Urban Sci., Volume 10, Issue 7 (July 2026) – 83 articles

The accelerating digital transformation of urban economies is reshaping labor markets at unprecedented speed, generating skills mismatches, employment volatility, and widening inclusion gaps that current smart city governance frameworks are insufficiently equipped to address. While the smart city literature has advanced substantially in the areas of digital infrastructure, mobility, and e-government services, the governance of labor market transitions in data-driven urban environments remains conceptually underdeveloped. In particular, no integrated analytical framework currently links smart city governance, labor market intelligence, and workforce resilience into a coherent tool for assessing urban preparedness for technology-driven employment change. This study addresses that gap by developing the Urban Workforce Readiness Framework (UWRF)—an integrated conceptual model designed to evaluate how prepared urban labor markets are for accelerating digital and technological transformation. Methodologically, the framework is constructed through a structured synthesis of peer-reviewed scholarship published between 2015 and 2025 across five domains—smart city governance, labor market regulation, human capital development, workforce resilience, and data-driven public administration—complemented by a thematic review of policy documents issued by the OECD, ILO, European Commission, and World Bank. On this basis, the UWRF identifies five interdependent dimensions of urban workforce readiness: (i) digital infrastructure capacity, (ii) labor market intelligence and analytics, (iii) workforce skills adaptability, (iv) institutional governance capacity, and (v) social inclusion mechanisms. A multi-criteria operationalization is proposed, enabling comparative diagnostic assessment across cities and supporting evidence-based prioritization of policy interventions. The analysis demonstrates that institutional governance capacity and real-time labor market intelligence function as critical mediators within the system: in their absence, even substantial investments in digital infrastructure fail to produce resilient, inclusive, or sustainable labor market outcomes. Theoretically, the study extends data-driven governance scholarship beyond service delivery into the domain of workforce management, thereby integrating three traditionally separate research streams—smart city studies, labor market governance, and digital public administration—under a single analytical architecture. Practically, the UWRF provides policymakers, municipal authorities, labor market institutions, and urban planners with a structured diagnostic instrument for aligning digital transformation strategies with sustainable and equitable employment outcomes, and offers a replicable foundation for future empirical validation across diverse urban contexts. Full article

Although smart city strategies increasingly employ emerging technologies to improve urban services, existing research often treats these technologies in isolation from broader socio-technical systems. Similarly, urban resilience scholarship conceptualises cities as complex adaptive systems but rarely integrates digital infrastructure into formal resilience frameworks. This study examined how digital technologies can be holistically integrated into urban systems to support sustainable, adaptive, and resilient smart cities. It also developed a systems-thinking–based framework to guide the governance and design of inclusive and environmentally responsive urban systems. The study was conducted using a qualitative multi-method approach combining literature review and comparative case analysis of digitally advanced cities, including Singapore, Amsterdam, Wuhan, Copenhagen, Barcelona, and cities in Karnataka, India. The findings indicate that resilience depends less on the scale of technological deployment and more on the integration of digital infrastructure with adaptive governance, interoperability, and citizen participation. Drawing on systems thinking and system dynamics, the study proposes a digital feedback framework in which reinforcing loops enhance sensing, decision intelligence, inclusivity, and sustainability, while balancing loops that regulate risks related to privacy, inequality, technological lock-in, and environmental rebound effects. The study contributes a systems-based framework linking smart city development with adaptive urban resilience. Full article

Social and economic satisfaction gaps are theoretical differences between a resident’s socially or monetarily most preferred affordable home attributes and the actual attributes of their current home. In this study, the satisfaction gaps of two samples of respondents are predicted with their social utility data for preferred attributes in 1987 and 2020, in conjunction with the asking or sale prices and comparable attributes of single detached or similar homes merged with small-area census data for periods up to those dates. Average social and economic gaps of less than 20% affirm respondents’ overall satisfaction with their current homes, most of whom were recent movers. However, wider social satisfaction gaps among the minority of residents may reflect dissatisfaction with new suburban locations in one sample and older inner city housing in the other. Four practical and theoretical contributions of the utility modelling of residential satisfaction gaps in objective and subjective home attributes, as opposed to direct surveying of residential satisfaction, are concluded. Full article

Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 11 requires active engagement of local communities in environmental protection and sustainable urban development. Although residents play a critical role in supporting sustainability initiatives, limited research has examined how community-related factors shape environmental attitudes, environmental engagement, and support for sustainable behaviour in urban tourism destinations. This study investigates the relationships among destination social responsibility, community attachment, community involvement, environmental attitudes, community environmental participation, environmental advocacy and action, perceived environmental benefits, and support for sustainable behaviour among residents of Novi Sad, Serbia. Data were collected from 1038 residents and analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results show that community attachment positively influences environmental attitudes and support for sustainable behaviour, while community involvement enhances community environmental participation and environmental advocacy and action. Environmental attitudes positively affect community environmental participation, environmental advocacy and action, and perceived environmental benefits. Perceived environmental benefits, in turn, strengthen support for sustainable behaviour. Conversely, destination social responsibility does not significantly influence community attachment or community involvement. The findings highlight the importance of strengthening residents’ attachment to their community, encouraging participation in local affairs, and fostering positive environmental attitudes to promote sustainable urban development. The study contributes to sustainable urban tourism research by identifying key social and psychological mechanisms that encourage environmental engagement and support for sustainability-oriented behaviour. Full article

This study examines the urban–rural interface of Loja, Ecuador, as a differentiated socio-ecological system shaped by environmental structure, the persistence of productive land, reliance on infrastructure, and terrain-adaptive settlement patterns. An integrated territorial taxonomy was developed using a four-phase methodological framework that combined morphological analysis, socio-territorial characterization, adaptive tectonic interpretation, and multivariate synthesis. Ten representative polygons located within Loja’s Andean periphery were evaluated using indicators of Biotic Porosity (BP), Degree of Hybridity (DH), Infrastructure Dependency (ID), and Alimentary Autonomy Extent (AAE), complemented by spatial analysis, field verification, and exploratory correlation assessment. The results revealed strong positive associations between socio-territorial hybridity and alimentary autonomy (ρ = 0.92), and strong negative associations between hybridity and infrastructure dependency (ρ = −0.88). A moderate positive relationship was identified between biotic porosity and hybridity (ρ = 0.67). The analysis also identified three adaptive tectonic typologies—Terracing, Cantilever, and Platform Urbanization—and a territorial taxonomy composed of Resilient, Adaptive, and Consolidating Edges. These findings demonstrate that the Andean urban periphery operates as a heterogeneous continuum rather than a homogeneous expansion zone. Although the statistical relationships should be interpreted as exploratory due to the limited sample size, the framework provides a useful basis for comparative research and resilience-oriented planning in intermediate mountain cities undergoing rapid territorial transformation. Full article

Digital Twins (DT) are increasingly positioned as key enablers of sustainable urban development, yet many implementations remain fragmented, technology-driven, and weakly connected to clearly defined decision-making needs. The present study develops a structured information governance framework for DTs, drawing on the principles of ISO 19650. The framework establishes a traceable hierarchy linking organizational objectives, DT use cases, information requirements, the Level of Information Need, information exchange processes and machine-readable Information Delivery Specifications. Its purpose is to ensure that information is clearly defined, exchanged, validated, and maintained in a consistent and verifiable manner before it is used for monitoring, simulation, predictive analytics, or decision support. The proposal is illustrated through an urban air-quality Digital Shadow demonstrator integrating BIM, GIS, weather services, and a real-time visualization environment. Candidate information-quality indicators are also introduced and demonstrated through synthetic calculations intended to explain their application. Neither the demonstrator nor the calculated KPI values constitute validation of the framework or evidence of improved operational performance. Instead, they establish a structured basis for future testing in operational Urban Digital Twin (UDT) implementations. The contribution lies in integrating established BIM concepts into a single DT-oriented traceability chain rather than introducing them as new standards or methods. Full article

This article advances the understanding of urban spaces that enable the emergence of “life between buildings”, understood as South European environments capable of supporting care, social interaction, and community life. The study focuses on in-between spaces, defined as spatial realms located between the private sphere of the dwelling and the public sphere of the city, and characterized by both physical and social dimensions. Specifically, the article addresses the quantitative assessment of their social dimension by developing an objective model to identify the degree of in-between character present in urban space. The proposed model comprises two complementary stages. The first consists of an activity-mapping methodology designed to record the social and use-related characteristics that define in-between spaces. The second establishes a set of indicators that determine the in-between character of each space on the basis of the data collected through this mapping process. By measuring the level of in-between character, the model helps identify the types of urban settings in which relationships that strengthen community life are generated. This knowledge can support spatial planning strategies aimed at producing appropriate privacy gradients and improving existing residential environments through a more suitable provision of public space and enhancing the everyday habitability of nearby urban fabrics. Full article

