About
Buildings and Cities is an international, open access, peer-reviewed, academic journal publishing high quality research and analysis on the interplay between the different scales of the built environment.
Our Aims and Scope explains our range of topics, types of papers and focus on policy, practices and outcomes.
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Read our 10 principles that provide the values underpinning our journal. These broadly explain the ethos and aspirations for what we do.
In addition to being a peer-review journal, we provide an intellectual space for engagement between researchers, practitioners and policy makers.
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Meet our international editorial board members with diverse backgrounds and knowledge.
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Meet our practitioner panel who advise us on Briefing Notes for practitioners and policymakers. We make research accessible not only for academics, but also for the end-users of research: policymakers, practitioners, clients and occupants.
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Latest Commentaries
Systems Thinking is Needed to Achieve Sustainable Cities
As city populations grow, a critical current and future challenge for urban researchers is to provide compelling evidence of the medium and long-term co-benefits of quality, low-carbon affordable housing and compact urban design. Philippa Howden-Chapman (University of Otago) and Ralph Chapman (Victoria University of Wellington) explain why systems-based, transition-oriented research on housing and associated systemic benefits is needed now more than ever.
Unmaking Cities Can Catalyse Sustainable Transformations
Andrew Karvonen (Lund University) explains why innovation has limitations for achieving systemic change. What is also needed is a process of unmaking (i.e. phasing out existing harmful technologies, processes and practices) whilst ensuring inequalities, vulnerabilities and economic hazards are avoided. Researchers have an important role to identify what needs dismantling, identify advantageous and negative impacts and work with stakeholders and local governments.