ISSN printed edition: 2385-1546
ISSN on-line edition: 2420-8213
(n° 2/2023)
Sustainable Mediterranean Construction. Land Culture, Research and Technology
Number EIGHTEEN
The SMC journal, operating as publication of international character since 2014, has launched the CALL for issue number 18.
The Journal is:
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:
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:
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:
All submitted papers should:
IMPORTANT DEADLINE DATES FOR ISSUE 18:
Authors’ submission of abstract June the 15th, 2023
Editorial Board’ acceptance of abstract June the 22nd, 2023
Authors’ submission of full paper July the 22nd, 2023
Notification of acceptance (after the double peer blind review process) September the 30th, 2023
Camera ready submission October the 12th, 2023
Registration payment October the 12th, 2023
Issue scheduled date November 2023
From issue n. 15, SMC assigns an editorial space to the recommendation of context of documented settlement discomfort within anthropized milieu of the Mediterranean area.
The recommendation form, edited in a simple and clear shape, will be signed only with the author’s initials,
for it does not establish a title and will not be subjected to referee procedure.
The purpose of this venture is to bring to scientific-community’s and scholars’ attention the most critical territorial realms from a social, economic and housing point of view, both within urbanized and rural framework
Among the received reports, the editorial committee will identify the one to be published for each regular issue of the journal.
The text should be written in the mother tongue (of the represented place) and in English.
The structure of the report should respect the following requirements:
The abstracts should be submitted by means of the on-purpose format of the SMC platform following this link or by clicking on the "Abstract Submission Form" button further up on this page.
The full papers, in the English version and in the mother-tongue one, reviewed according to the suggestions derived by the referee procedure, should be edited according to the “Template” downloadable from the SMC platform, then submitted in the two formats “Word” and “PDF”, to the following addresses:
smcmagazine@sustainablemediterraneanconstruction.eu
Please contact us for any information at: