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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: closed (5 April 2024) | Viewed by 47635

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Prof. Dr. Lorenzo Ros-McDonnell

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Guest Editor

Industrial Engineering Research Group, Polytechnic University of Cartagena, 30202 Cartagena, Spain
Interests: urban sustainability; urban mobility; urban logistics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Nir Y. Krakauer

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Guest Editor

Department of Civil Engineering, City College of New York, New York, NY 10031, USA
Interests: earth's water and carbon cycles; effects of global warming and other human impacts
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The concept of resilience is gaining increasing attention in various fields related to cities and climate change. Although there is some disagreement among different sources on defining and measuring resilience, there is broad consensus that:

Cities must be resilient to a wide range of shocks and stresses in the face of climate change; and
Efforts to foster resilience to climate change must be coupled with efforts to promote urban development and sustainability.

Emerging issues for future studies should highlight some of the challenges associated with the practical application of resilience approaches. These challenges include addressing the equity issues associated with uneven patterns of resilience both within and between cities, assessing the costs of implementing resilience strategies, and identifying options for harnessing the potential for innovation in cities as a means of fostering resilience and sustainability.

Urban sustainability specifies that efforts in this new framework must respond to the mobility of citizens, individually and collectively, within and between cities, as well as the needs for the movement of goods; it will require, among other things, serious changes in the business models: vehicle autonomy, crowdsourced logistics, and urban micro-consolidation centers. In many urban models, crowdsourcing jobs are already common, giving uncertainty in the available workforce and their behavior.

Papers focused on defining and measuring urban resilience and climate change;
Papers focused on urban sustainability and climate change;
Urban use of resources across to urban resilience and sustainability;
Urban citizen movement and urban resilience and sustainability;
Urban freight movement and urban resilience and sustainability;
Urban commons, community organizations and the “third sector” as factors in “smart city” concepts (e.g., for demand management) and resilience.

Prof. Dr. Lorenzo Ros-McDonnell
Dr. Nir Y. Krakauer
Guest Editors

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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 resilience
urban sustainability
climate change
urban use of resources (water, electricity, etc.)
urban citizens and freight movements
responsive government and resilience

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Related Special Issue

Urban Resilience and Urban Sustainability under Climate Change (Second Edition) in Land (1 article)

Published Papers (12 papers)

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Research

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19 pages, 6816 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exploring the Differentiated Impact of Urban Spatial Form on Carbon Emissions: Evidence from Chinese Cities

by Xiaoyue Zeng, Deliang Fan, Yunfei Zheng and Shijie Li

Land 2024, 13(6), 874; https://doi.org/10.3390/land13060874 - 18 Jun 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1922

Abstract

The role of spatial factors in reducing carbon emissions has been receiving increasing attention from researchers; however, these impacts may involve spatial heterogeneity. In this study, 337 prefecture-level cities in China were taken as the research object. Based on national-level urban data, the global impact of urban spatial form on carbon emissions was then investigated using ordinary least squares regression, the spatial error model, and the spatial lag model. The local effects of urban spatial form on carbon emissions in different cities were then investigated using geographically weighted regression. The findings are as follows. Overall, the larger the urban built-up area and the more fragmented and decentralized the urban land use, the greater the carbon emissions. Conversely, the more centralized the urban center of a city, the lower its carbon emissions. Locally, for some Chinese cities, the total area, landscape shape index, and mean Euclidean nearest-neighbor distance were found to have significant positive effects on carbon emissions, while the largest-patch index had a significant negative impact. For all Chinese cities, the patch density was found to have no significant effect on carbon emissions. In 29% of the cities in which the landscape division index was found to significantly affect carbon emissions, this effect was positive, while it was negative in the remaining 71%. The policy implications emerging from this study lie in the need for decision-makers and urban planners to guide the shaping of low-carbon urban spatial forms. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Resilience and Urban Sustainability under Climate Change)

