The overall ambition of BEYOND 2020, the World Sustainable Built Environment conference (WSBE), is to collectively formulate a transformational plan for the built environment to support the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

The purpose of this transformational plan is to link the built environment to the relevant UN SDGs, in order to lay foundations for the development of global and regional implementation strategies by 2030.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all in that they address all the key global challenges which we as humanity face.  BEYOND 2020’s contribution is centred around goal number 11 “Sustainable cities and communities” that we consider the focal point for the delivery and application of a more sustainable built environment. Around goal number 11, we have identified 10 other goals that are similarly relevant for the building sector and contribute to the achievement of sustainable cities and communities (see overview here).

BEYOND 2020 has the ambition to pave the way for a sustainable built environment globally, but by taking into consideration specific regional perspectives that would allow concrete actions to achieve the UNSDGs by 2030. We believe that it is key to build on the regional strengths, capabilities and conditions, in order to set up commitments and implementation plans that can actually be realized in different parts of the world.

In order to support the development of the BEYOND 2020 transformational plan, the Scientific Committee has looked for contributions that address one of the 20 conference scientific topics.
These topics are a combination of:

• Key SDG-related challenge areas for the built environment (linked to one or multiple SDGs)
• Important subjects addressed by the Sustainable Built Environment regional conferences preceding BEYOND 2020 – essential for the understanding of various regional perspectives
• Overarching tools and approaches (policy, business models, management & leadership approaches, governance solutions, education etc.) that can be applied in relation to various SDG challenges and across regions.

We believe that these strategically selected topics will assure the right balance between contributions that address the SDG-related challenges from a global and regional perspective, but also propose concrete innovations, approaches and tools needed to transform the built environment in line with SDG goals by 2030.

Under each topic there is a short description and guiding questions that provide further explanation regarding the relevance for the built environment.

Abstracts & Papers submission is now closed.

Authors who submitted an abstract/paper have:

• Choosen one of the conference 20 scientific topics, and additionally
• Indicated one or more UN SDG your submission contributes to.

The review is a single-blind review by two independent Scientific Committee members. Accepted papers will be published by IOP proceedings on the Earth and Environmental Science Journal with ISSN/DOI. At this link, you can read the terms of the Proceedings Publication License, which is a Creative Commons attributions license (CC BY) – accepted by authors when submitting.

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