5TH ANNIVERSARY ESSAYS



LATEST ESSAYS EXPLORING RESEARCH CHALLENGES 

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B&C is an independent, peer-reviewed transdisciplinary journal. 

Types of papers: Research, Synthesis, Methods, Replication, Policy Analysis, Briefing Notes RECENT SPECIAL ISSUES:

• Energy Sufficiency  »

• Health Inequalities & Indoor Environments  »

• Urban Adaptation: Disrupting Imaginaries & Practices  »

• Social Value of the Built Environment » BRIEFING NOTES:

A concise summary for practitioners on particular research topics & how to act on the results »

LATEST:• Building within planetary boundaries: moving construction to stewardship » LATEST COMMENTARIES:

• Climate Change, Overshoot & the Demise of Large Cities 

• Systems Thinking is Needed to Achieve Sustainable Cities

• Unmaking Cities Can Catalyse Sustainable Transformations

• Is Gentrification a Crime? RECENT BOOK REVIEWS:

• Architecture and Spatial Culture  »

• Healthy Urbanism »

• How to Engage Policy Makers with Your Research »
 
2025 PhD Video Challenge: Calling all PhD candidates!

You are invited to participate in the 2025 Video Challenge by creating a 2-minute video that tells the world about the significance of your research.

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5th Anniversary Essays

It’s B&C’s 5th year of publication. Celebrate with us by reading these thought-provoking essays.

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Lessons from Disaster Recovery: Build Better Before

Rethinking the building code means including performance objectives to limit damage and increase redundancy

Mary C. Comerio (University of California, Berkeley) explains why disaster recovery must begin well before a disaster occurs. The goal is to reduce the potential for damage beforehand by making housing delivery (e.g. capabilities and the physical, technical and institutional infrastructures) both more resilient and more capable of building back after disasters.

More

The current situation is implausible: there are pledges for 2030 but no roadmaps for their fulfilment over time. Image: Giovanna Cassavia (TU Graz).

Why policymakers should create mitigation roadmaps for construction and real estate

To achieve net zero GHG emissions by mid-century (the Breakthrough Agenda) it is vital to establish explicit sector-specific roadmaps and targets. With an eye to the forthcoming COP30 in Brazil and based on work in the IEA EBC Annex 89, Thomas Lützkendorf, Greg Foliente and Alexander Passer argue why specific goals and measures for building, construction and real estate are needed in the forthcoming round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC 3.0).

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A session from a participatory drawing workshop at the Rumi Library, led by Sadia Sharmin in 2019

How can a self-organised initiative in an informal settlement foster community engagement and confront social issues?

While Living Labs are often framed as structured, institutionalised spaces for innovation, Sadia Sharmin (Habitat Forum Berlin) reinterprets the concept through the lens of grassroots urban practices. She argues that self-organised knowledge spaces can function as Living Labs by fostering situated learning, collective agency, and community resilience. The example of a Living Lab in Bangladesh provides a model pathway to civic participation and spatial justice.

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Climate Mitigation & Carbon Budgets: Research Challenges

Why the built environment research community is vital for policy and strategy implementation

Thomas Lützkendorf (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) explains how the research community has helped to change the climate change policy landscape for the construction and real estate sectors, particularly for mitigating GHG emissions. Evidence can be used to influence policy pathways and carbon budgets, and to develop detailed carbon strategies and implementation. A key challenge is to create a stronger connection between the requirements for individual buildings and the national reduction pathways for the built environment.

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Climate Change Risk and Decision-Making

Guest Editors: Simon Foxell and Ian Cooper

Deadline for abstracts: 09 June 2025 (noon GMT)

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How should built environment actors (individually and collectively) respond to the increasing risks resulting from the changes to the global and local climates? How can the sector improve its understanding of risk factors and potential responses? What obligations do decision-makers have to act and explain their actions relating to avoidance and mitigation of risk? What processes and shared understandings are needed for identifying, communicating and responding to climate risks? What are the appropriate approaches to thinking about and acting on built environment risk (across a spectrum from ‘probability times consequences’ to ‘how far is safe enough’ that locate risk in a larger cultural context?

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Co-ordinate Built Environment Research for the Public Good

Why a coordinated programme of built environment research needs to be based on the public good

Gavin Killip and Kate Simpson (Nottingham Trent University) propose a coordinated research programme of field trials to create a focus for iterative learning about outcomes in the built environment, for the public good. They explain why a transdisciplinary programme is needed and seven key characteristics of the programme are proposed.

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B&C's Readership Metric

Research papers in B&C are being widely read

Buildings & Cities is pleased to announce that in 2024 our peer reviewed articles were viewed and downloaded 523,612 times from the journal’s website.

The great interest shown here is an indicator of the journal’s role as an important resource and as a valued contributor to the field.

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Reframing Sustainable Construction

Why a new approach to sustainable development is needed.

