Integrating Spatial Analysis and Regional Science to Guide Urban Planning

Currently, urban planning is assigned a crucial role in meeting a new and evolving combination of challenges, including climate change, increasing urbanization and globalization, and environmental degradation. Issues like urban sprawl, rural-to-urban interactions, climate resilience, and urban sustainability underline the need for innovative approaches on how to handle the environmental consequences of urban growth at a regional scale. Integrating spatial analysis methods into regional science perspectives is particularly important in order to manage the spatial complexity of urban development, and to better inform spatial planning decisions involving multiple interactions between different stakeholders.

The aim of this Special Issue is to explore the latest advances in the fields of spatial analysis, focused on integrated methodologies, strategies, and frameworks to guide planning decisions. To this end, the Special Issue encompasses innovative approaches linking the regional and urban planning dimensions from a spatial analysis perspective.