The built environment involves many diverse chemical agents and processes in its making, use and conservation. Chemical research plays a critical role in the preparation of diverse building materials such as mortar, concrete, bituminous mixtures, glass, and metals, as well as in the discovery and processing of the necessary raw materials. Chemical procedures can be used also for changing the characteristics of materials like stone, earth, and wood in order to improve their durability and other features relevant for their use in building structures (namely, thermal and fluid percolation-related properties).

After being placed in built structures, materials are exposed to agents that can promote undesirable changes. The diagnosis of specific causes of these changes is essential for selecting suitable treatments, being the basis for the design of treatments. This is particularly important to preserve materials in heritage buildings. Additionally, interactions between materials and change-promoting pollutants leave a kind of record of the latter and contribute to environmental remediation (e.g., carbon sequestration by building materials).

Furthermore, built environment development, use, and preservation can have significant impacts on humans and on the environment, and chemical studies are important for understanding the behavior and fate of both pollutants and building materials as well as for designing sustainable solutions.

The aim of this Special Issue is to publish original research with a focus on chemical research in the built environment, as well as review articles discussing the current state of the art.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Synthesis and improvement of building materials
• Discovery and sustainable processing of raw materials
• Characterization of pollutants in the structures and their surroundings
• Analytical techniques, including non-destructive analysis, especially applied in heritage buildings
• Simulation tests
• Models relating pollution levels to weathering of materials and structures
• Conservation treatments
• Procedures for minimizing the impacts on the built environment with a special focus on the retention and sequestration of carbon
• Case studies in buildings