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Promoting Sustainable Practice within the Built Environment by Using Niche Products, Services and Disruptive Technologies

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Science and Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2022) | Viewed by 9947

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Parneet Paul

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Built Environment, Engineering, and Computing, Leeds Beckett University, Northern Terrace, City Campus, Leeds LS2 8AG, UK
Interests: wastewater treatment; water and sanitation engineering; renewable energy sources; construction management; building performance monitoring; alternative technologies for developing countries
Prof. Sher Jamal Khan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute Environmental Sciences and Engineering (IESE), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), H-12, Islamabad, Pakistan
Interests: aerobic and anaerobic membrane bioreactors (MBRs); forward osmosis membrane bioreactors (FO-MBRs); membrane distillation (MD) bioreactors for wastewater reclamation and reuse
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges faced, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice. The 17 goals are all interconnected; in order to leave no one behind, it is important that they are all achieved by 2030.

Some of the key SDGs refer directly or indirectly to the built environment and its impact on human quality of life; the natural environment; the broader socio-economic implications for societies; and recent technological advances in micro-electronics, bio-genetic engineering, and digital industries, amongst other sectors. The key issue is that increased urbanization of global populations (usually within peri-urban informal settlements of mega-cities) means that future built environment planners have to think smart when designing and implementing strategic projects and programmes in these locales. They need to use all available resources and technologies that are leading the way in the fourth industrial revolution, which is itself creating smart cities of the future that are inter-connected digitally across a range of sectors. This especially means that urban planners and policy makers in emerging economies must use disruptive technologies and practices to allow the major SDGs to be met whilst simultaneously meeting the needs of their constituencies.

Examples of good practice in these areas could, for example, be in improved solid waste management to reduce urban micro-flooding events; enhanced urban wastewater and stormwater management to protect the environment by using decentralized treatment and collection systems; better availability of lean construction methods and low-carbon materials to allow increased building performance monitoring; increased use of decentralized alternative and renewable energy sources to power systems within households, businesses and local industries; increased digital inter-connectivity of varying systems and processes in the urban environment to allow big data capture and analysis of user needs.

This Special Issue focuses on disruptive, niche and specialist products, services and technologies that allow improved control and optimization of the built environment using an interdisciplinary sustainable approach across a range of sectors. It is recognized that many of the issues facing urban mega-cities within emerging economies can only be addressed using this sustainable interconnected approach whilst also addressing the relevant and related SDGs.

Prof. Parneet Paul
Prof. Sher Jamal Khan
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. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2500 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

  • built environment
  • emerging economies
  • disruptive technologies
  • sustainable development
  • niche products
  • niche services

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 1377 KiB  
Article
An Analysis on Promoting Prefabrication Implementation in Construction Industry towards Sustainability
by Zezhou Wu, Lirong Luo, Heng Li, Ying Wang, Guoqiang Bi and Maxwell Fordjour Antwi-Afari
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(21), 11493; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph182111493 - 31 Oct 2021
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 6156
Abstract
As a game-changing technology with significant environmental, economic, and social benefits, prefabricated technology has attracted attention and has been increasingly adopted in the construction industry. Although multitudinous studies have investigated various aspects of prefabrication in construction, a thorough review of its current development [...] Read more.
As a game-changing technology with significant environmental, economic, and social benefits, prefabricated technology has attracted attention and has been increasingly adopted in the construction industry. Although multitudinous studies have investigated various aspects of prefabrication in construction, a thorough review of its current development state that synthesized environmental, economic, and social sustainability dimensions remains overdue. Therefore, this study aims to fill this research gap by constructing a systematic framework, analyzing the research status quos, and providing recommendations for future research. This study first conducted a holistic review of 768 references with NVivo. A research foci framework that represented the body of knowledge in prefabrication in construction was developed with five levels, which were advantages, hindrances, stakeholders, promotion policies, and strategy spectrum. Following the framework, the in-depth analyses from the perspectives of environmental, economic, social sustainability, technologies development, and promotion strategies were performed. The current research domains were further linked with potential research directions for promoting prefabricated construction towards sustainability. The study is of value in both offering references for policy formulation and stakeholder practice and providing recommendations for future research. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Promoting Sustainable Practice within the Built Environment by Using Niche Products, Services and Disruptive Technologies)
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18 pages, 1746 KiB  
Article
Investigating the Critical Factors of Professionals’ BIM Adoption Behavior Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior
by Zezhou Wu, Mingyang Jiang, Heng Li, Xiaochun Luo and Xiaoying Li
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(6), 3022; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph18063022 - 15 Mar 2021
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3108
Abstract
In recent years, building information modeling (BIM) has been receiving growing interest from the construction industry of China. Nevertheless, although BIM has many foreseeable advantages, many studies claimed that these advantages have not been sufficiently achieved in practice at the current stage. In [...] Read more.
In recent years, building information modeling (BIM) has been receiving growing interest from the construction industry of China. Nevertheless, although BIM has many foreseeable advantages, many studies claimed that these advantages have not been sufficiently achieved in practice at the current stage. In this circumstance, it is interesting to investigate what really drives the adoption of BIM. Based on Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior (TPB), a hypothetical model which involves nine latent variables is initially established. Then, a questionnaire is designed and distributed to the construction professionals in the Chinese context. After reliability and validity analysis, the goodness-of-fit of the initial model and the related theoretical assumptions are tested through structural equation modeling (SEM). Based on the modification indicators, a modified model is finally derived. Results show that economic viability and governmental supervision are the most critical factors that influence construction professionals’ BIM adoption behavior in China, sharing weights of 0.37 and 0.34, respectively, whereas other factors play limited roles in this regard. The research findings revealed from this study can provide insightful references for countries that intend to promote BIM adoption in a similar circumstance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Promoting Sustainable Practice within the Built Environment by Using Niche Products, Services and Disruptive Technologies)
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