Sustainable Urban Design and Land Use Planning
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Urban and Rural Development".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 17418
Special Issue Editor
Interests: land use planning; environmental planning; GIS; ecosystem service; resilience
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Sustainable urban design and land use planning represent key issues in the development of resilient cities while practical solutions are mainstreamed to reduce climate vulnerability and increase the health and security of citizens. The scientific literature has widely demonstrated that adaptation to climate change should be adequately projected and evaluated through plans and projects since the application of nature-based or technological solutions itself does not guarantee maximization of the resilient performance of cities. If not adequately planned in a systematic and comprehensive framework, urban renewal, building retrofits, land use transformation, de-sealing, or smart mobility projects cannot reach their highest performance at the city-level scale.
Therefore, the design of strategies and techniques played out by plans and projects should be grounded in the biophysical comprehension of socioecological and technological systems, employing GIS techniques and detailed spatial analytical assessments while supporting the design of green and blue infrastructures at the landscape/rural and urban level, achieving multiple purposes: reducing structural and ecological vulnerability, improving the environmental conditions, improving accessibility to green areas and related recreational facilities, increasing the wellbeing and safety of communities, reducing pollution and noise, and increasing smart and efficient mobility.
These kinds of urban planning targets are based on multidisciplinary approaches while involving assessments of physical and social parameters enclosed in multiple disciplines: urban planning, architecture, landscape ecology, social science, soil science, agronomy, environmental, structural, and mobility engineering. Despite the complexity, the possibility of having very advanced tools in the field of the spatial assessment of different characteristics has allowed deepening of the scientific investigations of the system while achieving reliable targets.
In light of Goals 11 and 13 of the United Nations, this Special Issue invites authors working on the abovementioned themes to publish their latest advances in a collection of papers that will answer the question: can sustainable urban design and land use planning be integrated and supported by new ecosystemic, socioecological, structural–technological, smart mobility assessments aided by GIS techniques with a resilient spatial perspective? If so, how do plans and projects benefit from these assessments and, moreover, how are the adopted solutions practically targeted, evaluated, delivered and monitored by plans and projects?
Existing literature in this field is relevant, and includes (but is not limited to) the following references:
Artmann, M., 2015. Managing urban soil sealing in Munich and Leipzig (Germany)—From a wicked problem to clumsy solutions. Land use policy 46, 21–37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2015.02.004
Collier, F., Hambling, J., Kernaghan, S., Kovacevic, B., Miller, R., Pérez, A.P., Richardson, E., Macmillan, S., 2014. Tomorrow ’ s cities: a framework to assess urban resilience. Urban Des. Plan. 167, 79–91. https://doi.org/10.1680/udap.13.00019
Grêt-Regamey, A., Altwegg, J., Sirén, E.A., van Strien, M.J., Weibel, B., 2017. Integrating ecosystem services into spatial planning—A spatial decision support tool. Landsc. Urban Plan. 165, 206–219. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2016.05.003
Hansen, R., Frantzeskaki, N., McPhearson, T., Rall, E., Kabisch, N., Kaczorowska, A., Kain, J.-H., Artmann, M., Pauleit, S., 2015. The uptake of the ecosystem services concept in planning discourses of European and American cities. Ecosyst. Serv. 12, 228–246. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2014.11.013
Lafortezza, R., Davies, C., Sanesi, G., Konijnendijk, C.C.C., 2013. Green Infrastructure as a tool to support spatial planning in European urban regions. iForest - Biogeosciences For. 6, 102–108. https://doi.org/10.3832/ifor0723-006
Meerow, S., Newell, J.P., 2017. Spatial planning for multifunctional green infrastructure: Growing resilience in Detroit. Landsc. Urban Plan. 159, 62–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2016.10.005
Brunetta, G., Salata, S., 2019. Mapping Urban Resilience for Spatial Planning—A First Attempt to Measure the Vulnerability of the System. Sustainability 11, 2331. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11082331
Dr. Stefano Salata
Guest Editor
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. Sustainability 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 2400 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
- environmental planning
- land use planning
- urban transformation
- sustainability
- ecosystem services
- green infrastructures
- resilience
- vulnerability
- climate change
- adaptation
- GIS
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.