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24 pages, 7195 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spatial-Temporal Assessment of Urban Resilience to Disasters: A Case Study in Chengdu, China

by Yang Wei, Tetsuo Kidokoro, Fumihiko Seta and Bo Shu

Land 2024, 13(4), 506; https://doi.org/10.3390/land13040506 - 12 Apr 2024

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2018

Abstract

Urban areas with an imbalanced vulnerability to disasters have garnered attention. Building an urban resilience index helps to develop a progressively favored instrument for tracking progress toward disaster-resilient cities. However, there remains a lack of empirical studies on measuring urban resilience, with limited focus on the spatial-temporal characteristics of urban resilience to disasters, particularly relevant in developing nations like China. Thus, a refined urban resilience index to disasters based on the subcomponents of infrastructure, environment, socio-economy, and institution is suggested in this study. This index-based assessment framework is applied and validated to measure the spatial-temporal resilience using a real-world case study in Chengdu, China. The main findings of this study indicate that: (1) the overall urban resilience of Chengdu has been growing toward better conditions, with infrastructural resilience accounting for the majority of this growth. (2) The distribution of urban resilience exhibits a regional disparity and a spatially polarized pattern. (3) The agglomeration characteristics of urban resilience are significant. (4) There is a clear regional mismatch in the distribution of urban resilience to disaster risk. The validated model offers a comprehensive and replicable approach for urban resilience assessment and planning, especially for disaster-frequent regions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Resilience and Urban Sustainability under Climate Change)

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22 pages, 1839 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Did Urban Resilience Improve during 2005–2021? Evidence from 31 Chinese Provinces

by Tingting Yang and Lin Wang

Land 2024, 13(3), 397; https://doi.org/10.3390/land13030397 - 21 Mar 2024

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1503

Abstract

In the context of climate change, various natural disasters and extreme weather events are occurring with increasing frequency. In addition, large-scale urbanization in China poses serious challenges to disaster resilience. The convergence of climate change and large-scale urbanization has made the enhancement of urban resilience (UR) an important guideline for current urban development. This study analyzes the UR of 31 provinces in China during 2005–2021 through the entropy method. A UR evaluation index system is constructed from the perspective of population resilience, social resilience, economic resilience, safeguarding facility resilience, and ecological resilience. The results demonstrate the following: (1) The overall performance of UR in China is relatively low, with an average value of 0.2390. (2) Chinese provinces significantly differ in UR levels, with Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Fujian being the top performers and Guangxi, Yunnan, Xinjiang, Gansu, and Tibet being the bottom. (3) From 2005 to 2021, the average UR value of the 31 Chinese provinces significantly improved. (4) Generally, the eastern, middle, and western regions exhibit relatively high, medium, and low average UR values, respectively. These research findings provide valuable references for Chinese policymakers to adopt measures for promoting UR enhancement and urban safety. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Resilience and Urban Sustainability under Climate Change)

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22 pages, 1786 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Spatial and Temporal Evolution Pattern and Influencing Factors of Urban Human Settlement Resilience in Three Provinces of Northeast China

by Jianjun Liu, Xueming Li, He Liu and Yishan Song

Land 2023, 12(12), 2161; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12122161 - 13 Dec 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1674

