTACT:
Latest Peer-Reviewed Journal Content
Building space heating and cooling in NDCs 4.0
T P Lützkendorf
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J Uusikartano, L Alkki & V Capitani
Validating national reuse indicators from regional demolition data: a Swedish example
F Ericsson, K Mjörnell & U Janson
Climate change risk and decision-making [editorial]
S Foxell & I Cooper
Technologies of reconstruction [editorial]
P Tombesi
Urban form metrics for building occupancy modelling: applications and impacts
D Reiter, M Jehling & R Hecht
Retrofit realism: affordable low-carbon policies for existing homes
N Eyre & R Khosla
Inside offsite: everyday dwelling in factory-built apartments
L Dorignon & R Horne
MMC for housing: sectoral perception on governance challenges
J Morgan, C Goodier, R Schmidt-III & K Ayinla
Reorganising specification practice for component reuse: an exploratory study
S Gao, K Jones, J Xu & J Glass
Kitchen retrofits to support food practices and wellbeing
F J Andrews, A Sal Moslehian, E Warner & R Tucker
From strategy to delivery: a comparative analysis of MMC roadmaps
G Goldman, D Sorokine, F Suerich-Gulick, C Carbone & M Jemtrud
Thermal comfort, ventilation and mosquito-borne disease risk in Zanzibar hospitals
O Sloan Wood, J B Knudsen, K L Schiøler, E Lupenza, M Msellem & F Saleh
Reusing precast concrete elements in construction: assessing the economic conditions
O Vigren, H Westerlind & T Malmqvist
Institutional readiness for industrialised social housing in Vietnam
T Q Nguyen, B N Nguyen, T H Q To & Z Aziz
Prefabrication for housing retrofit: governance, innovation and resident experience
E Pikas, K Kuusk, P Pihelo, R Liias, J Pukk & T Kalamees
Reframing heat pump transitions: a care perspective
J van der Haer, R Schelwald & F de Haan
Urban informal settlements in Africa: transforming adaptation governance
K Buyana & H Sseviiri
Reusing concrete products in indoor environments: chemical hazard assessment
K Tähtinen, A Helin, E Parshintsev & H Hovi
Negotiating net-zero carbon: an ANT analysis of two buildings
L Schweber & M Green
Design for disassembly: a review of public policy proposals
O Vorobjev, U Uotila, T Joensuu & A Saari
Retrofitting Norwegian residential buildings: an archetype-based dynamic stock model
L S A Rousseau, S Amini, S Akin & E G Hertwich
Decolonising time: vernacular villages and the politics of heritage temporality
R Al-Rabady
Commutes to alternative workplaces: GHG emissions and physical activity
J Taylor, L Thoen, A Espinosa Mireles De Villafranca, P Anashin, J Vanhatalo, D Milián
Bernal & I Okkonen
Nine ‘myths’ about the building stock of Great Britain
S Evans, P Steadman, A Neto-Bradley, D Humphrey, R Liddiard,H Shamsi, J Palmer & G Simons
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Latest Commentaries
Who is Responsible for Climate Change?
Ian Cooper (Eclipse Research) explores the questions of responsibility raised in the recent Buildings & Cities special issue ‘Climate Change Risk and Decision-Making’. Focusing here on carbon emissions and mitigation, global responses will require grounding in what can work locally. New responsibilities arise for the wide range of built environment decision-makers: clients, professionals and their institutions, central and local governments, product suppliers, financiers, insurers, etc. A framework is needed to manage the complexity of responsibilities especially for variety of actors, the time frames and spatial scales.
Professional Ethics in a Climate Crisis
The climate crisis has progressed into a dangerous phase with tragic consequences often counted in numbers of excess deaths, but also by powerful economic impacts of rising food prices, the increased costs of insurance and lending, costly damage to the built environment. Celia Davies, Director of Impact at the UK’s Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) and Hugh Ellis, Director of Policy at TCPA, consider the responsibilities of professionals in shaping a built environment which is fit not just for today's climate risks but for the dramatic increase in severe and unpredictable weather which is now locked into our climate systems.