5TH ANNIVERSARY ESSAYS



LATEST ESSAYS EXPLORING RESEARCH CHALLENGES 

New essays are continuously being added. 

Click here to see them »
View our peer-reviewed content: 

B&C’s peer review content is published on our Ubiquity Press website »
SUBMIT YOUR PAPER:

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 »
5TH ANNIVERSARY ESSAYS



LATEST ESSAYS EXPLORING RESEARCH CHALLENGES 

New essays are continuously being added. 

Click here to see them » View our peer-reviewed content: 

B&C’s peer review content is published on our Ubiquity Press website » SUBMIT YOUR PAPER:

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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Trusting Building Performance Simulation

As codes and regulations become stricter, is simulation the right tool for compliance as well as sketching performance to assist design?

This special issue examines whether building  performance simulations can be trusted for their accuracy and reliability. An increasing urgency exists to provide a prediction of performance over the next 50-100 years. As carbon limits become more fixed on absolute performance, a consensus is needed on how to examine performance reliably and accurately – both for new buildings as well as interventions in existing buildings. Several different concerns are addressed pertaining to the building performance gap - particularly practices and expectations.

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New Editorial Positions at B&C

We are seeking 2 people to journal our editorial team

DOWNLOAD A PDF VERSION

Buildings & Cities journal is looking for 2 Associate Editors to join our outstanding editorial team to support the journal’s mission. The Associate Editors will work in close cooperation with other B&C Editors. The commitment for each would be 3 hours per week. Associate Editors are also required to attend virtual Editorial meetings. These are community service roles that are non-remunerative.

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MMC and the Future of Housing

Guest Editors: Rachel Macrorie & Andrew Karvonen

Deadline for abstracts: 14 November 2025 (noon GMT)

DOWNLOAD A PDF VERSION

The provision of housing is often narrowly framed as a set of technological, skills and economic issues. This special issue aims to broaden the discussion by developing a critical social science perspective that investigates the validity of many claims made about modern methods of construction (MMC), and how, and the degree to which, MMC are (re)configuring contemporary housing systems. It examines key issues in relation to housing supply and the retrofitting of the existing housing stock.

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Architectural Epidemiology: Architecture as a Mechanism for Designing a Healthier, More Sustainable and Resilient World

By Adele Houghton and Carlos Castillo-Salgado. John Hopkins University Press, 2025, ISBN: 9781421450698

Vivian Loftness identified this book as the most unique and critical addition to the body of literature on health in the built environment, invaluable for design professionals and educators, public health leaders, property owners and managers.

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Carbon Neutral Architectural Design

By Pablo M. La Roche. CRC Press, 2024, ISBN: 9781003014829

Ian Taylor reviews this book, which he praises as a must-read for anyone interested in carbon neutral design and sustainable architecture. The far-reaching implications of this book are expected to provide a valuable reference for researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and the general public alike. More

Building-Related Research: New Context, New Challenges

Overview and reflections on key built environment research challenges raised in B&C's anniversary essays

Raymond J. Cole (University of British Columbia) reflects on the key challenges raised in the 34 commissioned essays for Buildings & Cities 5th anniversary. Not only are key research issues identified, but the consequences of changing contexts for conducting research and tailoring its influence on society are highlighted as key areas of action.

More

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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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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Endorsements

  • 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.

  • Gail Brager, University of California at Berkeley, US

    I am excited about the prospects of this new journal, Buildings and Cities. Its highly respected and experienced editorial team will ensure that the journal's focus on interdisciplinary and multi-scale approaches will push our industry forward in addressing critical issues facing the built environment.

  • David Lorenz, Lorenz Property Advisors, Germany

    The quality of editorial work and support to authors is unmatched within the landscape of property and construction journals. The editors are highly experienced and have a strong track record of working closely with each author.

  • Kathryn Janda, University College London, UK

    By crossing the scale of buildings and cities, as well as bridging the gap between social and technical research, Buildings and Cities is of vital importance to academics and practitioners working to support sustainable and socially just improvements in the built environment. The editor-in-chief has an extraordinary and well-deserved reputation for fostering new ideas as well as thoughtful and constructive critique. This journal is poised to make significant contributions to the fields its topics integrate.

  • Minna Sunikka-Blank, University of Cambridge, UK

    My experience of the review process has been extremely positive: it has always been rigorous, constructive and improved the papers considerably.

  • Lauri Koskla, University of Huddersfield, UK

    The launch of Buildings and Cities has to be warmly welcomed. The members of the editorial team have an excellent track record in actively engaging with the scholarly community for ensuring that published papers are not only rigorous but also relevant.

  • Alison Kwok, University of Oregon, US

    Featuring integrated, topical perspectives about the issues in built environment, authors will find guided support, an expert editorial team, and a superior, high quality publication with a visionary, not-for-profit journal, Buildings and Cities. Readers will see articles addressing key research and high-level discussion about accelerating and implementing strategies to address stringent climate goals.

