Urban Air Quality, Heat Islands and Public Health
A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Biometeorology and Bioclimatology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 2
Special Issue Editors
Interests: air quality modeling; atmospheric pollution; integrated assessment modeling tools; mitigation and planning; machine learning; air pollution health effects
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: air pollution and health; climate change and health; extreme weather and health; urban heat island and health; biometeorology; medical climatology
Interests: air quality; thermal comfort; heat exposure and health risks in climate change; air quality modeling and emission dynamics; particulate matter and cardiovascular health risks
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Urban environments face increasing challenges related to deteriorating air quality, the intensification of urban heat islands and their combined impacts on public health. Rising temperatures, pollution episodes and extreme events are further amplified by climate change and rapid urbanization. Understanding the interactions between air pollution, local climate zones, microclimate variability and health outcomes is therefore essential for designing effective mitigation and adaptation strategies.
This Special Issue aims to provide a comprehensive platform for recent advances, innovative methods and interdisciplinary perspectives addressing the nexus between urban air quality, thermal environments and population health. Contributions that explore mechanisms driving heat stress and pollution, assess exposure, vulnerability and discomfort hotspots and investigate health effects using approaches such as air pollution modelling, environmental epidemiology, remote sensing, citizen science, risk mapping and machine learning are welcome. The role of somatosensory temperature, climate comfort and urban resilience measures in reducing health risks is particularly encouraged.
By highlighting multidisciplinary research that integrates atmospheric sciences, urban climatology and health risk assessment, this Special Issue seeks to advance understanding of how urban planning and policy interventions can enhance sustainable, healthy and resilient cities. Authors are encouraged to contribute studies that generate evidence-based solutions, predictive models and practical tools supporting healthier urban environments under evolving climatic conditions. This platform will facilitate knowledge sharing among researchers, policymakers, urban planners and public health professionals to promote scientifically grounded strategies for addressing the intertwined challenges of urban air quality, heat islands and public health.
Dr. Hélder Relvas
Dr. Fatemeh Mayvaneh
Dr. Daphne Parliari
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
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
- urban air quality
- local climate zones
- urban heat islands
- heat-related health risk
- public health impacts
- climate comfort
- exposure assessment
- somatosensory temperature
- climate change
- discomfort hotspots
- urban resilience
- interaction between air pollution and weather conditions
- environmental epidemiology
- mitigation and adaptation strategies
- air pollution modelling
- citizen science
- remote sensing
- risk maps
- machine learning in urban health
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