Urban Transitions and Dynamics: Cultural, Ecological, Digital and Degrowth (Second Edition)

Dear Colleagues,

During recent decades, climate change and biodiversity loss have been highlighted as major causes of the environmental crisis, impacting the health and wellbeing of citizens and highlighting the need to rethink current urban systems. With 74% of people in Europe living in urban areas, cities are experiencing rapid changes. One of the key challenges faced is how to co-create sustainable cities planned around people’s needs while reducing the environmental footprint of the means to achieve them and actively restoring and enhancing urban biodiversity and ecosystem services (i.e., pursuing a nature-positive agenda). At the same time, the current wave of technological innovation and the broad application of information and communication technologies are changing private and public services, industrial production, and individual behaviors. Cultural and digital transformations are changing social relations, working styles, mobility, and shopping patterns, with their effects being particularly felt on cities, which should also be taken as drivers of these changes. Ecological and digital transitions pose major challenges and opportunities for cities worldwide. Their performance depends on how different sectors and agents interact, both in the construction of a greener and technologically more advanced territory, and their contribution to building a fair society in an increasingly urban world. In particular, there is an urgent need to explore how digital innovations (sensors, data platforms, AI, IoT) can support nature-positive outcomes—through improved monitoring, adaptive management, and inclusive governance of green-blue infrastructure—rather than exacerbate ecological degradation.

Based on the proposed topic, the Special Issue will focus on a theoretical and empirical analysis of recent urban dynamics, transitions and its impact on citizens’ health and wellbeing. We encourage contributions that develop integrative and evidence-based approaches to urban sustainability—particularly those that link ecological restoration, green-blue infrastructure, and digital governance tools—and evaluations of policy and planning instruments that can scale these solutions in different regions of the world.

All themes addressing recent urban dynamics and experiences will be welcomed, namely those related to the following topics:

• Positive energy districts;
• The 15-minute city;
• Circular urban economies;
• Area-based initiatives for sustainable urban development;
• Degrowth actions;
• Cultural and digital projects for local development;
• Nature-positive smart cities;
• Nature-based solutions and urban biodiversity;

We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.

Dr. Pedro Chamusca
Dr. Patrícia Pereira
Dr. Alessio Russo
Dr. Thiago Mendes
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.

• sustainable urban development
• urban resilience
• urban dynamics
• degrowth theories
• circular economies
• 15-minute city
• urban governance
• urban art, culture and social movements
• nature-based solutions

• Urban Transitions and Dynamics: Cultural, Ecological, Digital and Degrowth in Land (10 articles)