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This study explores the impact of biophilic design in built environments on sustainable behaviors through the innovative use of a serious game. By examining how exposure to biophilic elements influences behaviors in real and virtual settings, the research aims to demonstrate the potential of serious games as tools for promoting sustainability.

The study was conducted in three distinct experimental settings: (1) a real environment pre-game, (2) a non-immersive game environment within the same real setting and (3) an immersive game environment post-game. Data were collected from 162 participants who experienced these different conditions. The serious game “Pop a Coffee Corner” was developed based on biophilic design principles and used to assess behavioral changes.

Results indicated that exposure to biophilic design elements in real settings significantly enhanced sustainable behaviors compared to non-biophilic environments. Additionally, playing the serious game in a biophilic environment led to even greater improvements in sustainable behavior than exposure to biophilic design alone. This demonstrates the effectiveness of serious games in fostering sustainable actions.

The study’s findings are based on a specific university setting, which may limit generalizability. Future research could explore long-term impacts and applications in diverse contexts.

The research provides practical guidelines for incorporating biophilic design in built environments, and developing serious games can be a practical strategy for architects, urban planners and educators to promote sustainable behaviors among individuals. This approach can be applied in educational settings, public spaces and workplaces to foster a deeper connection with nature and encourage environmentally responsible behaviors.

By demonstrating the effectiveness of biophilic design and serious games in promoting sustainable behaviors, this study contributes to broader societal efforts to address environmental challenges. Implementing these strategies can lead to increased environmental awareness and pro-environmental behaviors, ultimately supporting sustainability goals.

This study introduces the serious game approach as a novel method to evaluate and promote sustainable behaviors through biophilic design. It highlights the potential for integrating biophilic elements in both real and virtual environments to encourage environmentally responsible behavior, offering valuable insights to architects, designers and policymakers.

The construction industry is one of the major contributors of greenhouse gas emissions (UNEP, 2022), but it provides numerous valuable opportunities to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (IPPC, 2023). Innovation within the industry and the adoption of sustainable practices are key to achieve this. This is possible with the contribution of highly knowledgeable professionals and skilled workers. However, different countries, including Malta are facing skill gaps and resource shortages. The purpose of this paper is to define the existing skill gaps and mismatches in climate change adaptation in the built environment in Malta. The research focuses on the positionality of the professionals working in the sector as they operate within a legal framework guided through various policies, and through their role and responsibility, they are in contact with the other stakeholders in the sector.

The data generation strategy used in this study involved a pragmatic approach through a mixed method research methodology, namely, interviews, a questionnaire and a focus group discussion. The three tier scaffolding approach in the data generation strategy allowed for a progressive validation of the data generated.

The research indicates that the professionals in the sector are aware of their roles and responsibilities to address climate change in their practices, and they have the disposition to acknowledge the need of continuous professional training. Moreover, this study points out that the professionals in the built environment sector are concerned about other gaps within the industry and not solely by skill gaps. Their responsibility to address climate change through greener solutions is often hindered by fragmentation in the system including bureaucratic procedures, clients’ demands, lack of enforcement and general education of the need to address and adapt climate change among the general public. The professionals appeal for an overhaul in the “culture” of the construction industry through a comprehensive rather than a piecemeal approach. This research puts in the limelight the need of a comprehensive strategy to address skill gaps and mismatches in accordance with the need for climate change adaptation as the ultimate challenge rather than addressing different issues separately within the sector.

The paper is to define the existing skill gaps and mismatches in climate change adaptation in the built environment in Malta. By identifying these skill gaps and mismatches, it would be possible to devise an action plan to iron-out such hindrances as part of a broader climate action adaptation strategy.

