Urban Heat Island Effects in Global Cities: Balancing Rapid Urbanization, Land Surface Temperature Dynamics, and Sustainable Adaptation Strategies
A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Land–Climate Interactions".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2025 | Viewed by 26
Special Issue Editors
Interests: advanced remote sensing methodologies; machine-learning-based processing of satellite and aerial imagery; assessment of land use and land cover dynamics; analysis of land surface temperature and urban heat island effect
Interests: spaceborne and UAV remote sensing for Arctic studies; hyperspectral imaging and ML-driven image analysis; mapping and monitoring Arctic land cover; assessing climate-driven changes in vegetated, glaciated, and built terrains; transdisciplinary Arctic land-use management and science diplomacy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Urban Heat Islands significantly influence urban environments worldwide, leading to increased temperatures compared to surrounding rural areas. Rapid urbanization, accompanied by extensive landuse and landcover changes, exacerbates Urban Heat Islands, impacting public health, environmental quality, and urban sustainability. As global cities continue to expand, understanding the dynamics of Land Surface Temperature becomes crucial for urban planners, environmental scientists, and policymakers to develop effective strategies to mitigate negative effects and ensure sustainable urban development. This research area has become increasingly important due to climate change and its amplified impacts in densely populated urban regions.
This Special Issue aims to collect papers (original research articles and review papers) to give insights into the complex relationships between rapid urbanization, Land Surface Temperature dynamics, and sustainable adaptation strategies within urban settings. In line with the focus of the journal Land, this Special Issue emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches in urban planning, environmental science, remote sensing, geoinformatics, and policy formulation to support sustainable urban development and climate change adaptation.
This Special Issue will welcome manuscripts that link the following themes:
- Assessment and modelling of Urban Heat Island intensity using remote sensing and GIS techniques.
- Evaluations of land use and land cover change impacts on land surface temperature and urban microclimates.
- Sustainable urban design and planning strategies for mitigating Urban Heat Islands.
- Integration of community participation and policy frameworks in adapting to increased urban temperatures.
- Comparative case studies of Urban Heat Island across different geographic and climatic regions.
- Review papers synthesizing current methodologies and approaches for assessing and mitigating Urban Heat Islands.
We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.
Dr. Liliia Hebryn Baidy
Prof. Dr. Gareth Rees
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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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
- urban heat island
- land surface temperature
- urbanization
- urban microclimate
- land use/land cover change
- remote sensing
- geoinformatics
- GIS modeling
- sustainable adaptation strategies
- climate change adaptation
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