Call for paper: Urbanization, Sustainability and Society (Eco-Sustainability, Digital Technologies, and Data-Driven Decision-Making in Built Environments )

Cities and built environments are undergoing a rapid transformation driven by the convergence of climate imperatives and digital innovation. Urban areas account for a substantial share of global energy consumption, resource use, and greenhouse gas emissions, making them central to sustainability transitions. At the same time, advances in digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, building information modelling (BIM), digital twins, sensing systems, and data platforms, are reshaping how infrastructure is planned, delivered, and operated. Increasingly, sustainability performance is not determined only by materials or engineering solutions, but by how decisions are made, coordinated, and governed across complex socio-technical systems.
Existing research has often treated sustainability and digitalisation as parallel but separate domains. Green building and sustainable construction studies traditionally focus on energy efficiency, environmental performance, and lifecycle assessment, while smart city and digital infrastructure research frequently emphasises technological capability and data integration.

However, the growing reliance on algorithmic tools, predictive analytics, and real-time monitoring means that sustainability outcomes are increasingly shaped by decision processes, organisational behaviour, and governance structures. The effectiveness of digital technologies therefore depends not only on technical performance, but also on how stakeholders interpret information, exercise judgement, and respond to incentives.

This special issue addresses that gap by examining sustainability in the built environment from a socio-technical decision-making perspective. Rather than focusing solely on technology adoption, it explores how digital systems influence accountability, policy implementation, and behavioural change across planning, construction, and operational phases. Contributions investigate interactions between human expertise and automated intelligence, the organisational and institutional conditions supporting adoption, and the role of data-driven insights in improving environmental outcomes.

The issue brings together interdisciplinary research spanning engineering, urban planning, management, and social sciences. It includes conceptual, empirical, and review studies that analyse digital twins, AI-assisted planning, lifecycle and circular economy approaches, governance mechanisms, and stakeholder behaviour. Many submissions originate from expanded research presented at the International Conference on Green + Digital + Intelligent Built Environments (GDI 2025), with all manuscripts undergoing independent peer review in accordance with journal policy.

By integrating sustainability, digital technologies, and decision-making processes, the special issue aims to advance understanding of how urban systems can transition toward more transparent, accountable, and environmentally effective practices. The findings are intended to inform researchers, policy makers, and industry practitioners seeking to harness digital transformation in support of sustainable cities and resilient infrastructure.

List of topic areas

(1) Digital twins, BIM, and artificial intelligence for environmental sustainability
(2) Behavioural change, incentives, and organisational adoption of green technologies
(3) Data-driven governance, accountability, and urban policy implementation
(4) Human–AI collaboration and decision-making in infrastructure management
(5) Circular economy, lifecycle assessment, and climate-resilient urban systems.

Submissions Information

Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available at: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/uss

Author guidelines must be strictly followed. Please see: https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/journal/uss

Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to “Please select the issue you are submitting to”.

Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else while under review for this journal.