The Relationship Between Landscape Sustainability and Urban Ecology
A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Land Planning and Landscape Architecture".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2025 | Viewed by 753
Special Issue Editors
Interests: urban and regional planning; landscape planning; ecological planning; ecosystem services evaluation; geospatial data analysis; geodatabases and GIS; remote sensing; urban digital twins
Interests: urban and regional planning; urban design; natural park planning; protected areas; cultural ecosystem services; ecological network
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The accelerated pace of urbanisation and the advent of the global pandemic have elevated the concepts of landscape sustainability and urban ecology to the fore of environmental and urban and regional planning practices. The expansion of urban areas presents an array of mounting challenges to the natural environment, both within the city limits and in the surrounding peri-urban regions. The two fields share the objective of creating resilient and sustainable urban environments, but they adopt different approaches to achieve this goal. The concept of landscape sustainability is concerned with the long-term health and functionality of landscapes, with the objective of ensuring that they are able to support both human and ecological needs. The key principles that underpin this concept include the maintenance of biodiversity, the promotion of ecosystem services, and the enhancement of resilience to environmental changes and disturbances. The objective of sustainable landscapes is to provide multifunctional benefits, including clean air and water, recreational spaces, and habitats for wildlife. The field of urban ecology concerns the interactions between living organisms and their urban environments. It integrates ecological principles with urban and regional planning in order to understand the impact of urbanisation processes on ecosystems and to design cities in a way that supports ecological networks. It is imperative that sustainable landscapes are established in order to maintain ecological balance within urban areas. By incorporating ecological principles into landscape design, urban planners can create environments that support both human well-being and biodiversity. For example, green infrastructure such as parks, green roofs, and urban forests can enhance urban resilience by providing ecosystem services like stormwater management, temperature regulation, and habitat connectivity.
The goal of this Special Issue is to collect papers (original research articles and review papers) that provide insights into the complex interrelationship between landscape sustainability and urban ecology, with a specific emphasis being placed on resilience and the emerging challenges confronting urban planners. The objective is to collate pioneering research and pragmatic applications that illustrate how sustainable landscape practices and urban ecological principles can be integrated to create resilient, sustainable urban environments. The objective of this Special Issue is to provide insights and solutions that can inform policy, planning, and design strategies in urban contexts by addressing the aforementioned themes.
This Special Issue will welcome manuscripts that link (but are not limited to) the following themes:
- Urban Landscape Sustainability and Resilience: in terms of the integration of ecological principles with urban planning and design to enhance urban resilience, biodiversity, urban ecological networks, and multi-functionality.
- Green Infrastructures, Protected Areas, and Ecosystem Services: the role of green spaces, green roofs, and urban forests in enhancing urban sustainability.
- Socio-Ecological Interactions: the impact of sustainable landscapes on human well-being and community.
- Sustainability and Smartness of Cities and Landscapes: Geoinformation, remote sensing methods and techniques, spatial data infrastructures, and digital twins.
We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.
Dr. Luigi La Riccia
Prof. Dr. Angioletta Voghera
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
- landscape sustainability
- urban ecology and biodiversity
- urban and regional planning
- resilience
- smart cities and communities
- green infrastructures
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