Scopus Journal Call for paper: Facilities (Assessing the Value and Impact of Digital Transformation in the Built Environment )

Despite longstanding work on digitalization in the built environment sector, practitioners frequently question the rationale for adopting digital technologies. From their point of view, digital technologies often represent uncertain investments with unclear returns, limited integration with existing practices, and ambiguous value propositions. Consequently, the burden of proof lies with researchers, managers, and technology providers to demonstrate tangible, measurable, and context-specific value (Fischer et al., 2017).

While digital technologies and PropTech solutions are increasingly used in the built environment (Bröchner et al., 2019; Atkin and Bildsten, 2017; Brozovsky et al., 2024; Tagliaro et al., 2021; Vigren et al., 2025; Tagliaro et al., 2024; Signorini and Pomè, 2025), and research has increasingly focused on the organizational challenges of their implementation (Vigren et al., 2022; Johannes et al., 2024; Bäcklund et al., 2024), the value of digitalization and digital transformation remain insufficiently understood. Research still lacks coherent frameworks for, and evidence of, assessing the value and impact of adopting digital technologies and digitally transforming work for stakeholders in the built environment sector.

This Special Issue aims to contribute to the literature on the value of digitalization and digital transformation in the built environment. Value can be understood as benefits for individuals, organizations, and wider socio-technical systems (Oesterreich and Teuteberg, 2016; Anker Jensen, 2010; Vigren and Eriksson, 2025; Ebbesen and Bonke, 2014; Nyoni et al., 2023). It may be assessed quantitatively through efficiency gains, financial indicators, and key performance indicators (KPIs), or qualitatively through perceived improvements in work practices, decision-making, sustainability performance, and service quality. The Special Issue seeks to identify established and emerging use cases and examine their implications for efficiency, effectiveness, sustainability, and value creation. It also explores why actors adopt digital technologies, how value is conceptualized and measured, and what empirically observed impacts these technologies generate.

We invite contributions from a wide range of disciplines, including facility management, architecture, building engineering, environmental sciences, finance, business and organizational studies, ICT, service design, and policy. Submissions may include case studies, comparative pre- and post-adoption analyses, methodological frameworks, and evidence-based evaluations, offering both qualitative and quantitative insights. Collectively, these contributions will provide a coherent, evidence-based overview of the value of digital technologies in the built environment.

References

Anker Jensen, P. (2010). The facilities management value map: a conceptual framework. Facilities, 28(3/4), 175-188.
Atkin, B. & Bildsten, L. (2017). A future for facility management. Construction Innovation, 17(2), 116-124.

Bäcklund, K., Vigren, O. & Carlsson, J. (2024). Implementing digital innovations: overcoming organizational challenges. Developments in the Built Environment, 18, 100436.
Bröchner, J., Haugen, T. & Lindkvist, C. (2019). Shaping tomorrow’s facilities management. Facilities, 37(7-8), 366-380.
Brozovsky, J., Labonnote, N. & Vigren, O. (2024). Digital technologies in architecture, engineering, and construction. Automation in Construction, 158, 105212.
Ebbesen, P. & Bonke, S. (2014). Identifying concepts for studying implementation of information technology in facilities management. CIB Facilities Management Conference, 417-429.
Fischer, M., Ashcraft, H.W., Reed, D. and Khanzode, A. (2017), Integrating Project Delivery, John Wiley & Sons.
Johannes, K., Voordijk, H., Wakkee, I. & Aranda-Mena, G. (2024). Implementing organisational change in a digitalising facilities management organisation through stewardship interventions. Journal of Facilities Management, 22(1), 144-159.
Nyoni, V ., Piller, W.B. & Vigren, O. (2023). Sustainability action in the real estate sector—an organizational and institutional perspective. Cleaner Production Letters, 5, 100049.
Oesterreich, T.D. & Teuteberg, F. (2016). Understanding the implications of digitisation and automation in the context of industry 4.0: a triangulation approach and elements of a research agenda for the construction industry. Computers in Industry, 83, 121-139.
Signorini, M. & Pomè, A.P. (2025). Shaping the future of facility management. Market and literature insights on digital twin adoption. Facilities, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print.
Tagliaro, C., Bellintani, S. & Ciaramella, G. (2021). R.E. property meets technology: cross-country comparison and general framework. Journal of Property Investment and Finance, 39(2), 125-143.
Tagliaro, C., Pomè, A.P., Migliore, A. & Danivska, V . (2024). Technology ‘like a fork’. how PropTech shapes real estate innovation. Journal of European Real Estate Research, 18(1).
Vigren O, Tagliaro C, Ghalandar T, & Phan T (2025). Toward a systematic integration of digital technologies in facility management organizations and services. Facilities, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print.
Vigren, O. & Eriksson, K. (2025). A multilayer network model for studying business ecosystems: insights from enterprise architectures in the real estate sector. Journal of European Real Estate Research, 18(1), 170-191.
Vigren, O., Kadefors, A. & Eriksson, K. (2022). Digitalization, innovation capabilities and absorptive capacity in the Swedish real estate ecosystem. Facilities, 40(15-16), 89-106.

List of Topic Areas

How the value of digital technologies is conceptualized and measured
Opportunities and challenges related to value creation for individuals, organizations, and wider systems
Adoption and usability of digital technologies
Economic, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) implications of digital technologies
Measurable effects (both positive and negative) of digitalization in the built environment

Journal Information: Scopus Journal Q1, H-Index 59

Submissions Information

Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available at: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/f
Author guidelines must be strictly followed. Please see: https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/journal/f#jlp_author_guidelines
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.