Building Digital Futures: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Circularity and Data-Driven Design for Sustainable Construction

Submit your paper here from 15 April 2026!

Introduction  

The construction industry is undergoing rapid change as it responds to global pressures such as climate change, resource scarcity, productivity challenges, and the growing need for transparency in material and carbon flows. Concurrently, digital technologies including Artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML), building information modelling (BIM), digital twins, robotics, automation, internet of things (IoT), blockchain, and emerging material/product passport systems are reshaping how built assets are planned, designed, delivered, operated and constructed.   

These developments present both opportunities and structural disruptions. Although the potential of advanced digital tools is widely acknowledged, their integration into sustainable construction systems remains largely unexplored. Substantial research gaps exist in areas such as lifecycle assessment automation, data interoperability, circular-design transitions, AI-supported decision-making, digital procurement, industry readiness and whole-life performance optimisation.  

This Special Issue aims to bring together high-quality research that explores how the construction sector can adopt, synthesise and scale digital technologies to support sustainable, low-carbon and high-productivity futures. We welcome theoretical, methodological, applied, case-based, and policy-oriented contributions.
 

List of Topic Areas

1) Artificial Intelligence and Data Science for Sustainable Construction 

• AI/ML-enabled design optimisation, safety, risk prediction, cost, scheduling, quality assurance or productivity  
• Natural Language Programming for automating material extraction, compliance and environmental data
• Proxy models for earl-stage embodied or operational carbon assessment  
• Predictive modelling for maintenance and end-of-life decision-making  

2) Digital and Data-Driven Design Ecosystems 

• BIM interoperability, data standards and schemas (IFCs, digital twins, semantic models)
• Robotics, automation, and IoT for construction and facility management  
• Blockchain-based supply chain and digital trust for transparency and traceability  
• Ethical considerations, digital security and data governance 

3) Circular Economy and Lifecycle Approaches 

• Material and Product Passports for Circularity and Lifecycle Management
• Urban mining, circular marketplace and reverse logistics approaches  
• Different system boundaries assessment for LCA, circularity indicators, metrics and methods of assessments
• Design for circularity, design for disassembly, reuse and remanufacturing approaches

4) Industrialised, Off-site and Modular or Prefabricated Construction  

• Evidence-based performance or productivity improvement attributed to modular/offsite systems
• Modern methods of construction, industrialised construction platforms and mechanisation
• Digital workflows for Design for X (disassembly, circularity, performance, manufacturing and assembly etc.)

5) Policy, Procurement and Construction Sector Transformation 

• Digital or Circular Procurement Strategies
• Frameworks for enhancing digital sustainability
• Workplace, staff and organisational readiness for digital futures
• Barriers, drivers and enablers of adoption across micro-macro systems

6) Case-studies, Demonstrators, Prototypes and Applied or Practical Studies

• Practical case study templates linking digital tools with circularity or sustainability outcomes
• Real-world experiments with digital product or material passports, digital twins or AI-enabled systems
• Scalable prototypes and open-source datasets, source host and management

Submissions Information

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

Key Deadlines

Closing date for manuscripts submission: ​15/07/2026​