Editorial
Article Type: Editorial From: Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, Volume 4, Issue 1.
In publishing Smart and Sustainable Built Environment (SASBE) and other built environment journals, Emerald Group Publishing is highly involved in the dissemination of integrated research solutions to academia and industry practice. It is not surprising then, that Emerald has recently invested significant resources in developing and implementing a new web platform to meet the rapidly evolving needs of readers and authors. As one example,functionality for article-based publication will be introduced in the near future, which will have a positive impact for authors in speed to publication and by increasing the window of opportunity for citations to journals. In this context, SASBE will also move to increasing the number of papers per issue, starting with this one, to keep up with demand.
In the six-paper line-up in this issue, the first four papers deal with holistic strategies and decision support, while two other papers focus on operational issues through technological innovation.
This issue starts with an examination of business models necessary for sustainable building development. Selberherr adopts a modelling process to consider outside and inside views through formal structuring and contextual configurations. Capabilities of interaction with the environment and value creation for securing sustainability are the main claimed benefits in her newly proposed model.
For historical buildings, Kayan exposes the gap among the three fundamental approaches of conservation plan, green maintenance and sustainable repair. He believes that the conservation plans may actually prohibit their integration with the latter two approaches. Therefore he proposes new strategies to integrate all three approaches as the basis of primary decision making,in order to attain sustainability in the historical built environment.
Continuing the theme of decision making, in the third paper, Lombardi and Ferretti provide an overview on decision support systems applicable for urban regeneration processes. By using three Italian case studies, they show that collaborative and inclusive processes through expert participation are the key ingredients to success, while the interactions between city design,social preferences, economic issues and policy incentives are highlighted as needing to be better understood by decision makers and planners.
SASBE’s first ever coverage on Africa is a study by Windapo and Goulding on the gap between green building practices and legislation requirements. In their paper, results of mixed-method research in the context of South Africa construction industry reveal a high degree of “unawareness” of green building legislation, a selective implementation of health and safety legislative measures, and different attitudes between management personnel and site-based staff in terms of motivation and openness to green building practices.
In the fifth paper, Contarini and Meijer direct our focus to the environmental performance of roofing materials. Through lifecycle assessment-based comparisons, they assess different insulation materials used in flat roofs against multiple factors such as heat resistance, waterproofing and maintenance. Results of this study can be used by building owners and facility managers to contemplate roof renovation options that have the lowest impact on the environment.
Also on the theme of redevelopment options, Kleerekoper et al. examine the microclimate effects that can be achieved by using new urban design strategies. Through simulation at both urban block and urban neighbourhood levels, they make a number of observations on the combination of cooling strategies to achieve better efficiency. Will the presence of trees always lead to better cooling for urban blocks? Not necessarily, as readers will find out.
Looking back at the three previously published SASBE volumes, we have covered some areas of integrated “sustainable” development very well, such as energy efficiency, sustainability assessment, corporate strategies, redevelopment, design and planning vs construction, and decision making and reporting. There is, however, certainly scope for us to do more on defining, identifying and developing the “smart” aspects, such as smart technologies, smart facilities, smart way of working, and smart integration between various strategies and processes that will contribute to sustainability. Buckman et al. (2014) gave us a good example in their review paper entitled “What is a smart building?” Further discussions, debates and revelations in the “smart” space are welcomed, particularly against an emerging professional backdrop.
Looking ahead, we will complete the production of special issues on urban renewal and on Africa’s sustainable development. We are developing ideas for special issues on resilient and liveable cities, and on integrated development of urban infrastructure. SASBE will continue to feature contributions from renowned experts around the world. For example, we will have a paper from Professor Peter Newman, a leading Australian environmental scientist, author and educator, which will discuss transport infrastructure and sustainability. I welcome suggestions from SASBE’s wider community about potential contributors we can approach and future topics that readers would like us to cover.
Jay Yang
Reference
Buckman, A.H., Mayfield, M. and Beck, S.B.M. (2014), “What is a smart building?”, Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, Vol. 3 No. 2, pp. 92-109
