Dear Colleagues,

Nowadays, sustainable engineering is faced with a number of challenges and opportunities in order to configure an integrated and eco-compatible metabolism between the technosphere and the natursphere. For this reason, it is necessary to consider in present and future projects an increase in their complexity, and the need for the development of sustainable technologies and systems that support these new projects, with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) under the 2030 Agenda.

The opportunities for sustainable engineering include new technologies, equipment, knowledge and more efficient design tools. A special advantage for sustainable engineering comes from digitalization with technologies such as: cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), big data, connectivity, cyber–physical systems, dematerialization and virtualization.

The challenges of Sustainable Engineering, adopted by the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit for the 2030 Agenda, aim to achieve a balance between people, planet and prosperity. For this purpose, 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets have been formulated, which constitute the internationally accepted aspirations of global sustainability. The general framework of the SDGs has been adopted by many countries to track and monitor their progress toward sustainable development.

The purpose of this Special Issue is focused on relating the challenges and opportunities that sustainable engineering is facing under the 2030 horizon to develop products, processes, services and built environments that coexist under the SDGs. To this end, the following potential topics of sustainable engineering are admitted for research work:

• Sustainable engineering model for the life cycle engineering of products, processes, services and built environments under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN 2030 Agenda.
• Models for the integration of sustainable engineering in the policies, strategies and programs of institutions and companies in an integrated multilevel and multiscale way. Reformulation of the models of engineering competencies and project management for certification (PMI). IPMA, and other standards under the principles of sustainable engineering.
• Sustainable life cycle engineering in paradigms, frameworks, models and tools referring to the needs and analyses of sustainable experiences, ecodesign, environmental, economic and social life cycle analysis.
• Analysis of the life cycle sustainability aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Ecolabeling and eco-certifications, sustainability indicators and metrics in the achievement of SDGs, circular economy, cradle to cradle, material and substance flow analysis, resource efficiency and sustainability excellence.
• Digitalization and smartization of the environmental, economic and social life cycle analysis. Analysis of the sustainability of the life cycle with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Incorporation of sustainable engineering into BIM and PLM environments for the development of products, processes, services and sustainably built environments in agriculture, industry, construction and services.
• Sustainable engineering of the industrial metabolism of products, processes, services, the built environment and its value chain, as integrated biological and technical nutrient systems in the ecosystems of the natursphere and technosphere. Engineering of the intelligent metabolism.
• Sustainable engineering for the development and management of intelligent cyber–physical systems for products, processes, services and environments built with technological enablers from Industry 4.0: IoT, big data, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, augmented and virtual reality or drones under the criteria of efficiency, cyclicity, toxicity and dematerialization.
• Sustainable engineering innovation: sustainable engineering in the field of prospective and future projects; social sustainable engineering under the actor–network theory (ANT); and anthropology and ethnodesign.
• Sustainable reengineering: modernization and naturization of products, processes and the built environment; remediation of natural ecosystems; and resilience engineering.
• Complexity of integrated and interconnected sustainable socio–technical cyber–physical systems; and cognitive and neurocognitive instruction models.
• Social sustainability engineering: product, process and built environment engineering for accessibility, sociability and socio-affectivity; Kansei engineering of sustainable products; engineering for inclusivity.
• Sustainable engineering of smart cities: metrics, indicators, information architectures for sustainability, balanced scorecards and models for sustainable management and administration.

Kind regards,

Dr. María Jesús Ávila Gutiérrez
Dr. Juan Ramón Lama Ruiz
Dr. Francisco Aguayo-González
Guest Editors

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• sustainable life cycle engineering
• 2030 Agenda
• Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
• sustainability excellence management
• sustainable engineering 4.0 with BIM and PLM
• smart sustainability
• digitalization and smartization
• life cycle sustainability analysis
• smart industrial metabolism engineering
• sustainable engineering for intelligent cyber–physical systems
• engineering for sustainable innovation and emerging technologies
• sustainable social engineering according to actor–network theory (ANT)
• integration models for sustainable engineering
• sustainable socio–technical systems complexity
• cognitive and neurocognitive instruction of sustainable engineering
• sustainable engineering of smart cities
• holonic sustainability
• re-engineering of sustainable systems