Dear Colleagues,

Recent decades have seen marked economic growth in East Asia, notably China, as well as in South America and Africa. Meanwhile, the relationship between economic growth and the ensuing environmental burden has been scrutinized in the literature. The focus on these issues has become even stronger as the connection between global warming and greenhouse gas emissions—which have risen sharply as a by-product of economic growth—has become clear. Climate change has manifested itself in the form of visible and tangible phenomena such as the destruction of existing ecosystems and rising sea levels. At the regional and local levels, the debate typically revolves around environmental degradation- and pollution-induced health problems. However, in recent years, as these problems have accelerated, environmental pollution-related crises that used to occur every few decades have begun to occur every few years, shining a spotlight on this rapid change. Property and construction markets play a key role, not just because they are physical manifestations of economic growth in cities around the world, but also because of their share, roughly one third, of global greenhouse gas emissions. Particularly in market-based economies, price signals from property markets can provide a crucial impulse for mitigation and adaptation in the face of climate change. Hence, this Special Issue focuses on the role of the property market in a sustainable society. In order to achieve true sustainability, various risks must be controlled and mitigated. Alongside more localized risks such as earthquake risk, wildfire risk and flood risk, including global sea level rise and large-scale adverse weather events. Apart from investigating the effects of policies such as carbon pricing or emissions regulations on real estate markets, defining appropriate sustainability metrics that are backed up by timely, accurate and reliable data will be an important factor in the transition to more sustainable property markets and economies.

Prof. Dr. Chihiro Shimizu
Prof. Dr. Franz Fuerst
Dr. Nikodem Szumilo
Dr. Georgia Warren-Myers
Dr. Xiangyu Guo
Dr. Hiroki Baba
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. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 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.

• green building
• property prices
• climate change
• ESG
• responsible investment
• earthquake
• sea or river level rise