  • Robert Lowe, University College London, UK

    I wholeheartedly commend the new Buildings and Cities journal under its Editor in Chief, Richard Lorch, together with Niklaus Kohler, Ray Cole, Fionn Stevenson and others. It was a privilege to serve on the editorial board of its predecessor, Building Research and Information for 19 years. It is my opinion that it was consistently the most interesting and impactful journal in its field - which Lorch, together with other Board members and contributors essentially defined. I have every confidence that Buildings and Cities will continue this record.

  • Susse Georg, Aalborg University Copenhagen, DK

    In light of the many challenges that cities face, we need a journal that cuts across disciplinary and professional boundaries to enhance our understanding and insights. This new transdisciplinary journal with a strong editorial team will be a great support to researchers and practitioners alike.

  • David J. Edwards, Birmingham City University, UK; KNUST, Ghana; and University of Johannesburg, ZA

    Buildings and Cities is poised to be a leading scientific peer reviewed journals. Its Editor in Chief, Richard Lorch, has an unparalleled reputation of upholding academic fairness and complete integrity. Consequently, I have no hesitation in recommending 'Buildings and Cities' to my peers.

  • Heather Chappells, University of British Columbia, CA

    Interdisciplinary insight is vital in addressing the sustainability of the built environment, which encompasses the complex intersection of resources, infrastructures, institutions, communities and citizens. In recognizing this Buildings and Cities is set to become one of the foremost journals supporting innovative research in sustainability across diverse urban settings and scales. With an experienced editorial team at the helm it offers a valuable resource for students, scholars and practitioners interested in inclusive and integrated approaches to sustainable development.

  • Sergio Altomonte, UC Louvain, Belgium

    Does built environment research and practice need a new, international, independent, authoritative and openly accessible resource? Buildings & Cities offers a timely and exceptionally relevant response to this question because it is designed to inspire dialogue, engage debate and promote robust evidence, ideas and knowledge. It is founded on principles of rigorous peer-review, relevance, integrity, and inclusiveness, and driven by the recognised competence of it editorial team.

  • Tom Spector, Oklahoma State University, US

    Not only is the evaluation of buildings' and cities' performance through time and across scales more possible than ever before, it is more necessary. The journal Buildings and Cities, with its experienced editorial team led by Richard Lorch, is poised to be a leader in this important role.

Ani Raiden, Nottingham Trent University, UK1 Gail Brager, University of California at Berkeley, US2 David Lorenz, Lorenz Property Advisors, Germany3 Kathryn Janda, University College London, UK4 Minna Sunikka-Blank, University of Cambridge, UK5 Lauri Koskla, University of Huddersfield, UK6 Alison Kwok, University of Oregon, US7 Robert Lowe, University College London, UK8 Susse Georg, Aalborg University Copenhagen, DK9 David J. Edwards, Birmingham City University, UK; KNUST, Ghana; and University of Johannesburg, ZA10 Heather Chappells, University of British Columbia, CA11 Sergio Altomonte, UC Louvain, Belgium12 Tom Spector, Oklahoma State University, US13

Latest Peer-Reviewed Journal Content

Journal Content

Simulation and the building performance gap [editorial]
M Donn

Developing criteria for effective building-sector commitments in nationally determined contributions
P Graham, K McFarlane & M Taheri

Reimagining circularity: actions for optimising the use of existing buildings
R Lundgren, R Kyrö, S Toivonen & L Tähtinen

Effective interdisciplinary stakeholder engagement in net zero building design
S Vakeva-Baird, F Tahmasebi, JJ Williams & D Mumovic

Metrics for building component disassembly potential: a practical framework
H Järvelä, A Lehto, T Pirilä & M Kuittinen

The unfitness of dwellings: why spatial and conceptual boundaries matter
E Nisonen, D Milián Bernal & S Pelsmakers

Environmental variables and air quality: implications for planning and public health
H Itzhak-Ben-Shalom, T Saroglou, V Multanen, A Vanunu, A Karnieli, D Katoshevski, N Davidovitch & I A Meir

Exploring diverse drivers behind hybrid heating solutions
S Kilpeläinen, S Pelsmakers, R Castaño-Rosa & M-S Miettinen

Urban rooms and the expanded ecology of urban living labs
E Akbil & C Butterworth

Living with extreme heat: perceptions and experiences
L King & C Demski

A systemic decision-making model for energy retrofits
C Schünemann, M Dshemuchadse & S Scherbaum

Modelling site-specific outdoor temperature for buildings in urban environments
K Cebrat, J Narożny, M Baborska-Narożny & M Smektała

Understanding shading through home-use experience, measurement and modelling
M Baborska-Narożny, K Bandurski, & M Grudzińska

Building performance simulation for sensemaking in architectural pedagogy
M Bohm

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

See all peer reviewed articles

Latest Commentaries

Building-Related Research: New Context, New Challenges

Raymond J. Cole (University of British Columbia) reflects on the key challenges raised in the 34 commissioned essays for Buildings & Cities 5th anniversary. Not only are key research issues identified, but the consequences of changing contexts for conducting research and tailoring its influence on society are highlighted as key areas of action.

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.

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