Dear Colleagues,

Climate change is affecting us all with increasing temperatures and more frequent occurrences of extreme weather events. The last 7 years have all featured in the top 10 warmest years on record, and computational analyses predict that this trend will continue unless we all reduce carbon emissions significantly. Buildings are large consumers of energy, and thus, a high proportion of carbon emissions are related to buildings. Buildings also suffer greatly due to the effects of climate change, with increased occupant dissatisfaction and increased energy consumption. It is ultimately important that buildings are to be built to adapt to future climates, as this would improve occupant comfort and reduce energy consumption, which in turn mitigates the effects of climate change. Hence, the role of building designers provides a potential positive feedback loop and is key to tackling the exacerbation of further climate change. Due to the inertia of excessive greenhouse gases already emitted in the past, even if all greenhouse gas emissions are stopped now, the inertia effect of warming will still continue for decades from now. Thus, as well as designing buildings to mitigate the effects of climate change, buildings will also need to be able to adapt to the inevitable rises in temperature and extreme events. Different climate regions in the world face different challenges as a result of climate change, and it is important that we can learn lessons from one another in this concerted effort to combat climate change. It is the aim of this Special Issue to gather research from experts across the world so we can all learn what can be done to improve our built environment in the face of climate change, how we cope, and also combat this potentially devastating threat to humankind.

We invite you to submit to this Special Issue of Sustainability. This Special Issue will be focused on Climate Change and the Built Environment. Buildings are large consumers of energy and thus also a high emitter of carbon dioxide. Building designers need to produce buildings that will not only mitigate the effects of climate change but also adapt to the changes that will inevitably happen in the next few decades.

This Special Issue hopes to bring together ongoing research from around the world so we can learn the effects of climate change have on buildings and what can be done to improve building performance under climate change. Topics include case-studies, computer-model simulations, generation of climate-change weather files, effects of urban heat islands, and implementation of carbon reduction policies.

Dr. David Hou Chi Chow
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 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.

• climate change
• urban heat island effects
• built environment
• passive design
• climate change policies, building regulations