Reimagining Cities and Landscapes: AI, Sustainability, Exaptation and Inclusive Urban Futures
A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Urban Contexts and Urban-Rural Interactions".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 February 2026 | Viewed by 1368
Special Issue Editors
Interests: resilience; architectural exaptation; temporary appropriation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Cities and landscapes are undergoing profound transformations due to global challenges such as climate change, rapid urbanisation, and socio-technological shifts. This Special Issue, “Reimagining Cities and Landscapes: AI, Sustainability, Exaptation and Inclusive Urban Futures”, seeks contributions that critically explore how new technologies, adaptive strategies, and inclusive design approaches are reshaping the built environment.
We aim to advance dialogue at the intersection of architecture, urban planning, landscape design, artificial intelligence, sustainability science, and evolutionary theory. The concept of exaptation—the repurposing of existing structures and systems for new functions—is central to rethinking resilience, adaptability, and innovation in urban and ecological contexts.
This Special Issue encourages the submission of original research articles and review papers that investigate both theoretical and applied dimensions of reimagining urban and rural futures. We are particularly interested in interdisciplinary perspectives that examine the synergies between AI-driven design, ecological sustainability, socio-cultural integration, and adaptive reuse or transformation.
We welcome manuscripts addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:
- AI- and data-driven approaches to urban and landscape transformation;
- Theoretical frameworks and practical applications of architectural exaptation;
- Sustainability and ecological resilience in urban design;
- Inclusive and participatory design for equitable urban futures;
- Case studies on adaptive reuse, temporary appropriation, and functional shift;
- Socio-cultural and historical analyses of landscape and architectural transformation;
- Interdisciplinary methodologies bridging design, biology, technology, and planning.
We look forward to receiving your original research articles.
Prof. Dr. Alessandro Melis
Dr. Antonio Lara-Hernandez
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. 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
- architectural exaptation
- adaptive reuse
- urban resilience
- vacant spaces
- sustainable urbanism
- socio-ecological design
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