Vol 1, issue #1 (2016): Green Architecture for a more Sustainable Environment

Green architecture is building using sustainable methods. It combines both construction and architectural methods and policies while keeping the environment in mind. In this issue, the manuscripts discuss various solutions for energy reduction and environmental sustainability. Two manuscripts address passive strategies to achieve the aforementioned by using cool clay tiles on roofs as a cooling strategy that saves energy and reduces urban overheating. Other papers in this issue discuss the importance of urbanization in developing areas by applying sustainable strategies including saving energy by utilizing solar energy. The authors have also explained the economic benefits associated with sustainable buildings such as driving designers to think about the environment. Saving power by applying sustainable policies, along with the rising energy prices, increase the demand for sustainable buildings. Sustainability, therefore becomes a driver for designers.

Vol 2, issue #1 (2017): Sustainable Development toward the Preservation of the Environment

This issue examines various digital and computerized technological solutions to enhance energy performance and examines the impacts of all the aforementioned solutions on the environment and the economy. The production of solar energy, wind energy, and thermal energy is deeply analysed in 3 different papers as solutions towards cleaner energy and, therefore, a cleaner environment. Some of the authors have also given in-depth accounts of current environmental ailments as a first step towards resolving them, including analysing soot emissions. In addition to technological solutions, some of the authors chose to study the urban and built environment while others focused their research exclusively on the environment. All the papers in this issue focused their research on attempting to achieve sustainable solutions towards sustainable development.

Vol 2, issue #2 (2017): Resilient Development toward a Sustainable Environment

This issue displays research that demonstrates an integration between resilience and sustainable development and beyond. Since both are indistinguishably linked, an investment in resilience or infrastructure is useful for a developed future and environment. Whether its food scarcity, climate change, issues of dry port, pollution, or loss/shortage of energy, a need to address key global challenges exists to shape a more sustainable future. The issue attracted a number of high-quality submissions from researchers in the field and disciplines that address the above-mentioned challenges and that includes the built environment and human behavior, dry ports as an approach to relocate city gateways to maximize efficiency, building technology that supports sustainable architecture, renewable materials, and environmental approaches that deal with architectural heritage.

Vol 3, issue #1 (2018): Green Infrastructure for Sustainable Development

ESSD's fourth issue discusses green infrastructure in depth as a significant factor for sustainable development. Known to be an economical, safe, and qualitative management of the natural water cycle, it encompasses greening, or the planting of trees, restoring wetlands and a way to benefit out of investments made. Green infrastructure in general is an improvement to the ecological situation, a promotion of domestic and inbound tourism as well as an improvement to living conditions for citizens. Since many communities across the world are working towards protecting their water quality, conserving, restoring and enhancing natural areas is a must. Such approaches to using green infrastructure strategies as an attempt to protect the environment and human health is a also a way to shape sustainable future communities. Articles featured in this issue introduce green infrastructure as a solution to issues of sustainability in green spaces and beyond. The issue then explores several urban, environmental and cultural concerns, provides recommendations and set goals to protect the environment, improve public health and economical situations as well as prepare for impacts of climate change.

Vol 3, issue #2 (2018): Sustainable Engineering: Issues and Solutions

Sustainable engineering is a vast field that applies to all the branches of engineering and its derivatives. It requires practitioners to use energy and resources in a sustainable manner in the designing and operating phases to avoid compromising the environment in any way. All engineering disciplines should be engaged in sustainability by making sure all engineering-based projects live well within the limits of our finite planet. Practitioners should have a profound understanding of the principles of resource efficiency, ecology, sustainable development and design along with their own fields. This can only be achieved by generating literature that highlights various issues and solutions related to sustainable engineering. Consequently, sustainable development has become the pivotal focus of aspiration to numerous countries around the world. Ethically, it has become a major concern for countries to sustain the resources of planet earth, which could be classified as environmental, economic and social. Engineering sustainability is the common concept between these three definitions and always exists inside each. This issue discusses the influences of activating the role of engineering on natural resources; It explores the guidelines and new approaches of adding sustainability to engineering in order to achieve the goals of most countries to validate the sustainable development throughout their futuristic plans. Important topics: 1. Conserving sustainable resources 2. Sustainable engineering processes 3. Increasing energy efficiency 4. Reducing environmental impact 5. Fulfillment aspects of sustainability 6. Utilizes energy balances and accounts for energy quality 7. Providing efficiencies that measure approach to ideality 8. Providing a measure of disequilibrium with environment and potential for impact 9. Global climate change and adaptation 10. Degradation, acidification, and its impact on soil and water 11. Impact of urbanization 12. Planning of new communities with the respect of sustainable engineering 13. The reconstruction of peripheral areas and the search for energy 14. Energy and mobile communities 15. The role of sustainable engineering in cities transfection 16. New trends and technologies in sustainable engineering 17. Sustainable engineering in Geosciences 18. Mining and sustainable engineering 19. Industrial sustainable engineering 20. Successful case studies

