The international Scientific Committee invites original contributions (scientific research, applied studies and well-documented practice) that advance knowledge on sustainable, resilient and equitable transitions in the built environment.
Under the theme "People, Planet and the Built Environment: Governing District-Scale Transitions in an Uncertain World", SBE27 Delft takes the district as a critical scale of integration, while welcoming contributions across building, neighbourhood, city, regional and national scales. International and comparative perspectives are particularly encouraged, including research on how transition pathways differ across climatic, institutional, economic and socio-cultural contexts, and where those differences limit transferability.
From local experimentation to global learning
SBE27 Delft recognises that there is no single pathway towards a sustainable built environment. Climate conditions, institutions, cultures, markets, resources and development trajectories differ substantially across regions.
The conference therefore welcomes evidence and perspectives from Europe and across the world, encompassing diverse geographical, climatic, institutional and socio-economic contexts. Comparative research is particularly encouraged, including studies examining how transition approaches can be adapted across places — and where contextual differences limit their transferability.
By bringing together knowledge across disciplines, sectors, scales and geographical contexts, SBE27 Delft aims to advance our understanding of how sustainable built-environment transitions can be governed, implemented and accelerated while remaining equitable, resilient and responsive to planetary limits.
SBE27 Delft welcomes contributions that:
- Develop new theories, models, methods, frameworks and technologies for sustainable built-environment transitions;
- Present comparative studies, case studies, experiments and well-documented practice from diverse regions of the world;
- Identify barriers, enablers and unintended consequences of transformation across spatial, institutional and temporal scales;
- Examine interactions between technological, behavioural, environmental, economic, institutional and digital change;
- Explore collaboration and collective action between academia, government, industry, communities and civil society;
- Show how sustainable solutions can be adapted, governed, financed, implemented and scaled in different contexts.
We particularly encourage submissions that bridge research and practice, connect disciplines and scales, and advance whole-system and whole-life-cycle approaches. Contributions that address tensions and trade-offs, for example between decarbonisation, affordability, resilience, resource use, social justice and quality of life, are especially welcome.
Suggested themes include, but are not limited to:
- Governance and institutional transformation across scales
- Net-zero, positive-energy and climate-neutral buildings and districts
- Deep renovation and transformation of existing building stocks
- Affordable housing, housing transitions and sustainable living
- Energy systems, grids, flexibility and sustainable heating and cooling
- Behaviour, practices, sufficiency and demand-side transformation
- Energy communities, collective action and citizen-led transitions
- Climate adaptation, resilience and nature-based solutions
- Circularity, materials, embodied carbon and resource sufficiency
- Digitalisation, AI, digital twins and data-enabled transitions
- Finance, investment, business models and new concepts of value
- Energy poverty, justice and inclusive transitions
- Health, comfort, well-being and indoor environmental quality
- Adaptive pathways, experimentation and transition management under uncertainty
- System interdependencies, cross-sector and cross-scale coordination, and place-based scaling and replication
Contributions may address one or more themes and are submitted to one of six scientific tracks according to their primary contribution. Tracks 1 to 5 offer broad disciplinary and methodological perspectives. Track 6 is explicitly cross-cutting: it is for work whose main contribution lies in the interactions between systems, sectors or scales, for example how technological solutions depend on behavioural, financial or institutional conditions, or how interventions at one governance level enable or constrain transformation elsewhere.
Abstract submission
- Submit abstracts in English through the online submission system. The ConfTool link will be shared soon. Email submissions are not accepted.
- Abstracts must not exceed 300 words, excluding the title, authors, affiliations, 3–5 keywords and preferred track.
- Structure abstracts around purpose, approach, findings and relevance for built-environment transitions.
- Indicate the contribution type: research or practice.
- Select oral presentation or poster. The committee may reassign the presentation format. Tick “PhD Forum” if applicable.
- Each accepted contribution must be presented in person in Delft by a registered author. Each registered presenter may present a maximum of two contributions.
Full paper submission
- Submit full papers in English through the online submission system. The ConfTool link will be shared soon. Email submissions are not accepted.
- Full papers must use the IOP template and must not exceed 10 pages, including the title, authors, affiliations, references and any appendices.
- Each individual may be listed as an author or co-author on a maximum of four full papers submitted to the conference. This limit applies to all authors, regardless of author order or whether they present a paper.
- Accepted full papers may be included in the open-access proceedings, IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (EES), subject to the review and publication requirements.
- To be eligible for inclusion in the proceedings, each paper must be presented in person at the conference in Delft by at least one registered author. Papers that are not presented in person will not be included in the proceedings.
- Each registered presenter may present a maximum of two papers. Authors contributing to more than two accepted papers must arrange for other registered co-authors to present the additional papers in person.
Special sessions
Proposals for special sessions of 4 to 6 linked contributions (for example from a Horizon Europe project, an IEA EBC Annex, a CIB Working Commission or a national programme) are welcome until Friday 20 November 2026. Sessions that compare approaches across countries or regions are particularly welcome. Send a one-page proposal to the scientific chairs.
Review and publication process
Every abstract is reviewed double-blind by at least two committee members for relevance, originality, rigour and clarity. Authors of accepted abstracts submit a full paper (maximum of 10 pages, template provided) for a second double-blind review.
Authors revise their papers in response to reviewer comments before final acceptance.