Abstract

It is widely recognized that urban resilience is one of the core goals of urban development. As an important part of a city, the resilience level of urban human settlements directly affects the development trend of urban resilience. However, at present, research results on the resilience of urban human settlements are very rare, are mainly concentrated in the central region of China, and rarely take into account the economically backward northeastern region. Therefore, in order to better improve the anti-risk ability of the urban human settlement environment system in three provinces of Northeast China, fully implement the strategic goal of “Comprehensive Revitalization of Northeast China”, and achieve high-quality urban development, this paper focuses on 34 prefecture-level cities in three provinces of Northeast China and proposes an urban human settlement resilience evaluation system with 36 indicators in five dimensions, namely, the natural system, human system, housing system, supporting system, and social system. Using the entropy weight method, the Dagum Gini coefficient, and a geographical probe model, the changes in the resilience level of each city from 2005 to 2020 were measured, and the urban living environment was assessed in terms of the adaptability and resilience of the development level in each subsystem based on the temporal and spatial evolution law and its influencing factors. The following conclusions were drawn: (1) The development level of urban human settlement resilience in the three provinces in Northeast China showed an N-shaped development trend from 2005 to 2020, but the regional differences were significant, and the overall spatial pattern was “high in the south and low in the north”. (2) In terms of the overall difference, the overall difference in urban human settlement resilience in the three northeastern provinces of China was small: the inter-regional difference was the main source of the difference, and the intra-regional difference was the secondary source. The regional differences were in the order of Heilongjiang Province > Liaoning Province > Jilin Province, indicating that Jilin Province had the smallest difference and that the resilience level of urban human settlements does not show a balanced development trend. In terms of the average Gini coefficient between regions, the order of difference was Liaoning Province–Heilongjiang Province > Jilin Province–Liaoning Province > Jilin Province–Heilongjiang Province, indicating that the difference between Liaoning Province and Heilongjiang Province was the most significant. (3) The “natural system”, “human system”, “living system”, “supporting system”, and “social system” had significant spatial and temporal heterogeneity and significantly affected the resilience level of urban human settlements in the three provinces in Northeast China. Among them, the “social system” has always been the main factor affecting the resilience level of urban human settlements. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Resilience and Urban Sustainability under Climate Change)

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15 pages, 1477 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Comparative Resilience Evaluation—Case Study for Six Cities in China, Europe, and the Americas

by Bruno Oliveira and Brian D. Fath

Land 2023, 12(6), 1182; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12061182 - 3 Jun 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2716

Abstract

The historical development of the urban realm has brought marvelous benefits to humankind, which has profited from the infrastructure, services, and social networks provided by cities. Nonetheless, considering current and future risks, understanding how cities can absorb impacts and reorganize their structure while keeping their identities is fundamental and timely. In other words, understanding how to promote resilience is crucial. This study developed a comparative urban resilience index (CURI) formed by 29 indicators and applied it to case studies in Europe, China, and the Americas (Malmö, Vienna, Beijing, Shanghai, Baltimore, and São Paulo). An innovative identity dimension was built to embrace the cultural traits of studied cities. Results point to a systemic property of CURI when comparing cities in both timeframes (2000 and 2020). In addition, two groups were formed: Malmö, Beijing, and Baltimore increased their resilience due to higher performance in at least two dimensions; Shanghai, Vienna, and São Paulo decreased their resilience due to lower performance in at least three dimensions. Ranking the data in terms of the benchmark promoted a quick understanding of which city is the “best in class” for each dimension, creating a clear way forward for other cities to follow. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Resilience and Urban Sustainability under Climate Change)

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25 pages, 1306 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Comparative Analysis of Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment Systems from the USA (LEED–ND), Germany (DGNB–UD), and India (GRIHA–LD)

by Swati Bahale and Thorsten Schuetze

Land 2023, 12(5), 1002; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12051002 - 3 May 2023

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3436

Abstract

Neighborhood sustainability assessment systems support the planning of sustainable and resilient cities. This research analyses, compares, and evaluates three neighborhood sustainability assessment systems (NSA) of (i) the German Sustainable Building Council for Urban Districts (DGNB–UD), (ii) the USA Leadership in energy and environmental design for Neighborhood Development (LEED–ND), and (iii) the Indian Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment for Large Developments (GRIHA–LD). The theoretical background, certification types, process, and evaluation methods of the three NSAs are discussed. The qualitative and quantitative comparative analysis and evaluation methods of the NSAs included identifying and assessing ten weighted essential urban sustainability themes. Indicators under each theme were identified and compared in the NSAs. The comparison showed the importance of particular themes based on assigned weights. LEED–ND focuses on “transportation” and “site planning”, while DGNB–UD addresses all dimensions of sustainability in a balanced manner. GRIHA–LD has limitations concerning social, economic, and governance concerns. The research results define differences and similarities in international neighborhood sustainability assessment and illustrate the quality and quantity differences of sustainability and resilience aspects addressed by the three existing NSA systems as a starting basis for the future improvement of existing and development of new land sustainability and resilience assessment systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Resilience and Urban Sustainability under Climate Change)

