Call for Papers

Number EIGHTEEN

The SMC journal, operating as publication of international character since 2014, has launched the CALL for issue number 18.
The Journal is:

• Indexed in SCOPUS since n. 9;
• Included in the Italian ANVUR Scientific Journals from October the 31st, 2018 (thus, the papers here published have also a value as VQR (the research assessment criteria) products;
• Included in the Italian ANVUR classification of Journals as A Class, from April the 7th, 2020, with a retrospective recognition since 2016.

Introduction to issues n. 18 of 2023

New perspectives in the recycling field emerge which point out the need of facing the subject of primary resource depletion of the Planet. Since the end of the last Century and the beginning of the present one, a new culture of resource management has been arising, firmly focusing on the subjects of ecology, reuse and recycling, as far as design and completion in the construction are concerned. Many hints to the subject have been introduced by a number of environmental scientists and authors, such as the economist Serge Latouche with his concept of “Degrowth”, the architect Kevin Lynch with his “Waste away” admonition studies, the economist Gunter Pauli with his solution of the “Blue economy”, the well-known mechanical engineer Mathis Wackernagel and zoologist William Rees, with their innovative measure for the “Ecological footprint”, and many others. One Rees’ sentence clarifies the thought regarding the relationship between the anthropic world and Nature, which, as it is well known, produces neither rubbish nor wastes but allows everything to re-enter natural cycles: “… even at a very young age, I couldn't understand why humans, who are part of nature, would destroy it and contaminate the air and water, which of course comes back to us in the form of health problems.”^[1] Materials and Energy are usually considered as the main resources interested by the construction sector, even though water, soil and ecosystems have been only lately arisen at the consciousness of pollution hazard and depletion. Following the aforesaid theoretical and scientific studies, a lot of applied research has been carried out about materials, so as to find out both the level of sustainability of their life cycle, and the potential for being used, or partly recovered, instead of thrown away as rubbish. Another kind of studies actually deals with the characteristics of materials at very high level of naturality, and the precious value of their reversible wastes. The energy challenge moreover occurs to be a swing subject among scholars and governmental organizations: this oscillation, which usually depends on market conditions as well as war events, lately was also rigged up as a sustainability issue. A correct policy of management of the renewable sources, such as sun, wind, waves, tides, geothermal, can contribute to promote a different and more ecological way of employing the waste as a beneficial good. Also for the resource energy the idea of reuse has finally emerged as fundamental: a number of various secondary substances, other-activities’ wastes, are considered as a potential for being recycled so producing energy shapes. The most important has been the biomass. In fact, as it is well known from the modern physics, matter and energy are two faces of the same concept, and it is possible to convert one from the other (Einstein formula). Thus the reuse of materials and energy will stand as result of the unique process of transformation, so allowing a big potential of saving prime matters, as well as prime source of energy, mainly the fossil fuels. The difference between the several transformation processes is likewise to be clearly pointed out, for various final products (objects, energy, buildings, ...) have a different flow of life.

The SMC n. 18 has then the aim of advancing the subject of resources as renewable, alternative, reversible as well as recyclable and/or reusable, as far as both materials and energy sources are concerned. The authors of this issue will then be held to account, with their research, to a number of interrogative elements, such as:

• What is meant for green product in the construction sector?
• Which are the environmental criteria for selecting resources within the construction process?
• Which are the technologies and the steps for employing second hand materials, energy, landscape and products in the construction?
• Which is the role of sciences in the recycling and reusing processes?
• Which kind of approach the design practice should adopt so as to favour these processes?

This introduction leads to define the topic for the issue:

Issue n. 18: Wastes’ and renewable resources’ use in construction, in particular declined according to the following sub-topics:

1. 1. Urban design and wasted landscape.
   2. Land management and energy resources.
   3. Ecological transition and energy resources.
   4. Wasted and alternative materials.
   5. Second matter and landscape
   6. Renewable resources in historical construction.
   7. Wastes, renewable resources and technological design
   8. Geological aspects of wasted materials.
   9. Renewable energy sources: Geological aspects.
   10. Clean and wasted Water resources.
   11. Industrial design and wasted resources.
   12. Representation values of renewable resources.
   13. Structural performances of wasted materials.
   14. Social Potential of waste 

Magazine main subjects - Construction technology, Material science, Survey and representation, Construction procedures and security, Urban planning, Land transformation and perception, History of architecture, Hydraulics, Geological impacts, Architectural and Engineering design, Energy saving, Structural and Technical physics, Industrial design and Legal studies - are all connected with the sustainable construction in the Mediterranean region.

All submitted papers will be assessed by the Editorial Board and “double peer blindly” reviewed by an international panel of experts in the specific sectors.

The magazine will provide cultural exchange and information between researchers, professionals, scientists, technicians as far as the achievement in the field of their actions and studies are concerned. Joined with the acceptance of the paper, the specific template, according to which the final version of the paper should be edited, will be communicated to authors.

All submitted abstracts must meet these requirements:

• Be edited in one of the following languages: English, Italian or French.
• Have the minimum length of 3,000 characters (space included) and up to maximum of 4,000 characters (space included)
• Define the referring sub-topics
• Provide clear proof of the selected sub-topics
• Specify the typology of the future full paper, selecting among the following: Research Report, Project, Review.
• Be structured according to the following frame: Carried out Methodology; Obtained Results; Goals to achieve; Target of interest.
• Contain adequate bibliographic references (from 5 to 15 units).
• Contain information about the author/s: Name, Family name, Affiliation, address, e-mail, brief profile of maximum 500 characters (space included).

All submitted papers should:

• Refer to the Mediterranean context.
• Contain two versions: one written in English and another in the authors’ mother tongue
• Support the Journal with a specific payment per each submitted paper. (IBAN: IT 28 Q 07601 03400 001013681893 / BIC/SWIFT: BPPIITRRXXX) [in particular the registration fee is meant of 250 € for SMC non collaborators; for SMC collaborators – SMC Association members, Referee committee members, Editorial Committee members and Scientific Committee members – the fee is instead of 200 €].
• Have the length up to 22,000 characters (space included) including the appendix and references (for each version in both the languages) [an extra cost for exceeding text is previewed: 35 € for each page of 2,000 characters (space included)].
• Contain maximum 10 pictures (equipped with all the needed publication permissions).
• Contain the following information: Title: max 80 characters (spaces included); Sub-title (optional): max 40 characters (spaces included); an Abstract of 1,000 characters (spaces included); n. 5 keywords
• Contain bibliographic disciplinary or cultural references (no less than 15 and no more than 20 units).
• Guarantee that the English version should be suitable to a scientific text
• Be edited according to the Model approved by SMC (Template), which will be communicated to the authors after the eventual acceptance by the Referee Board.
• In case of reviewers’ comments, demonstrate the adoption of the suggested revisions.