Vol 4, issue #1 (2019): Improving Sustainability Concept: From Theories to Successful Practices (Special Issue)

Guest edited by: 

Antonella Versaci

Hocine Bougdah 

Mourad Amer

 

Activating sustainability concept in practices is a critical issue that achieves sustainable development of the whole cities. The sustainable city is a rather recent concept, which has managed to gain increasing attention over the last decades, both through the international community and through grass root movements. This special issue on Improving Sustainability Concept: From Theories to Successful Practices aims to explore how the sustainable city can be translated from theory to practice. Upon discussing the topic of urban planning, participants take a close look at the matter of living in an eco-city, as the concept regards the integration of land-use and transportation systems which is a solution to improve the efficiency of cities. Paying close attention to this issue allows for a balance between land-use and the environment, accordingly, the spread of land can continue but not on the expense of greenhouse gas emissions. It is believed that this balance could be achieved by adopting a long-term political engagement plan as retrieved from the experience of the cities who implemented customized strategic plans. The conflicting interest of growth is found to be an obstacle when it comes to applying radial strategies. Subsequently, governments avoid adopting these concepts and would rather think of them as a constant process.

The following topics are a part of the raised discussion on the concept of sustainability, but it also includes different themes according to authors’ interests:

1. Sustainable urban design

2. Mobility in urban design

3. Energy consumption

4. Energy performance simulation in design process

5. Materials and technology

6. Life cycle assessment for materials

7. Occupancy comfort

8. Energy efficiency in (heating–cooling–lighting)

9. Waste and water recycling

10. Economic efficiency and life cycle cost in building

11. Nature and green building challenges

12. Ecological and cultural sensitivity

13. Planning coastal areas and waterfronts

14. Sustainability indices In Architecture

15. Green Facades

16. Protect and restore water resources

17. Promote sustainable and regenerative material resources cycles

18. Build a greener economy

19. Enhance social equity, environmental justice and community quality of life

20. Renewable energy harvesting and biophysical matrix

21. Renewable energy production at community scale

22. Public awareness and education on renewable energy

23. Governance and policy making for renewable energy

24. City infrastructures and renewable energy distribution

Vol 4, issue #2 (2019): Innovative Approaches Towards Preserving the Environment

The world environmental problems have suffered from a prolonged period of seclusion in the eyes of the global community. Nevertheless; after the world has experienced a leap in various disciplines, preserving the environment has become a universal concern. Consequently, discussing the issue of “Innovative approaches towards preserving the environment” is a conversation of critical importance to alternate the societal way of thinking, moreover; shedding the light on the focal role of academic research is crucial to start reaching goals, instead of counting failures. The dire state of the world environmental problems demands innovative solutions that have the ability to tackle complex issues. The society is obligated to adopt dynamic approaches to successfully address the matters at hand. For instance, if we look closely at the topic of climate change, it is quite apparent that the issue needs to be examined from different angles, and inventive solutions need to surface. The preservation of the environment is every person’s concern as it impacts climate change, biodiversity, energy efficiency, renewable energy, recycling, land degradation, natural resources protection, natural disaster rates and agricultural production. In order to reach a permanent solution, a set of skills and modernized knowledge of multiple fields need to be put in action, such as behavioral science, community involvement, politics and economics. The execution of the answers to numerous environmental problems must be implemented through harmoniously coordinating the efforts of the participants with their different backgrounds. The bearing of these solutions through time has to be achieved through acknowledging the complexity of the issues and the readiness to change the current hierarchy of the environmental management. Although the environmental issues are measurable, researchers are always faced with some level of scientific uncertainty, in addition to the uncontrollable factor of the ever-changing nature of the climate. Hence, society needs to adopt a dynamic mindset to flourish in prosperity.

