Call for
Abstracts

Beyond the Sustainable Development Goals:
Who, What and How?

Potential Topics Include
(But are not limited to):

  • Models and case studies

  • Whole life carbon simulations and life cycle assessments

  • Decision support tools, modelling, and the use of AI, digital, and related technologies

  • Policy, governance, standards, certifications, and regulatory frameworks

The built environment – encompassing buildings, infrastructure, and the spaces between – plays a critical role in addressing the urgent triple planetary crisis. Achieving all Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 appears challenging, and there is an urgent need to plan a post-2030 agenda to ensure continued progress towards planetary and human wellbeing. WSBE26 invites researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and community leaders to explore innovative solutions for a sustainable future, pushing beyond existing frameworks to consider the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. This conference will focus on the pressing need for a decarbonised, resilient, and thriving built environment, and will contribute to the next iteration of the Sustainable Development Goals.

WSBE26 seeks to address critical questions related to the built environment:

WHO are the key actors needed to drive change;

WHAT are the most promising approaches for achieving our goals?

HOW can we foster collaboration across disciplines and sectors? And, how can we accelerate the transition to a more sustainable built environment?

WSBE26 welcome submissions that address opportunities and solutions from a systems-, inter- and cross-disciplinary perspective, across scales from buildings to cities to nations, and cross-cutting themes associated with resource use, mobility, circularity and regeneration. The conference will also address links to education, social issues associated with justice and gender, equity, diversity and social inclusion. Theoretical and empirical research, best practices, tools, modelling, governance and leadership are all welcomed.

The conference organisers invite individuals or groups to bid for special tracks. The special tracks may lead to a published paper/s (for example, special issues for journals) or may lead to white paper or thought piece. Industry collaborators may also propose their own special tracks.

All submissions: full papers or special tracks will need to submit abstracts and mark this appropriately in the form.

We encourage submissions aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

  • Impact of the built environment on physical and mental health. 

  • Skills and capacity building, educational approaches, community engagement.

  • Gender equality, inclusivity, challenges.

  • Water management and conservation at building level and beyond, sanitation challenges and solutions.

  • Energy efficiency, renewable energy use in buildings and beyond, BIPV, battery storage, energy justice.

  • Productivity, skills, jobs, CSR, governance, business models.

  • Sustainable asset management, net zero carbon buildings and neighbourhoods, Sustainable and resilient urban development, smart cities, technologies.

  • Carbon storage and accounting, sustainable refurbishment of cultural and industrial heritage, industrial symbiosis, housing, informal settlements, community engagement.

  • Design, circular economy, sufficiency, new materials.

  • Climate adaptation and resilience, modelling climate change scenarios, mitigation and adaptation tensions.

  • Land management, nature positive planning and design of buildings and infrastructure.

  • Governance, post disaster conflict, inclusivity.

  • Empirical applications of collaborative challenges, governance, structural challenges.

If your abstract does not align with any of the SDGs, please mark appropriately in the abstract submission form.

Submission Guidelines:

Abstracts should be no more than 300 words and should clearly outline the research question, methodology, key findings, and potential impact. Please include a list of a maximum of 5 keywords.

All Academic submissions will go through a peer review process. If an abstract is accepted, a full paper is to be submitted for publication and should follow the formatting guidelines according to IOP Guidelines.

All authors must sign an Author Declaration Form and Declaration of AI usage. This will be requested at the time of submission of the full paper.

All Industry submissions will go through a peer review process and if accepted, will present at WSBE 2026. Full paper submissions are not required.

Deadline for Submissions: 20 August 2025

Join us at WSBE26 to contribute and collaborate for a more sustainable, thriving, resilient and equitable built environment!