Insights

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.

The Challenge of Research Prioritisation

How to decide which research challenge to address

How should researchers decide which challenge and issues to address? Marcel Schweiker (RWTH Aachen University) considers the challenges for built environment researchers and reflects on how individuals can make decisions about their own research priorities and portfolios.

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.

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.

2024 Reviewers

Buildings & Cities gratefully acknowledges and thanks our reviewers.

The Editors of Buildings & Cities would like to thank all our reviewers for their contribution and support during 2024. High-quality peer review is essential to the success of this journal and we greatly appreciate the dedication and efforts of all those who have contributed to this. Our reviewers have invested much thought, care and insights which have greatly benefitted authors.  An enormous THANK YOU to this diverse community of scholars who help to maintain the highest standards for both Buildings & Cities and the wider community.

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.

Cities-Scale Research to Address Climate Change

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.

Climate Change, Overshoot and the Demise of Large Cities

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.

The Sixth Industrial Revolution Should be Ecological

Why the next industrial revolution needs to be based on nature and not "technology"

Over the past 50 years the world has seen countless summits and agreements to reduce carbon emissions and prevent ecological overshoot. We have seen widespread adoption of the SDGs, a rapid shift to renewable energy, and numerous urban planning strategies to create biodiversity corridors, rewild rivers, and enable public and non-motorised transport options. However, appearances are deceiving. Chrisna du Plessis (University of Pretoria) considers the challenge of how to foster an ecological civilization in a world obsessed with technological innovation.

Harnessing Design Research to Encourage Alternative Futures

Both research and practice have a key role in developing positive, shared visions for the built environment

Doina Petrescu (University of Sheffield) explains how design research and architectural practice can respond to multiple crises (resource depletion, overconsumption, climate change, biodiversity loss, etc). By developing new shared visions of how to live it is possible to create a future built environment that is just and equitable.

Systems Thinking is Needed to Achieve Sustainable Cities

Why a just transition to sustainable cities depends on quality, affordable housing

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

Why urban innovation is not enough to create sustainable cities

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.

Is Gentrification a Crime?

The destruction of cultural heritage is a war crime. Should peacetime destruction or displacement be a crime too?

Civil society is understandably horrified by catastrophic loss of cultural, societal and historically important architecture and communities during wartime. But when this happens more piecemeal or by less visibly aggressive means in peacetime, we seem able to ignore it, even where it occurs at scale. Ian Cooper argues that greater protection needs to be provided to built environment and to the people who live there to avoid their displacement.

Overcoming Regime Resistance to the Circularity Transition

Observations from 15 years of built environment reuse research about how change occurs

Satu Huuhka (Tampere University) reflects on why the needed changes in practice are often slow and difficult in the building sector even when proved beneficial. Overcoming this inertia and accelerating widespread change requires a coordinated multi-level approach. The research agenda must not only be to produce new technology and practices but also to facilitate its uptake. This calls for understanding and addressing societal structures and collective behaviours: regulation and policy, market and industry structures and infrastructures, as well as education and culture.

Rethinking Energy Research in the Global South

Partnering with NGOs and integrating local knowledge can enable researchers to develop effective and context-specific solutions

In rapidly urbanising countries across the Global South, the demand for more adequate housing and sustainable energy solutions has never been more urgent. Minna Sunikka-Blank (University of Cambridge) explains why new partnerships and local knowledge integration of research in the Global South are needed. Specifically, there is a need for non-traditional partners to engage in research, such as non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Mainstreaming Research Agendas from Global South Countries

Why research funders, institutions and academics need to frame research agendas that are locally responsive

Samuel Laryea (University of the Witwatersrand) considers the contribution of researchers in developing countries to the discourse in Q1 journals. Common themes are evident in both developed and developing regions. However, publications from African countries appear to only partially address prevalent issues in the region, with limited publications that explore local contexts.

COP29: Flop for Climate, Recognition of the Built Environment

Highlights from the 2024 COP29 conference in Baku

Matti Kuittinen (Aalto University) reflects on the UN’s 29th Climate COP, leaving a sense of disappointment and frustration among delegates and observers. The event yielded a commitment of only $0.3 trillion for climate funding, falling drastically short of the $1.3 trillion requested by developing nations. COP29 saw the broader recognition of the role of the built environment – including the launch of the International Council for Buildings and Climate (ICBC).

Addressing Building Failures in Flat Developments

Why developers and professionals need to take more responsibility.

The discovery, after the Grenfell Tower fire disaster in 2017, that hundreds of blocks of flats in the UK  had been clad in flammable cladding raises serious questions about the competency of the developers of flats and the legal and regulatory environment in which they operate. Bernard Rimmer (formerly a director of engineering companies and also University of Reading) explains the conditions that allowed developers to create unsafe buildings, and proposals are made to require developers to design and construct to higher standards and to take full responsibility for the safety, durability and performance of the buildings they produce.

5th Anniversary Essays

It's B&C's 5th year of publication. Celebrate with us by reading these thought-provoking essays.

These commissioned essays from Buildings & Cities' authors and readers explore how the research landscape is changing. New essays are continuously being added to the collection during 2024 as part of B&C's anniversary.

Collectively, these essays offer fresh insights into the processes and issues that are currently inadequate or missing in the built environment research landscape. A wide perspective from different disciplines and geographies creates a positive, collective vision for shaping the research agenda. Recommendations are made for what needs to change.

We hope this will provoke and inspire research funders, researchers and other stakeholders to discuss, reflect and act. Ideas range from systemic change to key research questions to improving engagement to change of focus.

The Challenges of Evidence-Based Design

Challenges ahead: why urban planning and urban design need robust quantitative evidence for decision making.

While some progress has been made, particularly in areas like healing architecture where the impact of design on human well-being is more directly observable, much work remains to be done to extend evidence-based design to broader fields of architecture, urban planning and design. Meta Berghauser Pont (Chalmers University of Technology) explains the challenges and pathways needed for a shift toward evidence-based design in urban planning and urban design.