The built environment is responsible for approximately 40% of the world’s energy consumption, 30% of raw material use, 25% of solid waste, 25% of water use, 12% of land use and 33% of greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, environmental improvement and decarbonization are becoming increasingly critical objectives for the construction industry. Sustainable construction can be achieved through several practices, including: considering life-cycle assessment, circular construction, resource efficiency and waste management and providing eco-efficient materials, reducing energy demands and consumption and incorporating low-carbon technologies and renewable energy sources. To achieve sustainable construction goals, it is critical to educate the future workforce about decarbonization, circular construction and how to overcome the challenges involved in transitioning to sustainable construction. This study aims to understand the gap in student knowledge related to decarbonization and circular construction and the importance of incorporating these topics in civil engineering and construction management curricula.

This study surveyed 120 undergraduate and graduate students at one of the largest minority-serving institutions in the USA to understand the gap in student knowledge related to decarbonization and circular construction as well as the importance of incorporating these topics in civil engineering and construction management curricula. The authors conducted several statistical measures to assess the consistency, reliability and adequacy of the sample size, including the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin measure of sampling adequacy, the normality test to evaluate the appropriateness of using an ordered probit regression analysis and a multicollinearity test to observe the correlation between independent variables. The data was analyzed using ordered probit regression analysis to investigate the need for a curriculum that serves in educating students about decarbonization and circular construction.

The results of this research highlight the gaps in students’ knowledge pertaining to sustainable practices and the importance of providing future construction workforce with such knowledge to tackle global inevitable challenges.

The findings of this study contribute to sustainable construction bodies of knowledge by advocating for a reformed curriculum to prepare the future workforce and adopt less carbonized, more circular approaches within the engineering and construction industry.

As the Philippines enters into the era of the “next normal,” that is, from the pandemic era called the “new normal,” we look into how the Philippines' state of tourism and built environment sectors. We also revisit its situation having the “longest lockdown in the world” and look into iterations of socioeconomic models, business platforms, and other elements that lead to the dream of a postpandemic sustainable tourism industry. In this inquiry, we highlight the importance of elements of the built environment, both at the macroeconomic level and at the micro units of business, civil society, and the tourism sector at large. While there has been a substantive discussion on the nexus of the tourism and built environment sectors, little has been devoted to the challenges these intertwined sectors faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. We suggest complementation of practices from the macroscale to the microlevel tourism and built environment sectors, and vice-versa, which will ensure the full complementation of the sectors. These proposals are in full contextualization of the objective toward the postpandemic continued recovery, growth, and sustainability, from the local, national, and the regional economy of Southeast Asia, and also to various parts of the world.

The construction industry is shifting towards becoming more circular by reducing waste, reusing building materials and embracing regenerative solutions for energy generation and biodiversity conservation. Thus, construction professionals must perform diversified services to achieve a circular built environment (CBE). Implementing resource planning and waste management in CBE has already posed challenges to the quantity surveying profession; thus, quantity surveyors (QSs) should be equipped with new roles and competencies to tackle challenges in achieving a CBE. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the functions and competencies of QSs at the design and building material sourcing stages in achieving a CBE according to 3R principles.

The research apprehended a qualitative approach, including two expert interview rounds adhering to the Delphi technique with 14 and 11 experts per each round. Manual content analysis was incorporated to analyse the collected data.

The research findings revealed the important roles and competencies of QSs in achieving a CBE. In addition, essential functions and competencies were categorised according to the 3R principles (reduce, reuse, recycle) to successfully implement CBE during the Design and Building Material Sourcing stages. According to the 3R principles of CBE, cost control, cost planning, feasibility studies, measurement and quantification, risk management, value engineering and innovations and technologies were well-received by most interviewees as essential roles of QSs during the Design and Building Material Sourcing stages. Further, basic/mandatory competencies (personal, interpersonal, professional practice and business skills), economic analysis, BIM management, cost management and risk management are highly regarded by experts for QS as important competencies to achieve CBE.

With new construction trends, QSs must enhance their conventional roles and competencies and search for new skills and competencies. Those skills and competencies could be linked to the CE concept, either directly or indirectly. Since QS holds a prominent place in sustainable construction in CBE, adapting to changes in the construction industry such as CBE is timely for QSs. Further, there is a shortage of literature regarding QSs' roles and competencies in achieving a CBE; thus, this study will contribute by identifying new avenues for QSs in achieving a CBE in the practice and the research.

