ASR would like to publish a Special Edition with the theme of developing and applying integrated socio-technological approaches to understanding and measuring the performance of our built environment in order to improve our living experience. This means understanding the ways people are involved with real world events and evolving life styles and how the built environment planning and design respond to these events and changes. ASR has a tradition of working in this research area with some notable papers[1]   This special edition will build on and extend these and other similar research, with an emphasis to reflect on the emerging technologies and methodologies. 

The focus subject areas are as follows.

  • Holistic building performance in terms of environmental, design, and related social and cultural aspects;
  • Performative, social, design and other integrated indicators for more liveable, sustainable, age-friendly environments;
  • Disruptive technologies and smart buildings and cities;
  • Building and urban informatics and opportunities with big data;
  • New technologies and methods of built environment planning and design for advancing holistic building performance and life styles.

In this Special Edition, we will assemble a range of papers by leading authors and research teams on a wide range of topics that are intimately related to the themes above.

The background and rationale for the theme is based on the following two emerging opportunities in the field. Firstly, the emergence of new technologies and innovative methodologies provide alternative ways of conceptualising and conducting building performance research. Secondly, the increasing levels of interdisciplinary collaboration have enabled the broader research communities to work closely together to address grand challenges and to develop much more integrated and comprehensive understandings about building performance and environmental research. To address and improve our overall living experience in the urban and built environment will require systematic, socio-technological approaches to consider and optimize the performance of the built environment from a wide range of perspectives, including from the environmental, design, and related social and cultural areas.

Reflecting on these emerging opportunities, this Special Issue calls for original research and significant critical review from the international research communities, aligning with but not necessarily limited by the specific focus subject areas highlighted above­.

Submission instructions

Please submit an extended abstract (500-750 words) to

Professor Ning Gu ([email protected]) and
Professor Veronica Soebarto ([email protected])

by December 15, 2018. The abstract should outline the scope, method and results of your original research and should clearly refer to advancing the field in one of the specific subject areas of the Special Issue.123

Invitation for a full paper

After a positive evaluation of your abstract, we will invite you by January 31, 2019 to submit a full paper to the Special Issue.

Full paper submission

Please submit the full paper no later than April 30, 2019. The length of the manuscript should be no more than 6000 word plus illustrations. The paper will be reviewed by selected reviewers in a double blind process as per normal ASR paper reviewing procedure but we will fast track this reviewing process to guarantee publication by the end of 2019 (online). See details of deadlines below. Please see links to the ASR home page for the instructions to authors: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tasr20#.V43XqSN968U

Editorial Information

Guest Editors

Professor Ning Gu
School of Art, Architecture and Design
University of South Australia

Professor Veronica Soebarto
School of Architecture and Built Environment
University of Adelaide

Invited Scientific Committee

  • Dr David Kroll, University of South Australia
  • Professor Michael Ostwald, University of New South Wales
  • Dr Paul Raftery, University of California Berkeley
  • Professor Marc Aurel Schnabel, Victoria University of Wellington
  • Associate Professor Tristan d’Estree Sterk, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
  • Professor Mark Taylor, Swinburne University of Technology

Guest Editors

  • Guest Editor: Ning Gu , School of Art, Architecture and Design University of South Australia ([email protected])
  • Guest Editor: Veronica Soebarto, School of Architecture and Built Environment University of Adelaide ([email protected])
  • 1. R. Samuels, J. A. Ballinger, S. Coldicutt & T. J. Williamson (1993) Thermal Zoning in Solar Efficient Design: User Experiences and Designer Preconceptions, Architectural Science Review, 36:4, 151-156, DOI: 10.1080/00038628.1993.9696755
  • 2. I. G. Monfared & S. Sharples (2011) Occupants’ Perceptions and Expectations of a Green Office Building: A Longitudinal Case Study, Architectural Science Review, 54:4, 344-355, DOI: 10.1080/00038628.2011.613636
  • 3. T. Sharpe, G. McGill, R. Menon & P. Farren (2018) Building Performance and End-user Interaction in Passive Solar and Low Energy Housing Developments in Scotland, Architectural Science Review, 61:5, 280-291, DOI: 10.1080/00038628.2018.1502150