Important topics:

1. Climate change adaptation and natural disaster

2. Innovative concept in energy efficiency in all disciplines

3. New technology in recycling and renewable energy

4. Biodiversity, agricultural production and land degradation

5. Natural resources protection

6. Footprint and technology for behavioral changes

7. Community involvement in sustainable development

8. Green economics and politics

9. Improving water quality and the efficiency of the sustainable use of water in all sectors

10. Intelligent systems in areas and buildings in the application of new and renewable energy

11. Integrated management for facing disasters

12. Education, awareness, human abilities and corporate abilities for reducing climate change

13. Developing and upgrading poor districts and slums for sustainable development

14. Protecting and preserving the cultural and natural heritage in a sustainable urban design

15. Methods of providing sustainable, safe and affordable means of transportation and safety

16. Finding renewable energy and achieving sustainable development for human settlements

17. Developing legislation concerning the improvement of environment and sustainable urbanism

18. Biomedical engineering culture and its impact on urban sustainability

Vol 5, issue #1 (2020): Sustainable Cultural Heritage Preservation

Cultural heritage is almost absent in the sustainable development goals agendas, although heritage conservation process is already an act of sustainable development that protects and preserves heritage buildings and their intangible values.

Heritage buildings can be the subjects of sustainable design projects that achieve outstanding measures of sustainability and energy efficiency while not compromising the authenticity of the heritage value of the building.

This issue aims to encourage further dialogue, critical reflection and cross-disciplinary collaboration by bringing together examples of interesting projects and research that could provide a practically grounded approach.

The issue also seeks to publish papers with case studies of contribution approaches that render cultural heritage, both physical and non-physical, a stimulus for sustainable development. We welcome papers from a wide range of regulations and specifically encourage research that embraces approaches that go beyond disciplinary boundaries. We are also very keen on experimental ways in which heritage can contribute to achieve Sustainable Development Goals.

IEREK is pleased to invite scholars, researchers, students (undergraduate/postgraduate) that propose interdisciplinary methods and/or concepts to the contribution of cultural heritage to other aspects of sustainable development.

 

Topics:

• Importance of Architectural Heritage Conservation and its Contribution to Sustainable Development
• Sustainable Ways to Conserve our Architectural Heritage
• Socio-economics Impact and Environmental Benefits of Architectural Heritage Conservation
• Sustainable Conservation and Development of Heritage Landscape Planning
• Sustainable Materials Used in the Protection of the Heritage Sites
• Sustainability Challenges in Conserving the Architectural Heritage
• Cultural Heritage and its Contribution to Environmental Sustainability areas of Impacts and Analytical Approaches
• The challenges of globalization and/or modernization to heritage sustainability
• The opportunities and challenges of public/community participation in heritage projects for contributing to sustainable management practices covering both intangible and tangible heritage
• Case studies where heritage has/is being actively used to achieve Sustainable Development Goals
• International case studies using technologies to achieve a sustainable conservation to the architectural heritage buildings and sites

Vol 5, issue #2 (2020): Natural Resources Preservation and Environmental Sustainability

We have been depending on fossil fuels greatly in the past decades, which led to their depletion and it won’t last for another 150 years. This have led many scientists, scholars and researchers to redirect their focus to other natural resources and how to sustainably use these resources. It will be difficult to imagine the world without its natural resources. Natural resources could be both nonrenewable resources like fossil fuels, oil, natural gas, and coal and nuclear energy, and renewable resources like wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, and ocean energy. Use of renewable energy resources is essential now more than ever for our planet’s survival

Preservation of the natural environment is essential for maintaining community and maintaining life on earth. The need to conserve the resources is very crucial to support life by supporting the ecological balance, and to ensure that the future generations will be able to access these resources. Challenges that our nature faces like all forms of pollution and global warming need to be addressed and resolved.

This issue aims to promote and disseminate the knowledge needed for the integration and implementation of new technologies in the renewable and alternative energy field. It is to showcase to the international community the groundbreaking results of the hard work that took place in the fields of renewable energy research and development to achieve environmental sustainability to ensure the human race’s survival without getting all the natural resources used up.

 

Topics:

• Public Awareness and Education on Renewable Energy
• Renewable Energy Production at Community Scale
• Environmental Crises: Water Pollution, Global Warming, and Acid Rain
• Benefits of Natural Resources Preservation
• Approaches and Techniques Used to Preserve the Natural Resources
• Green Buildings: Designing Buildings with Nature and with Technologies
• Energy-efficiency in the Built Environment
• Challenges in Preserving Natural Resources
• Global Climate Change Challenges and Management
• Climate Responsive Architecture: Solar Architecture and Renewable Energies
• Recycling and Conservation of Natural Resources
• Towards a Zero-Waste City
• International Case Studies and Solution of Green Energies Versus Pollution