The survival of hotel business in maintaining market competitiveness depends on the constant improvement of the quality of hotel facilities and services. The key to sustain hotel business is lean on the adaptability of the hotel management team towards current lifestyle trends and its surrounding context in fulfilling customer satisfaction. Because of hotel operating service complexity, the hotel contributes a higher impact on environmental degradation in performing their daily activities. Therefore, hoteliers need to determine sustainable strategies to minimize environmental impact and at the same time be able to provide satisfaction to their customers. However, green initiatives require a proactive action by the organizational management engaging both employees and guests in the environmental management process. Thus, this paper aims to review the concept of green practices, the implementation of green practices from the stakeholders’ perspectives (manager, employee and customers) in the hotel industry, the performance impact from the green practices on the sustainability pillars and to further develop a conceptual green practice to sustainable hotel operations and performance impact.

This paper identified relevant empirical research that published in the recent 10 years from January 2012 to December 2021. The articles are searched through reputable databases such as Emerald, Elsevier and Taylor and Francis. The obtained data were screened preliminarily from 108 research papers. The post-screening process has finalized a total of 57 articles as the findings for this paper, where the themes were delineated to the attributes that need to implemented by the stakeholder in hotels industry, that is, manager’s perspectives, employee’s perspectives and customer’s perspectives.

The findings of this paper revealed that there are 27 attributes of green practices and initiatives for sustainable hotel operations from the manager perspectives (10 attributes – Green Marketing Strategy, Green Managerial Attitude, Eco-Innovation Investment, Marketing and Sustainability, Environmental Management Strategy, Green Supply Chain, Green Managerial Awareness, Green Procurement, Green Human Resources and Green Technology), employee perspectives (5 attributes – Employee Green Awareness, Employee Green Training and Educating, Employee Environmental Behaviour, Employee Green Performance and Employee Green Reward) and customer’s perspectives (12 attributes – Customer Perception, Customer Loyalty, Customer Awareness, Customer Behaviour, Customer Trust, Green Supply Chain, Green Value, Green Marketing Strategy, Customer Perceived Value, Service Quality, Brand Image and Hotel Design). All of the attributes are aligned to the performance effectiveness as the major concern in the hotel’s operations and impacted towards the sustainability pillars, environmental performance, economic performance and social performance. Sustainable practice in organization benefits the owners towards sustainable economic, environmental, socio-cultural and legal policy.

This review paper provides key elements of current green practices and sustainable initiatives for the hotel’s operations, as proactive measures. The novelty of the findings is to be able to convey valuable inputs to the relevant stakeholders (hotel’s owner, consultants, designers, maintenance officers, hoteliers, staffs, customers and end-users) in perceiving the elements of green practices into the preliminary planning of the hotel’s design. The review also helps to identify practices and measures to the performance impact to the hotel’s operations.

This conceptual paper aims to develop a theoretical framework for carbon trading in the built environment through theories to expand current knowledge on components of carbon trading systems.

This theoretical framework was developed and supported with existing theories and past empirical literature from built environment, economics and finance. Underlying theories used in the framework were selected due to their significance and applicability to carbon trading projects. Hypotheses set in the study summarise the propositions developed from the theories and past empirical literature.

The framework reveals four major components of carbon trading for the built environment. Six hypotheses were further proposed to unravel the resultant influence of their interactions on each component in the trading system.

This paper sought to undertake a theoretical review of classical theories and past studies on carbon trading. Even though a systematic review was undertaken, the constructs in the theoretical framework may not be exhaustive.

This study contributes and advances the body of knowledge on the components that comprise the mechanism of how carbon trading operates in the built environment. Theoretically, the framework developed serves as a multi-dimensional guide on the operations of carbon trading in the built environment.

The theoretical framework developed endeavours to consolidate multi-faceted theories from varying disciplines on the components that comprise carbon trading in the built environment.

