Journal of Building Construction and Planning Research, 2013, 1, 25-26
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jbcpr.2013.12004 Published Online June 2013 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/jbcpr) 25
Editorial
Journal of Building Construction and Planning Research:
A New Platform for Building Researchers
Gwang-Hee Kim
Department of Plant & Architectural Engineering, Kyonggi University, Suwon-Si, South Korea.
Received April 13th, 2013; revised May 15th, 2013; accepted May 24th, 2013
Copyright © 2013 Gwang-Hee Kim. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Building construction projects include design, financial,
estimating, environmental consideration, and legal re-
view [1]. Building engineering is the application of the-
ory, knowledge, techno logy, etc. to building construction.
Building engineering can be classified into three catego-
ries: Structural Engineering, Mechanical, Electrical, and
Plumbing (MEP), and Construction. Structural engineer-
ing includes the analysis and design of the structural
frame. MEP engineering is a significant component of
the building sup ply system and is th e most important part
of the building, which must be carefully coordinated be-
fore design and installation. In the field of architecture,
construction consists of construction technology and con-
struction management. Construction technology includes
materials engineering, construction methods, etc. Also,
construction management is a process encompassing the
planning, coordination, and control of design, financial,
and estimation of a project, from starting to completion.
Building planning is classified into three categories,
which are architectural theory, architectural design, and
sustainable architecture design. Architectural theory in-
volves thinking, discussing and writing about architec-
ture [2]. Architectural design is a plan for architecture, i.e.
the written documentation and graphical descriptions of
building projects. Sustainable architecture refers to eco-
friendly design techniques in the field of architecture,
and has recently been considered as a priority.
Recently, there has been quite a bit of multidiscipli-
nary convergence between research fields. In building
construction and planning, there is a tendency to focus
research on the fields of construction engineering and
architectural planning. But building construction and
planning research clearly cannot be separated from each
other, and as such, the cooperation between each field in
practices of building construction and planning as well as
in research is needed. Building construction and planning
is one of the composite arts. Research in the specific field
of construction and planning research has been published
in specific journals; that is, the scope of journals is quite
narrow. Building construction and planning is quite a
broad area of study, and as such it is not possib le to cover
all areas with research papers in one journal. However,
the tendency to separate the various fields of building
construction and planning may be undesirable for the
progress of building construction, and does not match the
recent trend of research.
Journal of Building Construction and Planning Re-
search (JBCPR), a new open access journal, will include
all areas of building construction and planning fields
mentioned above, and will exclude original structural
engineering and original MEP engineering. These fields
are excluded because they are associated with buildings
but are different from HVAC (heating, ventilation, and
air condition ing), one of the factor s affecting the building
environment. All kinds of papers in all fields of building
construction and planning, with the exception of these
two fields mentioned above, are welcome to submit to
JBCPR.
So what makes JBCPR significantly different from
other civil engineering or building engineering journals?
While other civil engineering or building engineering
journals are concentrated on narrow, specific topics such
as structural engineering, construction engineering, con-
struction management, or environmental engineering,
JBCPR is interested in the convergence of an associated
field of study in building construction and planning.
Therefore, JBCPR will be particularly interested in pub-
lishing articles on: 1) applications of information tech-
nology (IT) to building construction and planning; 2)
green building design and construction for sustainable
architecture; 3) crime prevention design through envi-
ronmental design for community safety; 4) building de-

Journal of Building Construction and Planning Research: A New Platform for Building Researchers 26
sign management for saving costs and shortening con-
struction duration; 5) passive design for reducing CO2
emission and energy consumption; 6) low energy em-
bodied materials; 7) recycled materials; 8) healthy mate-
rials; 9) innovative construction methods; 10) lean con-
struction management; 11) Human-centered construction
management, etc. Nevertheless, JBCPR will also publish
research papers that is not necessarily highly innovative
or novel, and is also interested in: 1) technical notes; 2-5
page papers in which an author can either give an idea
with a scientific basis but has n ot yet completed; 2) book
reviews; 3) article reviews; 4) case studies of best prac-
tice, etc.
I thank Scientific Research Publishing (SCIRP) for
giving me the chance to launch this new journal. Also, I
would like to thank all editorial members of JBCPR who
have encouraged me in the launch of JBCPR, and who
are serving as editorial board members of JBCPR. I hope
that JBCPR will be a distinguished journ al in the field of
building construction and planning, and will become a
main platform through which academic scholars, re-
searchers, practitioners, and students can communicate
with each other and share their knowledge, experience,
study results, and information.
REFERENCES
[1] Wikipedia, “Building Construction,”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Construction
[2] Wikipedia, “Architectural Theory,”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architectural_theory