Land Planning to Integrate Ecosystem Resilience and Human Well-Being
A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Land Planning and Landscape Architecture".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 April 2026 | Viewed by 64
Special Issue Editors
Interests: ecosystem ecology; ecopsychology; ecomedicine; ecosystem services; GIS; remote sensing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: ecosystem services; green infrastructure; biology education
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Land planning is a powerful governance tool for shaping the development of human settlements across a wide range of uses, including urban growth, agriculture, productive landscapes, rural livelihoods, and spaces dedicated to recreation and healthy lifestyles. However, these diverse land uses frequently compete with one another and can undermine the ecological integrity of the environment, disrupting the structure and functioning of ecosystems and their networks, as well as the landscape.
Effective land planning must therefore address complex, interdependent challenges: balancing competing land uses, preserving ecosystem services, and promoting a socially just and ecologically respectful development. This is further complicated by limited availability of localized data, a lack of dissemination of best practices and case studies (both successful and unsuccessful), and poor coordination and communication across disciplines. This Special Issue seeks original research and review papers that explore how land planning influences both ecosystem resilience and human well-being. We are especially interested in contributions that focus on the planning, design, and management of landscapes and land-use systems for aesthetic, recreational, restorative, and even therapeutic purposes.
Potential topics include the following:
- Integrating ecosystem services into land-use and spatial planning;
- Green and blue infrastructure design for resilience and health;
- Nature-based solutions for climate adaptation and social well-being;
- Interdisciplinary and participatory approaches in land planning;
- Case studies from Europe and beyond on multi-functional land use;
- Digital tools and geospatial methods for land planning;
- Therapeutic landscapes and health-oriented land design.
The goal of this Special Issue is to provide insight into innovative approaches to land planning that can harmonize ecological sustainability with human needs, especially within the evolving European context. The SI is also willing to accept “lessons learned” and reports on negative interactions or unsuccessful case studies as valuable contributions to the knowledge in the field.
This Special Issue will welcome manuscripts that link the following themes:
- Land use/land cover changes and influences on human well-being;
- Reports on the interactions between land use, landscape structure, and human well-being;
- Land planning for human health and well-being;
- Urban planning and development;
- Insights from ecopsychological and ecomedicine linked to land structure and development.
We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.
Dr. Alice Stocco
Dr. Mita Drius
Dr. Silvia Pulina
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. Land 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.
Keywords
- land planning
- land use management
- urban planning
- green and blue spaces
- green infrastructures
- human well-being
- sustainable land use
- landscape management
- landscape design
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