Urban surveillance infrastructure is a form of public service deployment subject to the same equity standards as other spatially distributed urban systems. This study examines the geographic distribution of body-worn camera (BWC)-equipped officer density produced by the Metropolitan Police Department’s (MPD) 2015–2017 randomized controlled trial across Washington, D.C.’s eight wards, asking whether a formally neutral police technology deployment produced unequal per-capita densities across the city’s racially and socioeconomically stratified urban landscape. Using officer-level BWC assignment data drawn from the trail’s publicly available replication files, aggregated from police districts to wards through a population-weighted spatial crosswalk, the analysis compares BWC-equipped officer density between majority-Black, east-of-Anacostia Wards 7–8 and majority-White, northwest Wards 2–3, and tests associations with ward-level demographic and socioeconomic indicators. Cameras were assigned to officers at an essentially constant rate across districts (approximately 50%), so ward-level variation in density reflects the underlying distribution of officers rather than the camera-assignment mechanism. Descriptively, Wards 7–8 showed a modestly higher mean density than Wards 2–3 (3.31 vs. 3.15 BWC-equipped officers per 1000 residents; a difference of approximately 5%), but the comparison did not reach statistical significance, and ward-level density was uncorrelated with the percentage of Black residents (r = 0.008). These inferential results are statistically inconclusive given the small number of geographic units rather than affirmative evidence of equitable distribution. A more direct secondary measure BWC activations (recordings) per capita shows a modestly larger focal-ward gap (approximately 11%) that is likewise non-significant and uncorrelated with racial composition (r = 0.05). This convergence corroborates rather than overturns the primary measure, indicating that the null is not an artifact of how exposure is operationalized. The findings are interpreted as exploratory and descriptive: officers and therefore cameras were not distributed in proportion to residential population, which locates any equity concern upstream in deployment intensity rather than in the camera technology itself and motivates spatially explicit equity monitoring as a component of sustainable urban governance. Full article

Technologies such as cellular automata, genetic algorithms, and artificial intelligence have greatly expanded the range of possible architectural and urban solutions. The challenge is no longer only how to generate form, but how to interpret, evaluate, and select among multiple outcomes produced within computationally open-ended systems. When such generated alternatives are understood as collections, selection can be approached as a curatorial act. This article introduces the concept of algo-scapes: potentially extensive algorithmic landscapes whose meaning emerges only through processes of human discernment, comparison, and choice. To examine the broader logic of such selection, the study adopts a two-phase comparative design based on two parallel surveys. In the first phase, responses from 32 collectors of material objects are used to examine how collections are expanded and evaluated under conditions of differentiation, coherence, and spatial limitation. In the second phase, responses from 50 architects, urban planners, and interior designers are analyzed in order to determine whether analogous patterns can be identified in the ways spatial systems are developed, modified, and brought to temporary states of completion. The findings suggest that the strongest similarity between the two domains lies not in identical criteria of evaluation, but in a shared structure of selective growth based on addition, differentiation, limitation, and temporary completeness. While collectors place greater emphasis on uniqueness, aesthetic value, and personal attachment, architects, urban planners, and interior designers prioritize systemic fit, improvement, and contextual coherence. The article argues that the logic of collection can serve as a useful interpretive model for understanding architectural, urban, and algorithmic design systems, provided that it is understood structurally rather than literally. In this sense, algo-scapes are not meaningful simply because they can generate many alternatives, but because they require meta-level criteria through which meaningful configurations can be selected from potentially open-ended fields of possibility. Full article

Enclosed transport environments are becoming an integral part of compact urban structures; however, their air quality is monitored less systematically than that of the outdoor urban environment. This study evaluates particulate matter concentrations (PM₁, PM_2.5, PM₁₀) in two urban microenvironments in Banská Bystrica (Slovakia): an underground parking garage (representing private urban mobility) and an underground bus station (representing public transport). Continuous measurements using an enviDUST monitoring device were analysed in relation to occupancy rates and transport intensity. The results showed a dominance of the PM₁₀ fraction in both environments, suggesting the importance of non-exhaust sources and dust resuspension in enclosed urban transport spaces. In the parking facility, the immediate relationship between occupancy and PM concentrations was weak; however, a time lag effect was observed, indicating particle accumulation. The bus station exhibited higher average concentrations (PM₁: 8.67; PM_2.5: 14.12; PM₁₀: 34.12 µg/m³), while peak levels during nighttime highlighted the critical role of air stagnation and ventilation regimes. The study emphasizes the need to perceive such transport nodes as semi-public urban spaces requiring the integration of intelligent air quality management within sustainable urban development. Full article