Alice Moncaster (University of the West of England) reflects on the lack of progress in sustainable development over several decades. This failure is argued to be linked to how sustainable development has been framed: the separation of technical issues from social justice and equity. Understanding, involving and empowering communities (and wider society) is the key to making progress and achieving sustainable development goals.

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Artificial Intelligence and Decarbonisation

How building research can harness AI for mass decarbonisation

Ten years ago, it was rare to read building science papers referencing learning algorithms, sensor networks, cloud computing or digital twins. Now, data-driven techniques are at the core of building decarbonisation research, generating both new opportunities and new risks. Jenn McArthur (Toronto Metropolitan University) reflects on how the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming building decarbonisation research.

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Figure 1: The current silo'd approach to urban climate sciences and the study of indoor and outdoor spaces

Understanding the interactions between urban form, outdoor and indoor spaces, and local climate requIres interdisciplinary interaction

Gerald Mills (University College Dublin) considers the big challenges for cities amid global climate change (GCC) and discusses the need for an inter-disciplinary approach among urban climate sciences to overcome obstacles. A distinction is made between global climate science, which focusses on Earth-scale outcomes, and urban climate science, which refers to processes and impacts at city-scales, including buildings, streets and neighbourhoods.

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Image courtesy of Keith West

Why large cities will need to contract or be abandoned altogether

William E. Rees (University of British Columbia) explains why urbanisation has been a significant contributor to ecological overshoot (when human consumption and waste generation exceeds the regenerative capacity of supporting ecosystems) and climate change.1 Civil society needs to begin designing a truly viable future involving a ‘Plan B’ for orderly local degrowth of large cities.

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The Marinaressa Coral Tree is a prototype filigree structure created by the University of Stuttgart. https://bit.ly/40thfPO  Photo: Chrisna du Plessis

Why the next industrial revolution needs to be based on nature and not “technology”

Over the past 50 years the world has seen countless summits and agreements to reduce carbon emissions and prevent ecological overshoot. We have seen widespread adoption of the SDGs, a rapid shift to renewable energy, and numerous urban planning strategies to create biodiversity corridors, rewild rivers, and enable public and non-motorised transport options. However, appearances are deceiving. Chrisna du Plessis (University of Pretoria) considers the challenge of how to foster an ecological civilization in a world obsessed with technological innovation.

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Energy Sufficiency in Buildings and Cities

How can conditions be created for decent living standards for all without exceeding planetary limits?

Energy and climate policies have tended to focus on the promotion of energy efficiency and renewable energies, but there is no evidence that these measures alone will be able to meet climate and sustainable development goals. This special issue explores what the concept of sufficiency means for the built environment - both as a floor (minimum) and a ceiling (maximum) to ensure a “good life”. Sufficiency is explored in many interconnected issues such as land use and density, space usage (size and adaptability), sharing of goods, services and spaces, and space conditioning (heating, cooling and ventilation) for health.

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Health Inequalities and Indoor Environments

How do indoor environments affect health inequalities, inequities and injustice?

Health inequalities are a crucial aspect of public health and a pressing societal challenge. Access to healthy indoor spaces that are optimised to promote health should be seen as a fundamental right for all. This special issue is a starting point for the built-environment and public health communities to identify many existing inequities in order to improve methodological approaches, share vocabularies between disciplines, and create new knowledge necessary to create a safe and healthy indoor environments for all. Equitable design could translate into prioritising air quality improvements in the homes of people suffering from respiratory conditions, introducing inclusive design elements for disabled people, or providing energy retrofit subsidies to low-income, fuel-poor households.

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Systems Thinking is Needed to Achieve Sustainable Cities

Why a just transition to sustainable cities depends on quality, affordable housing

As city populations grow, a critical current and future challenge for urban researchers is to provide compelling evidence of the medium- and long-term co-benefits of quality, low-carbon affordable housing and compact urban design. Philippa Howden-Chapman (University of Otago) and Ralph Chapman (Victoria University of Wellington) explain why systems-based, transition-oriented research on housing and associated systemic benefits is needed now more than ever.

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Artwork © Pat Sonnino 2024

Why urban innovation is not enough to create sustainable cities

Andrew Karvonen (Lund University) explains why innovation has limitations for achieving systemic change. What is also needed is a process of unmaking (i.e. phasing out existing harmful technologies, processes and practices) whilst ensuring inequalities, vulnerabilities and economic hazards are avoided. Researchers have an important role to identify what needs dismantling, identify advantageous and negative impacts and work with stakeholders and local governments.