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16 pages, 695 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Connecting the Smart Village: A Switch towards Smart and Sustainable Rural-Urban Linkages in Spain

by Cristina García Fernández and Daniël Peek

Land 2023, 12(4), 822; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12040822 - 4 Apr 2023

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 4431

Abstract

This research focuses on the dimensions of the Smart Village concept to understand to what extent smart development in the countryside could contribute to reducing disparities between rural and urban realities. Population imbalances and intensifying climate impacts are prime challenges for rural areas, which also need to counter diminishing infrastructure and the lack of digital competencies to enhance their attractiveness. Cities, in turn, face their own set of challenges, such as contamination, natural resources exploitation, and high population densities. Local governments have been embracing the Smart City approach to accomplish sustainable development, which might also benefit the revitalization of rural areas if conducted through a tailored regional approach. Enhanced connectivity between rural and urban realities through smartness is, therefore, becoming an important element for the shaping of adaptive, energy-efficient, and resilient communities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Resilience and Urban Sustainability under Climate Change)

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30 pages, 12880 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Towards Rural Resilience: Assessing Future Spatial Urban Expansion and Population Growth in Quito as a Measure of Resilience

by René Ulloa-Espíndola, Jenny Cuyo-Cuyo and Elisa Lalama-Noboa

Land 2023, 12(2), 335; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12020335 - 26 Jan 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2402

Abstract

The urban and rural areas of the Metropolitan District of Quito (DMQ) have experienced an aggressive urbanization process in the last two decades, which in many cases has changed the most appropriate land use as determined by the local government. This problem is exacerbated by poor land use planning in a city that is growing in an uncontrolled and disorderly manner toward rural areas, as well as by the accelerated growth of rural localities. This article contributes and analyzes: (1) the geographic projections of the next 50 years for urban settlements and buildings in the rural areas of the DMQ using geographic artificial intelligence techniques (cellular automata); (2) a composite index of resilience (CIR) is constructed for each rural parish of the DMQ, adapted to the characteristics and conditions of the territory for which five dimensions with equal weights, the ecological footprint, and the size of each parish were considered; finally, (3) the change in CIR is determined based on the projections of spatial urban expansion and population growth for the next 50 years. According to the results, urbanization definitely has a negative impact on CIR, although it was found that in parishes with declining population growth CIR increases. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Resilience and Urban Sustainability under Climate Change)

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19 pages, 2961 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Objectivization of the Living Green Walls Concept as a Tool for Urban Greening (Case Study: LIKO-S a.s., Slavkov u Brna, Czech Republic)

by Adéla Brázdová and Jiří Kupka

Land 2023, 12(1), 229; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12010229 - 11 Jan 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2850

Abstract

The improvement of human well-being and the urban environment in cities and towns around the world will always be at the forefront of our interests. After all, the resilience of the urban environment to climate change is very important now. For example, the residents’ well-being can be improved in terms of environmental aspects. The opportunities for improving the urban environment are, of course, closely interconnected with other aspects, i.e., economic, technical and social. One of the ways to increase the resilience of cities is by progressive urban greening with small urban greenery elements. Exterior green walls are attractive, often used in urban areas, and are also the key issue of our paper. They represent at first sight (concerning their usual size) only a small instrument, but they can have a significant environmental, techno-economic and socio-cultural impact. Potential stakeholders may not be aware of this consequence. Our research focuses not only on a model exterior green wall (LIKO-S a.s., Czech Republic), where selected environmental aspects were measured for one year to confirm or deny the cooling effect of the exterior green wall on the surrounding environment, but also to objectify the issue of green walls. We also present proposals for tools that consider other aspects (technical-economic and socio-economic aspects): objectivization-decision scheme and guided interview for stakeholders’ motivation. These tools can serve future stakeholders in the pre-implementation phase of the intended exterior green wall. Objectivization of exterior green walls is the main goal of the present paper. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Resilience and Urban Sustainability under Climate Change)