This paper presents a descriptive and exploratory analysis of temporal mismatch between Comprehensive Management Plans for Public Facilities (PFMPs) and other municipal management plans, and of the positioning of population assumptions against a common external benchmark, focusing on Japan’s 20 ordinance-designated cities. Using the PFMP as the reference plan, Mismatch Years and Mismatch Ratio are treated as risk indicators of potential coordination exposure, while DOG (annualised) is used as the primary indicator of demographic assumption positioning. Descriptive tabulations show that the average PFMP duration (20.80 years) exceeded those of the Basic Plan (10.00 years), Fiscal Vision (7.65 years), Administrative Management Policy (7.95 years), and Implementation Plan (4.30 years). Most cities projected population decline, although assumed levels varied considerably. Spearman correlations between DOG (annualised) and Mismatch Ratio were weakly negative for the Basic Plan, Fiscal Vision, and Administrative Management Policy, with no clear positive monotonic co-movement. These results suggest that temporal mismatch and demographic assumption positioning are analytically distinct governance dimensions. Policy implications include synchronising PFMP reviews with medium-term fiscal and administrative cycles, rechecking demographic assumptions against a common external benchmark, and stress-testing PFMP assumptions across multiple crisis scenarios. Full article

This article examines the relationship between tourism dynamics and housing systems in large urban municipalities, combining three complementary analytical dimensions: statistical indicators, correlation analysis, and resident survey data. The study explores how tourism growth, platform-mediated accommodation, and real estate pressures interact with housing affordability and availability. By triangulating municipal statistical indicators and residents’ perceptions, the article contributes to current debates on touristification, housing assetisation, and platform urbanism. The findings suggest that tourism–housing pressures are multidimensional and uneven, requiring integrated regulatory and planning responses that address both supply constraints and demand-side transformations linked to tourism economies. Full article

Urban heat and walkability are often assessed separately, although pedestrians experience street connectivity, topography, vegetation, and thermal exposure simultaneously. This study develops a reproducible open-data workflow to examine the spatial relationship between walkability potential and surface thermal pressure in Loja, Ecuador, an intermediate Andean city shaped by valley morphology, steep slopes, uneven urban expansion, and heterogeneous green-space distribution. The analysis combines Landsat-derived land surface temperature, OpenStreetMap urban-form indicators, DEM-derived slope, composite spatial indicators, and spatial autocorrelation across 100 m, 250 m, and 500 m grids. The results show that walkability potential, observed LST-based heat intensity, and walkability–heat balance is spatially structured rather than randomly distributed. At the 250 m scale, heat-intensity clusters were spatially selective, indicating that surface thermal pressure is concentrated in specific parts of the retained analytical grid rather than uniformly distributed across the city. The 250 m grid provided the most interpretable balance between local detail and spatial stability for this case study, while the 100 m and 500 m grids revealed the sensitivity of the results to spatial aggregation. The study does not measure physiological thermal comfort or pedestrian heat stress. Instead, it offers an exploratory diagnostic framework for identifying where pedestrian-supportive urban form and surface thermal pressure overlap or diverge. This approach can help data-constrained intermediate cities prioritize areas for field verification, shade assessment, green-infrastructure planning, and more detailed pedestrian-level thermal studies. Full article

Urban greenbelts are vital for biodiversity and ecosystem services but face threats from urban expansion. This study assessed the population structure and identified potential threats to woody plants in Arusha city’s greenbelts (nature areas and riparian forests). Woody plants were sampled across 53 grid cells (200 m × 200 m) using stratified random sampling and the Braun-Blanquet relief method. Remote sensing processed 2015 and 2022 satellite images. ArcGIS 10.8.2 software facilitated field data collection coordinates, the satellite imageries and spatial analyses. Standard plot sizes of 400 m² were systematically selected for data collection. Significant differences in tree species diversity and abundance were observed within nature areas (t = 18.6, p = 0.001; t = 5.48, p = 0.001) and riparian forests (t = 21.4, p = 0.001; t = 13.8, p = 0.001). No significant differences were found between eastern and western nature areas (t = 1.06, p = 0.338; t = −1.55, p = 0.181) while within riparian forests, only species diversity differed significantly (t = 2.66, p = 0.011). However, tree species abundance differed significantly between nature areas and riparian forests (t = −2.97, p = 0.01) with riparian forests having higher abundance of native trees compared to nature areas and with significant abundance of native trees compared to non-native trees (t = 14, p = 0.001). These findings emphasize the conservation of Arusha’s greenbelts, aligning with SDGs 3 (well-being), 6 (water quality), 11 (sustainable cities) and 15 (ecosystem conservation). Full article

