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Remote Sensing of Climate Change Influences on Urban Ecology

A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Remote Sensing".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 875

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba 305-0053, Ibaraki, Japan
Interests: GIScience; remote sensing; land change science; urban informatics; urban geography; urban green spaces; ecosystem services
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Institute of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba 305-8572, Japan
Interests: human geography; GIScience; geospatial analysis; spatial modeling; urban geography
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba 305-0053, Ibaraki, Japan
Interests: urban remote sensing; geospatial analysis and modeling; ecosystem services; urban sustainability; land cover/use; climate change adaptation

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Guest Editor
Institute of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba 305-8572, Japan
Interests: urban wetlands; remote sensing; geospatial modeling; ecosystem service; urban climate; urban forestry; urban hydrology; climate impacts
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Urban areas stand at the forefront of climate change impacts, experiencing intensified heat stress, altered precipitation patterns, and an increased frequency of extreme weather events. These changes profoundly affect urban ecological systems, ranging from parks and green corridors to wetlands and urban forests. Understanding and monitoring these impacts is crucial for developing effective climate adaptation strategies and maintaining vital urban ecosystem services. Remote sensing technologies offer powerful tools for monitoring and analyzing these complex urban ecological dynamics across multiple spatial and temporal scales.

This Special Issue focuses on the applications of remote sensing in understanding how climate change influences urban ecological systems. We aim to bring together research that demonstrates innovative approaches to monitoring and analyzing urban ecosystem changes, whether through traditional remote sensing methods or emerging technologies such as GeoAI, IoT networks, or citizen science data. The Special Issue welcomes original research articles, comprehensive reviews, and technical notes examining various aspects of urban ecology, including but not limited to the following areas:

  • Urban green infrastructure monitoring and assessment;
  • Nature-based solutions’ effectiveness and implementation;
  • Urban wetland dynamics and ecosystem services;
  • Urban forest health and biodiversity;
  • Green space accessibility and environmental justice;
  • Urban heat island effects on vegetation and ecosystems;
  • Climate change adaptation strategies in urban landscapes;
  • Urban wildlife habitat mapping and connectivity;
  • Citizen science and urban ecological monitoring.

We encourage submissions that demonstrate both methodological advances and practical applications in urban ecological monitoring and assessment. This includes studies utilizing various remote sensing platforms and data types, from satellite imagery to aerial photography, as well as those integrating multiple data sources. We particularly welcome interdisciplinary research that bridges remote sensing capabilities with urban ecological theory and practice, thereby advancing our understanding of climate change impacts on urban ecosystems and informing evidence-based urban planning and management strategies. 

Dr. Ahmed Derdouri
Prof. Dr. Yuji Murayama
Dr. Fei Liu
Dr. Darshana Athukorala
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Remote Sensing is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 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 ecology
  • climate change
  • nature-based solutions
  • urban wetlands
  • green infrastructure
  • environmental justice
  • urban forestry
  • remote sensing
  • ecosystem services
  • urban sustainability
  • urban biodiversity

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

22 pages, 2509 KiB  
Article
Not All Green Is Equal: Growth Form Is a Key Driver of Urban Vegetation Sensitivity to Climate in Chicago
by Natalie L. R. Love, Max Berkelhammer, Eduardo Tovar, Sarah Romy, Matthew D. Wilson and Gabriela C. Nunez Mir
Remote Sens. 2025, 17(17), 2919; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs17172919 - 22 Aug 2025
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Abstract
Urban green spaces are important nature-based solutions to mitigate climate change. While the distribution of green spaces within cities is well documented, few studies assess whether inequities in green space quantity (i.e., percent cover) are mirrored by inequities in green space quality (i.e., [...] Read more.
Urban green spaces are important nature-based solutions to mitigate climate change. While the distribution of green spaces within cities is well documented, few studies assess whether inequities in green space quantity (i.e., percent cover) are mirrored by inequities in green space quality (i.e., vegetation health or sensitivity to stressors). Green space quality is important to measure alongside green space quantity because vegetation that is healthier and less sensitive to stressors such as climatic fluctuations sustain critical ecosystem services through stressful environmental conditions, especially as the climate changes. We use a 40-year remote sensing dataset to examine the spatial patterns and underlying drivers of vegetation sensitivity to short-term (monthly) climate fluctuations in Chicago. Our results show that although vegetation cover was not equitably distributed between racially and ethnically segregated census tracts, socio-demographic composition was not a key driver of spatial variation in short-term vegetation sensitivity to climate. Instead, we found that vegetation growth form was a strong predictor of differences in vegetation sensitivity among communities. At the census tract level, higher herbaceous/shrub cover was associated with increased sensitivity to climate, while higher tree cover was associated with decreased sensitivity. These results suggest that urban green spaces comprising trees will be less sensitive (i.e., more resistant) to short-term climate fluctuations than those comprising predominately herbaceous or shrub cover. Our findings highlight that urban green space quality can vary spatially within cities; however, more work is needed to understand how the drivers of vegetation sensitivity vary among cities, especially those experiencing different climatic regimes. This work is key to planning and planting high-quality, climate change-resilient and equitable urban green spaces. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Climate Change Influences on Urban Ecology)
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