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19 pages, 477 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Effect of Urban Resilience on Residents’ Subjective Happiness: Evidence from China

by Liping Liao, Minzhe Du and Jie Huang

Land 2022, 11(11), 1896; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11111896 - 25 Oct 2022

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2853

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the role of urban resilience in residents’ subjective happiness in China. Results show that the overall urban resilience is a critical factor in improving residents’ subjective happiness, and each sub-class resilience index of cities in the ecological, social, infrastructure, and economic aspects shows positive and significant correlations with residents’ subjective happiness. Heterogeneous results show that the effect of urban resilience is greater for residents with higher education or living in cities with larger population size. The mechanism results show that four possible channels are confirmed. The rise of urban resilience raises residents’ subjective happiness through increasing residents’ income or consumption, improving their health status, and raising their social trust or social integration. The main conclusion drawn from the empirical analysis is that raising urban resilience is an effective strategy to strengthen residents’ subjective happiness. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Resilience and Urban Sustainability under Climate Change)

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23 pages, 6306 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessing Urban Resilience from the Perspective of Scaling Law: Evidence from Chinese Cities

by Chenchen Shi, Naliang Guo, Xiaoping Zhu and Feng Wu

Land 2022, 11(10), 1803; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11101803 - 14 Oct 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2696

Abstract

Urban resilience, as an emerging research focus in urban studies, is the capability of an urban system to adapt to the uncertainties and disturbances faced by modern cities. Numerical characterization of an urban system’s resilience can be performed with urban resilience indicators. Moreover, as cities evolve with intensive socio-economic interactions, the performances of urban indicators are heavily dependent on the scale of these interactions; these relationships are conceptualized as urban scaling laws. Therefore, this study explores the scaling patterns of urban resilience, analyzing the scaling relationship between different resilience indicators and urban population size, as well as the spatial–temporal evolutions of the scaling patterns. The empirical case is based on 267 prefectural-level cities in China. The results show resilience indicators demonstrate scaling patterns on both spatial and temporal scales. Moreover, the scale-adjusted metropolitan indicator (SAMI) differs from the commonly used per capita indicator. Therefore, the scale needs to be considered when assessing urban resilience performance. Findings in this study indicate that moderate scale enhances resilience, enriching urban resilience theorization and urban scaling laws application. The empirical results in the case study also provide a reference for future urban resilience planning and management. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Resilience and Urban Sustainability under Climate Change)

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Review

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15 pages, 1156 KiB

Open AccessReview

From Garden City to 15-Minute City: A Historical Perspective and Critical Assessment

by Amir Reza Khavarian-Garmsir, Ayyoob Sharifi, Mohammad Hajian Hossein Abadi and Zahra Moradi

Land 2023, 12(2), 512; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12020512 - 20 Feb 2023

Cited by 38 | Viewed by 15346

Abstract

The 15-minute city concept was introduced as a post-COVID strategy to support more sustainable recovery from the pandemic and develop complete, climate-sensitive, and resilient neighborhoods. This review examines key neighborhood planning movements to identify the origins of the 15-minute city concept. These include the garden city, neighborhood unit plan, modernist urbanism, post-modern urbanism, and eco-urbanism, which have emerged since the late 19th century. The results of the study show that the concept of the 15-minute city has ten basic characteristics: proximity, density, diversity, mixed-use, modularity, adaptability, flexibility, human-scale design, connectivity, and digitalization. The concept has been successful in advancing theoretical debates on sustainable urbanism. However, some criticisms of past planning movements also apply to the 15-minute city. Similar to the neighborhood unit and modernist urbanism, the concept follows a philosophy of physical determinism, setting goals without specifying how or by what means they will be achieved. At this point, one can only speculate about the future of the concept. A more detailed study of the real-world applications of the concept is needed before one can thoroughly discuss its strengths and weaknesses. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Resilience and Urban Sustainability under Climate Change)

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