The proliferation of gambling infrastructure within the urban environment has emerged as a significant public health concern, particularly in contexts where commercial interests intersect with the socio-economic vulnerability of resident populations. The paper investigates the spatial distribution of slot-machine gambling venues across important Romanian cities, testing the hypothesis of predatory placement. Utilizing February 2026 official licensing data from the National Office for Gambling (ONJN) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), the research conducts a comprehensive geospatial accessibility analysis relative to sensitive community infrastructures. These include educational institutions, healthcare facilities, and religious sites, alongside socio-economically vulnerable residential zones. The methodology integrates network-based isochrone analysis, spatial density mapping, and proximity modeling to quantify effective accessibility within defined spatial ranges. These techniques identify high-exposure zones where dense gambling clusters intersect with protected institutional environments and marginalized populations. Results indicate a statistically significant spatial correlation between venue density and the immediate proximity of these sensitive community facilities. Furthermore, the findings provide a spatial evidence base for recent legislative shifts which empower local authorities to implement localized bans on physical gambling venues. Ultimately, this research illustrates how venue accessibility fosters urban risk landscapes, suggesting that local spatial autonomy is an essential pillar in mitigating gambling-related social harm. Full article

Courtyard enclosure form and façade orientation are associated with near-wall microclimatic fluctuation and autumn façade-greening dynamics. This exploratory study monitored Boston ivy at six sample points in two-sided, three-sided, and four-sided enclosures with south-, west-, and north-facing façades. Near-wall temperature and relative humidity were recorded every 5 min, and fixed-ROI time-series imagery quantified leaf color change and defoliation. Mean thermal–humidity conditions varied modestly; daily temperature range varied from 8.79 ± 2.35 to 17.90 ± 7.21 °C and daily relative humidity range from 18.46 ± 4.59% to 29.81 ± 7.38%. DI50 occurred from 20 October to 1 November and DI80 from 6 to 25 November. Spearman analysis of 60 matched daily observations showed stronger associations of mean thermal–humidity indicators than fluctuation indicators with phenological indicators. RMedian correlated positively with LCR (ρ = 0.70), while DI correlated negatively with RMedian and Color Index (ρ = −0.50 and −0.53). Because enclosure form and façade orientation were partly coupled, their effects could not be separated. Overall, sample points differed more clearly in thermal–humidity fluctuation than in mean conditions, while phenological differences reflected enclosure form, façade orientation, near-wall thermal–humidity conditions, and exposure conditions. Full article

The increasing frequency of climate change and extreme weather makes the issue of urban flood vulnerability an important one. Flood disaster mitigation efforts have progressed rapidly with the utilization of technology in flood risk assessment and community preparedness. However, there is still a gap between technology and community engagement in preparedness. This study was conducted to analyze the trend of technology-based urban flood vulnerability and community preparedness integration. The study used bibliometric methods to see research trends and a systematic review of Scopus data with Biblioshiny, VOSviewer, and Convidence to identify relevant research articles. Trends in urban flood vulnerability show an increasing use of advanced technologies such as multivariate LSTM (Long Short-Term Memory) artificial neural networks, LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), GIS (Geographic Information System), and blockchain for flood risk assessment. There are gaps in community engagement and preparedness, highlighting the need for a comprehensive approach that combines technology with community-based strategies. A balance between technology implementation and community engagement is needed to improve community preparedness and safeguard water security in flood-prone urban areas. The development of an urban flood vulnerability index can bridge the technology gap with standardized community engagement. All the articles in the study contribute greatly to the changes and improvements in flood disaster mitigation, as well as to the role of technology and preparedness. The gap between technology and community engagement in preparedness requires an urban flood vulnerability index with comprehensive strategies. Full article

Achieving carbon neutrality toward 2050 requires not only the adoption of renewable energy technologies but also long-term planning based on their gradual integration into urban systems. This study presents a novel scenario-based framework that quantifies year-by-year impacts of deploying rooftop photovoltaics (PVs), electric vehicles (EVs), and Vehicle to Home (V2H) systems from 2018 through 2050. Five key dimensions are assessed: CO₂ emission reduction, cost savings, self-consumption, energy sufficiency, and self-sufficiency. Using Suita City, Japan, as a case study, we analyzed two diffusion scenarios, “baseline (current growth case)” and “accelerated deployment case”. The results indicate that despite high initial investment, an accelerated scenario can achieve up to a 60% CO₂ emission reduction and over 25% cost savings by 2050. Importantly, the integrated deployment of PVs, EVs, and V2H surpasses PV-only systems in overall effectiveness from around 2035 onward. By capturing the dynamic evolution of technology impacts over time, this study provides unique and actionable insights for designing data-driven policies supporting long-term urban decarbonization. Full article