Sustainable construction practices are strongly correlated with a profitable and competitive construction industry, improved client satisfaction and efficient use of resources. However, due consideration is not being given to sustainable construction practices in Nigeria. Therefore, this study aims to identify the unsustainable construction practices on construction sites, the barriers to sustainable construction and possible strategies to improve sustainable construction in Nigeria.

A questionnaire survey of 50 construction sites was conducted with construction professionals on the sites as the specific target, out of which only 43 construction sites have at least a construction professional present at the site. Forty-three filled questionnaires from the respondents were used for descriptive (mean score, standard deviation and charts) and inferential analysis (t-test and Kruskal–Wallis) in this study.

The study shows that a large percentage (75%) of construction professionals in Nigeria are aware of sustainable construction. The descriptive and inferential analysis showed a disparity in the ranking of the 12 unsustainable practices, 14 barriers and 11 strategies among the respondents. Five unsustainable practices (“negative externalities”, “excess energy”, “unsustainable technologies”, “non-management of health and safety of workers” and “material waste”), six barriers to sustainable construction (“absence of historical data and exemplary projects on which construction professionals can build and learn from”, “lack of professional to handle the task”, “poverty and low urban investment”, “lack of urban and construction policy”, “lack of awareness” and “lack of technical know-how”) and three strategies to improve sustainable construction practices in Nigeria (“cooperation, partnership and participation”, “protection of biodiversity and conservation of natural resources” and “sustainability assessment system”) were found to be significant.

The study offers significant insights into the construction industry unsustainable practices, barriers to sustainable construction, as well as strategies for improving sustainable construction practices. These insights can be applied to other developing countries with an emphasis on geographical differences.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the recent studies in Nigeria that explored the context of sustainable construction in the construction industry by providing insights into the unsustainable construction practices, barriers and strategies to improve sustainable construction in Nigeria.

There is an urgent need to translate climate change awareness into tangible climate adaptation strategies. The built environment is identified as one of the kick-off points in making climate change adaptation as the built environment shares a dual-way relationship. While the built environment largely contributes to the climate change-triggering factors, it also becomes highly vulnerable in the face of climate change impacts. Tied up with the interconnectedness of the built environment processes and associated systems, the involvement of numerous stakeholders from different spectrums creates the need for a holistic and multi-stakeholder approach in developing climate response strategies for the built environment. Accordingly, this study aims to identify the roles and responsibilities of the different built environment stakeholders in climate change adaptation.

The study consisted of a scoping review at the initial stage, contextualising studies based on secondary data, and semi-structured expert interviews in five different countries: the UK, Sweden, Malta, Spain and Sri Lanka. The paper summarises the findings of the individual country-level desk studies and 65 built environment stakeholder interviews representing national and local governments, communities, academia and research organisations, civil organisations, professional bodies and the private sector. The findings were validated through focus group discussions in two stakeholder seminars.

The findings summarised a set of key roles and sub-roles for each stakeholder category, considering the current status and needs. The national governments need to set a long-term vision, enabling multi-sector interventions while promoting investment and innovation in climate change adaptation. The local governments overlook local adaptation plans, while the community is responsible for decarbonising operations and practising adaptation at the local level. Civil organisations and professional bodies are the voice of the community, linking policy and practice. Academia and research are responsible for nurturing skills and new knowledge, and the private sector must contribute by adopting climate resilience into their business portfolio and corporate social responsibility.

This research is part of an Europe-Union-funded research project, Built Environment leArning for Climate Adaptation (BEACON), which aims to develop skills and competencies of the built environment professionals so that they will be adequately equipped to handle the adaptation process of the built environment needs to adapt in facing the climate change impacts.

The paper provides an in-depth analysis of the roles and responsibilities pertaining to each category of the different stakeholders in effectively adapting the built environment to withstand the climate change consequences. Demarcation of each stakeholder’s roles and responsibilities separately facilitates collaboration and coordination between the different parties and provides a more holistic approach to climate change adaptation in the built environment.