|
Introduction
Climate change, resource depletion, and widespread pollution are fundamental global challenges today. Because nearly half of all resource use is associated directly with buildings, the architecture/engineering/construction (AEC) industry is closely connected to, and in many ways responsible for, these problems. Many design professionals and product manufacturers have demonstrated the motivation to make changes that are beneficial to the environment. However, despite advances in determining the ecological impact of buildings and construction materials, there remains a dearth of tools, processes, and benchmarks that can reliably indicate environmental performance relative to holistic goals. For example, how do building-scale material decisions correlate to IPCC-established CO2 emissions targets? How can architects design buildings that consume no more than one Earth’s share of resources according to ecological footprint (EF) accounting? How can a building product industry establish a net positive industrial ecology in the context of complex chains of custody? In order for AEC professionals and material manufacturers to achieve measurable progress in the building industry, the science of environmental impact assessment must develop further—both in terms of sophistication (depth) and multi-scalar relationships (breadth).
Objective of the Book
The aim of this book is to collect and disseminate the latest scholarship regarding environmental performance measurement with a primary focus on material flows and embodied impacts within the built environment. This book is intended to fill the gap in ecological accounting by providing a platform for the development of new approaches for documenting and communicating the environmental impact of building design, construction, maintenance, demolition, and related activities. Research related to life cycle assessment (LCA), material flows analysis (MFA), ecological footprint (EF), environmental product declaration (EPD), ecolabeling, and other measures of material-focused environmental performance is welcomed. Given that AEC disciplines rely heavily on visual means of thinking and communication, innovative methods of visualizing environmental impacts are encouraged. Novel material applications and building design methods are also appreciated. Effective techniques that advance both the science and art of environmental impact assessment for building materials and construction would not only assist AEC personnel in making better design choices but also facilitate the decision-making process for a broader set of stakeholders, including the general public. Such approaches will also offer a significant toolkit for the growing population of students and educators studying humanity’s impact on the environment.
Target Audience
This book is intended to serve the disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, engineering, construction management, building product manufacturing, and related fields in understanding and communicating the environmental impacts of the built environment. A secondary audience consists of those studying the environmental sciences and related areas such as ecology, environmental policy, and public health. Additionally, the intended visual nature of the research is appropriate for the disciplines of graphic design, informatics, business, and other fields that translate quantitative data into visual information.
Recommended topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
* Environmental performance
* Material harvesting and extraction
* Material processing
* Ecological footprint
* Embodied energy
* Carbon storage and emissions
* Life cycle assessment
* Material flows analysis
* Renewable and non-renewable materials
* Building longevity and end-of-life scenarios
* Ecosystem services
* Architectural metabolism
* Biological and technical nutrient cycles
* Visualizing ecological data
* Visual culture of sustainability
Submission Procedure
Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before May 31, 2019, a chapter proposal of 500 words clearly explaining the mission and concerns of his or her proposed chapter. Authors will be notified by June 15, 2019 about the status of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by August 3, 2019, and all interested authors must consult the guidelines for manuscript submissions at http://www.igi-global.com/publish/contributor-resources/before-you-write/ prior to submission. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. Contributors may also be requested to serve as reviewers for this project.
Note: There are no submission or acceptance fees for manuscripts submitted to this book publication, Examining the Environmental Impacts of Materials and Buildings. All manuscripts are accepted based on a double-blind peer review editorial process.
All proposals should be submitted through the eEditorial Discovery online submission manager.
Publisher
This book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.), an international academic publisher of the Information Science Reference (formerly Idea Group Reference), Medical Information Science Reference, Business Science Reference, and Engineering Science Reference imprints. IGI Global specializes in publishing reference books, scholarly journals, and electronic databases featuring academic research on a variety of innovative topic areas including, but not limited to, education, social science, medicine and healthcare, business and management, information science and technology, engineering, public administration, library and information science, media and communication studies, and environmental science. For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit www.igi-global.com. This publication is anticipated to be released in 2020.
Important Dates
May 31, 2019: Proposal Submission Deadline
June 15, 2019: Notification of Acceptance
August 3, 2019: Full Chapter Submission
October 1, 2019: Review Results Returned
November 12, 2019: Final Acceptance Notification
November 26, 2019: Final Chapter Submission
Editorial Advisory Board Members:
Billie Faircloth, KieranTimberlake
Russell Fortmeyer, Arup
Richard Graves, University of Minnesota
Kiel Moe, McGill University
Kate Simonen, University of Washington
Franca Trubiano, University of Pennsylvania
Inquiries can be forwarded to
Blaine E. Brownell
University of Minnesota
[email protected]
|
