Dear Colleagues,

Urban regions continue to grow worldwide and so do environmental problems brought about by urbanization. Degradation of urban landscapes due to increasing air, water, soil and thermal pollution, and loss of biodiversity have become a matter of concern because of its deleterious effects on ecological processes and human health. A better understanding of urban landscape degradation is required for developing mitigation strategies and restoring important ecosystem services provided by urban landscapes. The special issue seeks manuscripts improving our understanding of various aspects of environmental degradation of urban landscapes across the world, including such topics as pollution by particulate matter, soil contamination by heavy metals, carbon dioxide pollution, impacts of urban heat island on ecological processes and human health, mapping and quantification of urban landscape patterns and land cover changes, urban forests and green spaces. We endorse studies advancing applications of hierarchical patch dynamics paradigm, conducted across spatial and temporal scales. Papers considered for this issue can be categorized into several groups: (1) Theory and principles of urban landscape degradation assessments; (2) Modeling studies and development of indicators of urban landscape degradation; (3) Assessment of landscape degradation of urban regions and development of restoration strategies; (4) Studies assessing consequences of landscape degradation on ecosystems, social sustainability and human health; (5) Identification of novel pollutants, such as plastic nanoparticles, and overlooked ecological effects, such as nighttime lights, on urban ecosystems; (6) Cascading effects of urban landscape degradation on regional/global ecosystems; (7) Resilience and tipping points of urban systems associated with landscape degradation; (8) Restoration and rehabilitation of degraded urban landscapes.

Prof. Dr. Alexander Buyantuev
Dr. Chi Xu
Dr. Junxiang Li
Dr. Qingxu Huang
Dr. Ganlin Huang
Guest Editors

• land use and land cover change
• urbanization
• urban ecology
• urban sustainability
• resilience
• pollution
• urban heat island
• environmental monitoring
• ecological indicators
• ecological restoration