A foreword from the editor

Limao Zhang
*
  • School of Civil and Hydraulic Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, Hubei, China.
*Correspondence to: Limao Zhang, School of Civil and Hydraulic Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, Hubei, China. E-mail: zlm@hust.edu.cn
J Build Des Environ. 2022;1:9386. 10.37155/2811-0730-0101-1
Received: September 07, 2022  Accepted: September 16, 2022  Published: September 16, 2022 

Low-carbon and intelligent construction are two of the current research hot spots in the Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Facilities Management (AEC/FM) field. Green building, smart city, artificial intelligence (AI), building information modeling (BIM), and sustainable development have become high-frequency words in the field[1]. The lack of the adoption of digital technologies (e.g., BIM, AI, digital twin) will lead to project delays, cost inefficiencies, poor quality, and tedious management[2]. Emerging innovations of those digital technologies are bringing a new evolutionary process of engineering applications towards more sustainable and intelligent development[3,4].

In October 2021, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC) release the heavyweight report Global Status Report on the Building and Construction Industry 2021[1]. The report states that since the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015, CO2 emissions from the buildings and construction sector have peaked in recent years and subsequently fallen to 2007 levels in 2020. This current decline is due mostly to the COVID-19 pandemic; however, this decline appears to be temporary as emissions pick up again with increasing economic activity. Whereas transformative, long-term progress in sector decarbonizing remains limited[1].

To achieve the Paris Agreement, the global buildings and construction sector must almost completely decarbonize by 2050. Collectively, stakeholders in the sector must seize the opportunity that the COVID-19 economic recovery period offers to foster transformation for decarbonizing the sector. The sector must simultaneously meet a projected near-doubling of global demand for energy services in buildings and at least a doubling of floor space as developing economies continue to respond to the growing demand for building floor space, access to energy services and economic activities. Therefore, to meet the future needs and developments of this fast-growing field, a brand-new journal, Journal of Building Design and Environment (JBDE) has been launched.

JBDE is a semi-annual, double-blind peer reviewed, open access journal, dedicated to publishing original research articles/reviews-amongst other submission categories-on the research and application of sustainability and intelligence in the field of construction engineering and design. The scope of JBDE covers (but is not limited to) the following:

• Civil and Infrastructure Engineering.

• Building and Structural Design.

• Construction Materials.

• Built Environment.

• Construction Engineering and Management.

• Computer Aided-Design and Simulation.

• Energy and Buildings.

• Sustainable Development.

• Urban Planning and Resilience.

• Architectural Aesthetics and Townscape.

To further encourage research in this area, our publisher has decided to waive article processing charge for the first two issues of the journal's first volume. Therefore, we strongly welcome all who are interested in building design and environment research to join us authors, reviewers or editorial board members. It is the hope of the entire editorial team of JBDE that this journal will fulfil the needs of those specializing in building design and facilitate discourses and advances in the field.

Authors contribution

The author contributed solely to the article.

Conflicts of interest

The author is the Editor-in-Chief of JBDE, and declares no other conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

Not applicable.

Consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Availability of data and materials

Not applicable.

Funding

None.

Copyright

© The Author(s) 2022.

References

  • 1. United Nations Environment Programme [Internet]. 2021 Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction: Towards a Zero-emission, Efficient and Resilient Buildings and Construction Sector. Nairobi: United Nations Environment Programme. Available from: https://globalabc.org/resources
  • 2. Bello SA, Oyedele LO, Akinade OO, Bilal M, Davila Delgado, Akanbi LA, et al. Cloud computing in construction industry: Use cases, benefits and challenges. Autom Constr. 2021;122:103441-103441.
    [DOI]
  • 3. Manzoor B, Othman I, Durdyev S, Wahab , M . H. Influence of artificial intelligence in civil engineering toward sustainable development-a systematic literature review. Appl Syst Innovation. 2021;4(3):52-52.
    [DOI]
  • 4. Pan Y, Zhang L. Roles of artificial intelligence in construction engineering and management: A critical review and future trends. Autom Constr. 2021;122(1):103517-103517.
    [DOI]

Copyright

© The Author(s) 2022. This is an Open Access article licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

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Zhang L. A foreword from the editor. J Build Des Environ. 2022;1:9386. https://doi.org/10.37155/2811-0730-0101-1