Call for paper: Environmental Geotechnics (Sustainable Recycling and Repurposing of Geo-Waste to Adapt Future Cities)

This special issue aims to bridge geotechnical engineering and environmental sustainability by exploring innovative strategies for recycling and repurposing geo-waste (defined as mineral-dominated solid waste or byproducts that exhibit geotechnical behaviours and potential environmental risk, e.g., contaminated soils, sludge, slag) into multifunctional and nature-inclusive geo-materials that enhance urban climate resilience and adapt to nature-inclusive cities.

The special issue uniquely integrates geo-waste recycling with future urban redevelopment, addressing both soil environmental remediation and infrastructure resilience. Unlike prior works focusing solely on geo-waste reuse, it emphasises functionalisation (e.g., nanomaterials, biochar) to achieve multiple benefits, e.g., pollutant removal, carbon sequestration, or temperature adaptability, and to realise its high-value reuse in geo-infrastructure redevelopment. The guest editors’ pioneering projects—such as carbon-negative geo-structures funded by Horizon Europe and thermo-active geo-infrastructure funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering—will provide fresh insights, filling gaps in existing literature. By merging geotechnical innovation with circular economy principles, the issue will set a new agenda for sustainable urban redevelopment.

List of topic areas

The issue will cover research focused on the following topics.

• Advancing the recycling and functionalisation of geo-wastes (such as transforming them into new nanomaterials, graphene nanosheets, biochar, or geopolymers) to address current pollution challenges;
• Developing thermo-active, self-healing, or carbon-negative geo-structures by utilising recycled or functionalised geo-waste to adapt to future green and energy-efficient cities;
• Promoting engineering-based and nature-based solutions for the proper application of recycled or functionalised geo-waste in urban environmental redevelopment processes.

Submission Information

Submit your abstract here

Author guidelines must be followed

Submissions are made using River Valley. Registration and access are available at: https://ice-review.rivervalley.io/journal/jenge
Once you have registered, navigate to the journal that you wish to submit to. Choose article type “Special Issue” and then the specific name from the drop-down menu on screen.