Integrated Assessment Methods for Small Urban Spaces Performance Under Climate Change

A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Climatology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 1

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Interests: architectural engineering; building performances; regenerative design; stone materials; architectural heritage renovation; building information modelling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Interests: building technology; sustainability energy efficiency; natural materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Climate change is radically transforming the way in which cities should be designed, managed and adapted. In this scenario, “Small Urban Spaces” can play an important role. These are small areas such as squares, courtyards, neighborhood parks, pedestrian streets and urban interstices. Despite their small size, these areas can be appropriately designed to improve local climate resilience while enhancing urban quality of life and even social cohesion.

IT tools that can provide reliable models of the performance of these spaces are currently available. These models can be used to assess environmental parameters under climatic stress conditions (heat waves, extreme precipitation, air pollution). However, the results are strongly influenced by the quality of the reference data. Furthermore, it is necessary to consider aspects that the digital model is not yet able to control effectively, especially with regard to more subjective and behavioral aspects. Thus, integrated methods that combine the following multidisciplinary approaches must be developed: urban planning, climatology, ecology, sociology, engineering and data science.

Key contents of the special issue

This Special Issue aims to collect scientific contributions that explore and develop Integrated Assessment Methods to analyze and improve the performance of small-scale urban spaces in the context of climate change.

The scope of this Special Issue includes, but is not limited to, the following topics.

  1. Climate models and microclimate simulations at the SUS scale, with reference to HUI analyses, CFD simulations and energy models to assess thermal comfort;
  2. Definition of multidimensional urban performance indicators based on environmental metrics (e.g., temperature, humidity, air quality), social indicators (e.g., accessibility, inclusiveness, perceived safety), economic indicators (e.g., property value, maintenance costs);
  3. Development of new digital tools or new applications for existing ones in all development sectors, such as GIS, IoT sensors, digital twin models, machine learning for predictive analysis and adaptive management;
  4. Participatory and co-design approaches involving local communities in evaluation and design, exploring and applying qualitative and quantitative methods to understand user perceptions;
  5. International case studies and best practices, with a focus on nature-based climate adaptation strategies (Nature-Based Solutions).

Scientific and practical importance

The Special Issue aims to promote a systemic and transdisciplinary approach to urban assessment in order to bridge the gap between academic research and design practice. These integrated methods could support the following:

  • Public decision-makers in resilient urban planning;
  • Designers and urban planners in defining targeted interventions;
  • Local communities in understanding and managing their environment.

Some of these topics have already been addressed on an urban scale but should be developed at a smaller scale, where the transition to implementation is easier due to the reduced size of the interventions. This could also provide practical feedback, which is the main limitation of academic research in architectural and urban design disciplines.

Dr. Marco Ferrero
Dr. Federica Rosso
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 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. Atmosphere is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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

  • small urban spaces
  • climate models and microclimate simulations
  • multidimensional urban performance indicators
  • participatory approaches to urban planning and design
  • machine learning for adaptive management

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Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
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