Innovation-oriented productive forces are increasingly concentrated in cities, but the multiscale mechanisms through which the built environment shapes these forces remain insufficiently understood. This study develops a spatial analytical framework linking firm-level new quality productive forces (NQPF) to fine-grained urban spatial structures. Using 89 A-share listed firms in the Xiamen–Zhangzhou–Quanzhou (XZQ) urban agglomeration, we first construct an entropy-weighted NQPF index from eleven financial indicators related to R&D human capital, advanced capital stock, intangible assets, and operational efficiency. Kernel density estimation is then used to transform discrete firm-level NQPF values into a continuous 600 m × 600 m grid surface as the dependent variable. On the explanatory side, 27 built-environment variables are organized into an integrated indicator system covering urban form, natural conditions, jobs–housing structure, and service infrastructures. We combine cross-validated recursive feature elimination (RFE-CV) with multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) to construct two model specifications: a 7-variable parsimonious subset and a 14-variable highest-performing subset. This dual-subset design allows us to distinguish core structural drivers from more context-dependent spatial mechanisms. The results reveal three mechanisms. First, ecological adaptation reflects the scale-dependent enabling and constraining effects of infrastructure and natural-foundation variables. Second, structural coordination shows that mature cores may experience crowding-related suppression when functional and institutional resources become spatially mismatched. Third, boundary activation indicates that transport, public-service, and leisure-related facilities can activate peripheral and cross-jurisdictional interface zones when supported by network connectivity and institutional coordination. By coupling variable-specific bandwidths with local coefficients, this study advances the analysis of spatial heterogeneity and provides evidence for differentiated, innovation-oriented urban regeneration. Full article

This study investigates the key drivers and barriers influencing the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in urban freight logistics, using Lithuania as a case study. An integrated methodological framework combining Delphi, Fuzzy logic, DEMATEL, and System Dynamics is applied to identify critical factors and analyse their interdependencies. Four main drivers are identified: infrastructure, acquisition costs, technological development, and policy measures. Expert evaluations are transformed into fuzzy values to quantify factor importance, which are then incorporated into a dynamic simulation model to assess EV adoption and CO₂ emission trends. In addition to baseline scenarios, extreme scenario analysis is conducted to evaluate system sensitivity to economic, technological, and policy changes. The results reveal strong nonlinear relationships between factors and highlight the importance of their balanced development. The findings suggest that rapid EV adoption in urban logistics requires a coordinated approach integrating infrastructure expansion, financial incentives, technological progress, and policy support. The study provides practical insights for policymakers and logistics companies aiming to accelerate sustainable urban transport transitions. Full article

Urban areas are increasingly affected by geological and climate-driven processes that influence their safety, functionality, and long-term resilience. Conventional sustainability indicators mainly focus on anthropogenic impacts on the environment, while the role of subsurface conditions and physical processes shaping urban vulnerability remains underrepresented. To address this gap, the Urban Geo-climate Footprint (UGF) introduced an inverse perspective, assessing how geological and climatic factors exert pressure on urban systems. The methodology is based on the classification of geological effects into five drivers: Geology, Deep Geological Processes, Surface Processes, Exogenous and Climatic Processes, and Subsurface Anthropogenic Pressure. These drivers, within the proposed framework, are articulated into 22 parameters evaluated using public datasets and expert judgment. These parameters are combined into a synthetic, standardised, reproducible and comparable index, the UGF Score Index (UGF-SI), ranging from 0 to >500 which enables direct comparison across cities and contexts. The application to 21 Italian cities highlights distinct spatial patterns, dominant drivers, and groups of cities facing similar geo-climatic challenges. The UGF framework constitutes a significant advancement in urban geoscience, supporting urban planning, risk awareness, and climate adaptation strategies by enhancing the understanding of subsurface-related pressures and promoting informed decision making. Full article

