Urban and Rural Development Planning for Resilient Human Environments (Second Edition)

Dear Colleagues,

Resilient human environments reflect the need for both everyday quality of life as well as efficacy and accessibility in moments and periods of drastic change due to uncertainty. On a daily basis, environments allow the adaptation to social and natural changes, helping to increase the access to services as well as the velocity and effectiveness of adaptation to change and general living standards. Attention to universal design, green principles, recreation and accessibility services, social spaces, lifelong learning and socialization opportunities, housing adequate for different needs and environments, etc. can directly impact inclusiveness, energy efficiency, mobility, and standard of living prospects that can be more accessible to all (especially to vulnerable groups) and adapted to climate changes and energy crisis.

The environment also faces increasing natural and anthropogenic threats—climate change, extreme weather, flooding, landslides, desertification, earthquakes, wars, emergency migrations, etc.—as well as increasingly densely inhabited spaces. New technologies offer opportunities for prediction and monitoring, and new awareness and attitude towards uncertainties offer new opportunities for their management and spatial planning.

To make human environments more resilient, new tools for spatial management, spatial and sectorial planning, and design are needed to increase the general quality of life; develop improvement and adaptation strategies for changing environments; and to improve preparedness for uncertainty, response, and recovery.

The aim of this Special Issue is to provide an overview of new approaches to changing environments—conceptualization, tools, technologies, and methodologies—to answer the need of improving the quality of human environments as well as their potential to adapt to environmental changes (slow or fast). This is related to the aims of the journal:

• Landscapes, landscape design and landscape planning;
• Land–climate interactions, including climate–biosphere–biodiversity interactions;
• Urban contexts, urban–rural interactions and urban planning and development;
• Assessment and evaluation frameworks, indicators, indices, methods, tools and approaches (ecosystem services, multifunctionality and sustainability);
• Emerging technologies of data processing (deep learning/machine-based learning).

Suggested themes:

• Social, ecological and cultural aspects in the resilience of urban or rural environments;
• Climate adaptation in spatial planning, design, and construction;
• Uncertainty adaptation and management in spatial planning, building, and construction design for resilient human environments;
• Accessibility and health for resilient human urban and rural environments;
• Sustainability goals for resilient human environments;
• Landscape and buildings for resilient human environments;
• New technologies, strategies, and tools for resilient human environments.

For this Special Issue, we welcome the submission of both original research and review papers.

Dr. Iva Mrak
Dr. Giovanna Acampa
Dr. Maurizio Errigo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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