Integrated Urban Regeneration to Transform Sustainable and Resilient Built Environments from Circular Economy Principles

Dear Colleagues,

The management of urban environments and building stock is one of the most transcendental challenges at the international level throughout this 21st century, due to its impact and incidence on the social, economic and environmental development of any country. Beyond the multiple opportunities and benefits that the built environment can provide, there are counterproductive aspects that nowadays generate the adversities of climate change, the extraction of natural resources, the generation of waste and social inequality. Additionally, there are problems related to health and well-being, the risk of collapse induced by natural disasters, and the expected impacts of global warming.

Given these circumstances, global policies are currently implementing guidelines that imply the need to regenerate cities and buildings. The aim is to promote resilient spaces, both inside and outside the building stock, capable of integrating new sustainable strategies and optimizing the use of resources to improve the quality of life of users during the life cycle. In short, through the different publications, the use of renewal strategies that involve the incorporation of sustainable patterns, economic affordability, ensuring the return on investment, and other benefits should be encouraged to generate an effective and comprehensive transition in all areas of the city. For all these reasons, those studies that provide financial support for innovative ideas and products, as well as social perceptions, demands and user preferences when it comes to adapting and regenerating their traditional neighborhoods, will be of great affinity with the established topic.

The editors are delighted to receive for this special issue numerous research studies that address a wide range of urban regeneration and building renovation issues, from multidisciplinary approaches that consider sustainability, resilience, and circular economy criteria as key patterns to apply and promote in the built environment. This special issue is designed so that the authors bring together different papers that contribute to promoting sustainable cities and an efficient transformation to the new requirements of the 21st century, in its multiple influencing disciplines: Technical, constructive, economic, social, attitudinal, among others.

The type of paper is flexible and open, being able to accept systematic literature reviews, contributions and analyses on sustainability, resilience, or circular economy criteria, theoretical research or practical applications on case studies, critiques and reflections on policy-making and urban agendas, multi-dimensional assessment models for decision-making tools, between other approaches. Research areas may include (but not limited to) the following:

• Urban regeneration strategies from different a sustainable, resilient, and multidisciplinary approach.
• Multi-scale assessment models for diagnosing the building stock and the urban planning.  
• Weighted assessment models for decision-making that promote an efficient urban regeneration and ensure the adaption of the built environment to climate change. 
• Multidisciplinary studies that address the management of building renovation from different socioeconomic contexts.
• Level(s) as a common language for incorporating sustainability indicators in buildings.
• Circular economy applied to the built environment.

We look forward to receiving your contributions with enthusiasm and with the certainty that this special issue will bring a significant impact and scientific dissemination.

Dr. Antonio Serrano-Jiménez
Dr. Carmen Díaz-López
Dr. Konstantin Verichev
Guest Editors

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.

• urban regeneration
• building renovation
• resilience
• sustainability
• climate change adaptation
• level(s)
• circular economy
• heat island effect
• environmental quality
• built environment
• decision support systems
• decision-making
• urban management