Accessibility in bus-based public transport is essential for inclusive and sustainable urban mobility, yet bus stops and stations are often overlooked compared with vehicle modernization and network planning. This study presents a bibliometric and thematic review of research (2020–2026) on accessibility in bus stop and station infrastructure across European cities. Literature indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection was analyzed using thematic synthesis supported by bibliometric network analysis. A total of 685 publications were examined to identify research trends, barriers, regional differences, assessment methods, and planning implications. The findings show that accessibility is a multidimensional concept shaped by physical design, information systems, user experience, first- and last-mile connectivity, and governance capacity. Persistent barriers include poor boarding interfaces, inadequate maintenance, weak wayfinding, safety concerns, and uneven implementation of accessibility standards. The reviewed studies suggest that evidence of stronger integration and higher user satisfaction is more frequently reported in Northern and some Western European contexts, whereas rural and smaller cities often face lower service accessibility. Emerging topics include real-time passenger information, crowding management, electric buses, and smart mobility technologies. The review concludes that bus stops and stations should be treated as strategic mobility assets. Integrated planning, participatory design, and territorially differentiated policy support are essential to advance inclusive bus-based public transport across Europe. Full article

Urban flood detection requires visual examples of flooded streets and alleys, but such event-state images are difficult to collect at scale. This study examines whether sparse real-image training sets can be strengthened using text-prompt-only AI-generated virtual imagery for ground-level flood detection in flood-prone urban areas. Building on AlleyFloodNet, the generated images were used only as condition-specific training augmentation, while validation and testing were conducted exclusively on real images. Across eight ImageNet-pretrained architectures and three random seeds, the results show that virtual imagery is not a substitute for real flood observations. When virtual images dominated the training set, performance declined. However, when a sufficient real-image anchor was available, virtual augmentation improved the highest observed fixed-test performance. The strongest mixed-condition result was obtained by EfficientNet-B2 under Real30_Aug70, reaching 91.00% accuracy, 89.48% flooded-class recall, and 90.79% macro-F1. These findings suggest that prompt-only virtual imagery can help mitigate real-image scarcity in selected training conditions, but its benefit depends on the real-to-virtual composition and model architecture. Full article

To validate the validity of a driving simulation platform, this study constructs a dual dataset using field data and driving simulation experiments on an urban arterial road. Comprehensive validation is conducted from both subjective perception and objective quantification perspectives. Subjectively, questionnaires assessed simulation fidelity, driving workload, and physiological symptoms. Objectively, five core car-following indicators (speed, acceleration, relative speed, headway, and time headway) were analyzed using dynamic time warping and statistical methods. The results demonstrate that the simulated scenarios exhibit high subjective fidelity, reasonable task loads, and controllable motion sickness risks. Objectively, dynamic time warping confirms strong temporal pattern similarity, with waveform consistency proportions across core indicators ranging from 91.67% to 100.0%. Macroscopically, satisfactory relative aggregate similarity is demonstrated, with relative difference between means consistently constrained within a 20% threshold. However, strict absolute behavioral validity is unsupported due to significant statistical differences in sequence means, establishing clear boundary constraints for trend replication. It is speculated that systematic biases are primarily related to differences in risk perception within virtual environments. Full article

Innovation districts have emerged as a prominent urban strategy to catalyse knowledge-based development and economic growth. Yet their contribution to sustainability and an understanding of what they entail beyond economic growth remains underexplored. This paper proposes a conceptual framework rooted in urban monitoring to identify and synthesise the contributions of innovation districts (or similar development strategies) into the city’s sustainable development. Specifically, it targets the initial processes of intention and objective setting, where different and conflicting policies overlap to define definite city-level objectives. Using Oslo as a single embedded case study, the paper further proposes a methodology for identifying and localising urban sustainability indicators (USIs) based on the city’s three innovation districts: Oslo Science City, Hovinbyen Circular Oslo, and Punkt Oslo. This methodology integrates global frameworks, such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Global Urban Monitoring Framework, with local priorities and stakeholder perspectives through a combined top-down and bottom-up approach. The process resulted in a set of 40 indicators across five sustainability domains—social, environmental, economic, cultural, and governance—revealing governance as a critical enabler for sustainable implementation. While most indicators stem from theoretical conceptions of innovation districts, governance indicators rather reflect local experiences and institutional dynamics. Full article

