Remote Sensing of Climate Change Influences on Urban Ecology

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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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.