Circular and Smart Construction for Sustainable Cities: Low-Carbon Materials, Housing Delivery, and Urban Regeneration

Cities are facing increasing pressure to decarbonize the built environment while improving resilience, affordability, and safety of buildings and infrastructure. This Collection will explore emerging research and practical pathways for enabling circular construction in cities, including the use of construction and demolition waste (CDW), agricultural residues, and other secondary resources as low-carbon construction materials. It will also highlight how smart city approaches (digital planning, data-driven decision-making, and connected infrastructure) can accelerate the scale-up of circular construction and improve sustainable housing delivery. The Collection will therefore link material innovation with urban systems thinking, focusing on both technological solutions and implementation mechanisms needed for city-scale adoption.The construction and urban development sector continues to face significant challenges related to high carbon emissions, excessive material waste, resource depletion, and the growing demand for affordable and resilient housing. Although innovations in low-carbon materials, circular construction practices, and smart city technologies are advancing rapidly, their application in mainstream urban development remains limited and poorly integrated. This disconnect creates a major challenge in achieving sustainable, scalable, and resilient cities, particularly in rapidly urbanizing regions where infrastructure demands are increasing faster than sustainable solutions can be implemented. This Research Topic aims to address this gap by exploring practical and interdisciplinary solutions that integrate circular construction, digital innovation, and sustainable urban strategies to support low-carbon and resilient city development.Suggested Themes / Topics of Interest (indicative): - Low-carbon alternative materials (e.g., CDW-derived SCMs, agro-residue, hybrid systems) - Waste valorization and circular economy strategies for urban construction and refurbishment - Performance assessment, life-cycle assessment (LCA), embodied carbon accounting, and carbon neutrality pathways for city infrastructure - Smart cities and digital enablement (BIM and digital twins, IoT-enabled infrastructure monitoring, AI-supported material selection, data-driven asset management) - Housing delivery and affordability (low-carbon housing systems, sustainable modular/offsite construction, circular retrofit strategies for housing stock, slum upgrading and inclusive housing models) - Urban regeneration and retrofit applications enabled by circular materials - Barriers to adoption: codes/standards, procurement models, supply chains, quality assurance, and scalability - Global South perspectives and context-driven solutions for sustainable urban development Topic editors: Francis Okeke, Ebere Donatus Okonta Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/84181/circular-and-smart-construction-for-sustainable-cities-low-carbon-materials-housing-delivery-and-urban-regeneration