Spatial Patterns and Urban Indicators on Land Use and Climate Change

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Land Planning and Landscape Architecture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 September 2025 | Viewed by 808

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Engineering, University of Sannio, Benevento, Italy
Interests: urban planning; spatial analysis; climate change; urban accessibility

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Guest Editor
Department of Geography and Environment, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3FX, UK
Interests: political economy; green economy; political science

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Guest Editor
Department of Architecture and Built Environment, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK
Interests: co-design; sustainable urbanism; architectural visualization; digital technologies

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, the limited availability of resources and the high frequency and intensity of natural phenomena threatening urban systems have meant that soil protection is now a priority for the governance of territorial and urban transformations. However, the strong frailties and critical issues that characterize these territories are found in the management of territorial transformations that must aim at a sustainable use of the land and, at the same time, balanced long-term urban development. The measurement of land use and its relative consumption is a fundamental element for classifying and interpreting the forms of urban expansion through the use of remote sensing techniques combined with the potential of spatial information systems. A variety of approaches and methodologies proposed so far outline a completely fragmented picture, increasing the difficulties in identifying useful tools and strategies to limit this phenomenon.

The goal of this Special Issue is to collect papers (original research articles and review papers) to provide insights into land use changes in relation to current urban dynamics and challenges. In particular, this Special Issue aims to provide a cognitive framework of different territorial contexts through the use of cutting-edge methods, techniques, and technologies due to current urban changes induced by the secondary effects of climate change (heat islands, urban sprawl), which remains a field still under exploration. In this direction, this call for papers invites contributions to the scientific debate around the theoretical and practical solutions to these issues from international and multidisciplinary perspectives, incorporating insights from spatial models, new indicators, and metrics on land use in order to provide solutions to local decision-makers on how to optimize the use of resources in territories in relation to their management.

This Special Issue welcomes manuscripts that cover the following themes:

  • Land use and climate change;
  • Spatial patterns;
  • Urban indicators.

We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.

Dr. Federica Gaglione
Dr. Ayiine-Etigo David
Prof. Dr. Richard Laing
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • urban planning
  • land use prediction
  • land use change
  • climate change
  • spatial analysis
  • GIS
  • scenario simulation
  • spatial metrics

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

26 pages, 9154 KB  
Article
Prediction of Urban Growth and Sustainability Challenges Based on LULC Change: Case Study of Two Himalayan Metropolitan Cities
by Bhagawat Rimal, Sushila Rijal and Abhishek Tiwary
Land 2025, 14(8), 1675; https://doi.org/10.3390/land14081675 - 19 Aug 2025
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Abstract
Urbanization, characterized by population growth and socioeconomic development, is a major driving factor of land use land cover (LULC) change. A spatio-temporal understanding of land cover change is crucial, as it provides essential insights into the pattern of urban development. This study conducted [...] Read more.
Urbanization, characterized by population growth and socioeconomic development, is a major driving factor of land use land cover (LULC) change. A spatio-temporal understanding of land cover change is crucial, as it provides essential insights into the pattern of urban development. This study conducted a longitudinal analysis of LULC change in order to evaluate the tradeoffs of urban growth and sustainability challenges in the Himalayan region. Landsat time-series satellite imagery from 1988 to 2024 were analyzed for two major cities in Nepal—Kathmandu metropolitan city (KMC) and Pokhara metropolitan city (PMC). The LULC classification was conducted using a machine learning support vector machine (SVM) approach. For this study period, our analysis showed that KMC and PMC witnessed urban growth of over 400% and 250%, respectively. In the next step, LULC change and urban expansion patterns were predicted based on the urban development indicator using the Cellular Automata Markov chain (CA-Markov) model for the years 2040 and 2056. Based on the CA-Markov chain analysis, the projected expansion areas of the urban area for the two future years are 282.39 km2 and 337.37 km2 for Kathmandu, and 93.17 km2 and 114.15 km2 for PMC, respectively. The model was verified using several Kappa variables (K-location, K-standard, and K-no). Based on the LULC trends, the majority of urban expansion in both the study areas has occurred at the expense of prime farmlands, which raises grave concern over the sustainability of the food supply to feed an ever-increasing urban population. This haphazard urban sprawl poses a significant challenge for future planning and highlights the urgent need for effective strategies to ensure sustainable urban growth, especially in restoring local food supply to alleviate over-reliance on long-distance transport of agro-produce in high-altitude mountain regions. The alternative planning of sustainable urban growth could involve adequate consideration for urban farming and community gardening as an integral part of the urban fabric, both at the household and city infrastructure levels. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spatial Patterns and Urban Indicators on Land Use and Climate Change)
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