Advances in Modelling Vegetation and Forests in the Urban Environment: Local Climate and Air Quality

Dear Colleagues,

We invite original research articles relating to model representation of impacts of urban vegetation and forests on local climate and air quality. These contributions will include modelling approaches at micro- to meso-scale (e.g., Computational Fluid Dynamics models, Urban Canopy Models), with a focus on the parameterization of urban vegetation (including aerodynamic, deposition and thermal effects) and their impacts on air pollutant concentrations, surface energy balance, and air/surface temperatures. Experimental work from field and laboratory studies is also welcomed, especially in relation to the drag and turbulence effects of vegetation in the urban environment useful for parametrizations development, as well as provision of velocity, turbulence and concentration data for model evaluation purposes. We also invite review papers that may focus on current knowledge and future directions in the field. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• advances in urban vegetation and forests parameterizations in microscale and mesoscale models;

• experimental efforts and databases with a focus on the drag force representation exerted by different urban vegetation structures;

• effects of vegetation on flow and pollutant dispersion in complex areas;

• effects of urban vegetation in radiation exchange, surface energy balance, and air temperatures; use of vegetation barriers in site-specific contexts;

• development of functional relations between key parameters of vegetation, meteorology and city morphology which enhance the positive effects of vegetation;

• innovative strategies for alleviating poor ventilation, thermal discomfort, and air pollution in the urban environment.

Dr. Riccardo Buccolieri
Dr. Jose Luis Santiago
Dr. Scott Krayenhoff
Dr. Sang-Hyun Lee
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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests 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 2600 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.