Urban heat intensification is an increasing concern in rapidly urbanizing arid cities, where extreme climatic conditions intersect with expansive urban growth. This study examines the spatiotemporal dynamics of urban thermal patterns in the Doha metropolitan region, Qatar, by integrating multi-season remote sensing with urban morphological analysis. Seasonal composites of land surface temperature (LST), Urban Heat Island (UHI) intensity, and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) were derived from Landsat 8–9 Collection 2 Level-2 imagery across eight seasons from Spring 2024 to Winter 2026. Urban form was characterized using Local Climate Zones (LCZs) and quantified through class-level landscape metrics, i.e., Largest Patch Index (LPI), Number of Patches (NP), and CLUMPY. The results showed a pronounced seasonal variability, with LST ranging from approximately 12.5 °C in winter to 61.3 °C in summer, and intra-urban UHI exceeding 10 °C during peak conditions. The bare soil/sand, with relative coverage of 52.84% and LPI of 25.45%, and the large low-rise, with relative coverage of 38.60% and LPI of 14.70%, typologies dominate the landscape, forming highly aggregated spatial structures, while vegetation cover remained minimal. Weak negative relationships between NDVI and thermal indicators revealed that vegetation alone had limited explanatory power. In contrast, LCZ-based analysis revealed a better thermal differentiation across urban typologies, with compact forms associated with higher thermal intensities. These findings highlight the dominant role of urban morphology and spatial configuration in shaping thermal patterns and support the need for morphology-sensitive planning strategies in arid urban environments. Full article

Sustainability of urban logistics or last-mile logistics (LML) has been extensively studied from the perspective of experts and professionals whose objectives and interests have been closely linked to their organisations. For this reason, the conclusions drawn from these studies have had an inherent bias that is difficult to overlook. The aim of this study is to identify perceived research priorities in sustainable urban logistics through an innovative approach based on weightings established by a ‘university community’. To carry out this study, a hybrid multi-criteria model is proposed, used to weight twelve criteria employed to compare fourteen categories grouping the lines of research in LML. The main contributions of this work have therefore been: to provide an atypical perspective grounded in the ‘university community’, and to design a hybrid multi-criteria model capable of efficiently forecasting which perceived research priorities will be most relevant in the future in LML. The most significant conclusions of this study highlight the strong value that the ‘university community’ assigns to research areas in LML focused on collaborative workstreams among stakeholders. This is understood as a systemic and strategic approach grounded in the implementation of urban logistics infrastructures that enhance process efficiency through regulatory and collaborative mechanisms aimed at increasing the sustainability of LML. Full article

The 15 min city offers a framework for sustainable urban environments. However, its application in historic centres faces challenges such as tourist pressure and heritage fragility. This paper explores cultural heritage as a strategic resource for urban resilience within the European ENACT-15 mC project. The methodology applies four lines of research—socio-economic diagnosis, educational innovation, participatory action research, and digital tool implementation—to the historic centre of Valencia. The study involved 42 students from architecture, commerce and tourism programmes in documenting a selected sample of historic commercial establishments protected by the Special Protection Plan of Ciutat Vella (PEP 2020), while community workshops recruited 30 stakeholders representing local associations, businesses and heritage-related actors to analyse urban conflicts and functional transformation. Results show that integrating educational and participatory approaches facilitates the generation of situated knowledge and social co-responsibility. The technical documentation and diagnostic reports produced serve as empirical evidence of how heritage can be monitored and protected in urban settings under tension. The study concludes that cultural heritage provides a vital social infrastructure for building resilient communities. By bridging the gap between academic research and local agency through digital and participatory mapping, this integrated model provides adaptive intervention strategies that balance tourism demands with the preservation of everyday local life and the proximity economy in heritage-rich environments. Full article

Despite occupying essential roles in healthcare, warehouses, and manufacturing, night shift workers remain underserved by transportation systems designed around standard daytime schedules. Using the Baltimore Metropolitan Area as a case study, this study provides an in-depth examination of night shift workers’ travel behavior and commute wellbeing. Survey data on commute choices, commute durations, travel costs, and perceived perspectives were collected from workers employed in night shift-based occupations. Structural equation modeling was then used to examine the relationships between travel behavior and perceived inconvenience by constructing a latent variable of commute burden. The results show that longer commute times and reliance on public transit are significant indicators of commute burden among this population. To further investigate why commute burden is associated with public transit, we conducted spatial visualizations and K-means clustering based on origin-destination nighttime trips derived from anonymized mobile phone data. Land use maps and nighttime public transit networks were referenced to identify travel flows and mobility patterns between high-flow zones, revealing the need to expand nighttime transit services in those areas. These findings reflect limited transit accessibility affecting night shift workers and offer actionable insights for nighttime transit planning and public service improvements in similar metropolitan contexts. Full article