The interactions with the environment from the cradle to the grave define the sustainability of materials, buildings, infrastructures and of our society. Concrete is the world’s most commonly used construction material, but it requires energy and natural resources that are limited. Consequently, environmental impact of concrete constructions and infrastructures is a major problem for civil engineering causing significant societal impacts. Indeed, concrete-based infrastructure projects require major investments of public capital and trigger enormous greenhouse gas emissions from cement production resulting in pollution and consumption of natural resources. On the one hand, the request of materials for new infrastructures is huge in developing countries, while, on the other hand, maintenance and retrofitting of aged infrastructures represent a current engineering challenge in developed countries. Moreover, as very important budgets are necessary to keep their functionality, monitoring of infrastructures is of paramount relevance to have a proper and timely maintenance capable of controlling the increasing degradation. In addition, the retrofitting of existing infrastructures is another key aspect to reduce the environmental impact related to both construction and demolition (C&D) waste materials and production of new concrete. Therefore, the need of sustainable approaches for both new and existing concrete constructions is patent. Recycled materials, innovative assessment methods, retrofitting techniques and smart monitoring systems in the framework of a Life Cycle Assessment strategy are promising answers to the above-mentioned problems. Unfortunately, appropriate design recommendations are often not available, and thus experimental investigations, numerical simulation and research activities can have a key role within the overall sustainable infrastructure development. In this Special Issue, we invite the publication of original research and review papers, experimental and/or numerical investigations on the sustainability of concrete infrastructures. Both new sustainable materials, design projects or monitoring and retrofitting of existing infrastructures will be of interest for the Special Issue. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: Design of new concrete infrastructures; New sustainable and/or recycled materials and mixture design; Advanced design and assessment techniques; Case studies; Monitoring, maintenance and retrofitting of infrastructures; Advances in sustainable infrastructures, as well as socio-economical aspects.
Keywords: Infrastructure; Sustainability; Concrete; Environmental impact; Monitoring; Maintenance; Assessment; Retrofitting; Sustainable materials; Recycled materials.