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Endorsements

Ani Raiden, Nottingham Trent University, UK
  • Ani Raiden, Nottingham Trent University, UK
  • Gail Brager, University of California at Berkeley, US
  • David Lorenz, Lorenz Property Advisors, Germany
  • Kathryn Janda, University College London, UK
  • Minna Sunikka-Blank, University of Cambridge, UK
  • Lauri Koskla, University of Huddersfield, UK
  • Alison Kwok, University of Oregon, US
  • Robert Lowe, University College London, UK
  • Susse Georg, Aalborg University Copenhagen, DK
  • David J. Edwards, Birmingham City University, UK; KNUST, Ghana; and University of Johannesburg, ZA
  • Heather Chappells, University of British Columbia, CA
  • Sergio Altomonte, UC Louvain, Belgium
  • Tom Spector, Oklahoma State University, US
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Ani Raiden, Nottingham Trent University, UKGail Brager, University of California at Berkeley, USDavid Lorenz, Lorenz Property Advisors, GermanyKathryn Janda, University College London, UKMinna Sunikka-Blank, University of Cambridge, UKLauri Koskla, University of Huddersfield, UKAlison Kwok, University of Oregon, USRobert Lowe, University College London, UKSusse Georg, Aalborg University Copenhagen, DKDavid J. Edwards, Birmingham City University, UK; KNUST, Ghana; and University of Johannesburg, ZAHeather Chappells, University of British Columbia, CASergio Altomonte, UC Louvain, BelgiumTom Spector, Oklahoma State University, US
Ani Raiden, Nottingham Trent University, UK

We have found the journey with Buildings & Cities very professional - no doubt the smoothest publication process we have worked through in our careers. The editor’s direction has been clear and easy to navigate and respond to.

Latest Peer-Reviewed Journal Content

Journal Content

Beyond the building: governance challenges in social housing retrofit
H Charles

Heat stress in social housing districts: tree cover–built form interaction
C Lopez-Ordoñez, E Garcia-Nevado, H Coch & M Morganti

An observational analysis of shade-related pedestrian activity
M Levenson, D Pearlmutter & O Aleksandrowicz

Learning to sail a building: a people-first approach to retrofit
B Bordass, R Pender, K Steele & A Graham

Market transformations: gas conversion as a blueprint for net zero retrofit
A Gillich

Resistance against zero-emission neighbourhood infrastructuring: key lessons from Norway
T Berker & R Woods

Megatrends and weak signals shaping future real estate
S Toivonen

A strategic niche management framework to scale deep energy retrofits
T H King & M Jemtrud

Generative AI: reconfiguring supervision and doctoral research
P Boyd & D Harding

Exploring interactions between shading and view using visual difference prediction
S Wasilewski & M Andersen

How urban green infrastructure contributes to carbon neutrality [briefing note]
R Hautamäki, L Kulmala, M Ariluoma & L Järvi

Implementing and operating net zero buildings in South Africa
R Terblanche, C May & J Steward

Quantifying inter-dwelling air exchanges during fan pressurisation tests
D Glew, F Thomas, D Miles-Shenton & J Parker

Western Asian and Northern African residential building stocks: archetype analysis
S Akin, A Eghbali, C Nwagwu & E Hertwich

Lanes, clusters, sightlines: modelling patient flow in medical clinics
K Sailer, M Utley, R Pachilova, A T Z Fouad, X Li, H Jayaram & P J Foster

Analysing cold-climate urban heat islands using personal weather station data
J Taylor, C H Simpson, J Vanhatalo, H Sohail, O Brousse, & C Heaviside

Are simple models for natural ventilation suitable for shelter design?
A Conzatti, D Fosas de Pando, B Chater & D Coley

Impact of roofing materials on school temperatures in tropical Africa
E F Amankwaa, B M Roberts, P Mensah & K V Gough

Acceptability of sufficiency consumption policies by Finnish households
E Nuorivaara & S Ahvenharju

Key factors for revitalising heritage buildings through adaptive reuse
É Savoie, J P Sapinski & A-M Laroche

Cooler streets for a cycleable city: assessing policy alignment
C Tang & J Bush

Understanding the embodied carbon credentials of modern methods of construction
R O’Hegarty, A McCarthy, J O’Hagan, T Thanapornpakornsin, S Raffoul & O Kinnane

The changing typology of urban apartment buildings in Aurinkolahti
S Meriläinen & A Tervo

Embodied climate impacts in urban development: a neighbourhood case study
S Sjökvist, N Francart, M Balouktsi & H Birgisdottir

Environmental effects of urban wind energy harvesting: a review
I Tsionas, M laguno-Munitxa & A Stephan

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Latest Commentaries

Lessons from Disaster Recovery: Build Better Before

Mary C. Comerio (University of California, Berkeley) explains why disaster recovery must begin well before a disaster occurs. The goal is to reduce the potential for damage beforehand by making housing delivery (e.g. capabilities and the physical, technical and institutional infrastructures) both more resilient and more capable of building back after disasters.

The current situation is implausible: there are pledges for 2030 but no roadmaps for their fulfilment over time. Image: Giovanna Cassavia (TU Graz).

To achieve net zero GHG emissions by mid-century (the Breakthrough Agenda) it is vital to establish explicit sector-specific roadmaps and targets. With an eye to the forthcoming COP30 in Brazil and based on work in the IEA EBC Annex 89, Thomas Lützkendorf, Greg Foliente and Alexander Passer argue why specific goals and measures for building, construction and real estate are needed in the forthcoming round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC 3.0).

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