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Land
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Urban Planning Drives 3D City Development in Time and Space
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Urban Planning Drives 3D City Development in Time and Space

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Land Planning and Landscape Architecture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 2 October 2026 | Viewed by 5176

Editors

Prof. Dr. Miro Govedarica

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Guest Editor
Department of Computing and Control Engineering, Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
Interests: geoinformatics; spatial databases; GeoAI; remote sensing; data analytics; big data; water resources monitoring
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Miodrag Roić

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Geodesy, University of Zagreb, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Interests: cadastre; land administration; land governance; surveying; geoinformatics; land management; open data infrastructures; benchmarking
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Aleksandra Radulović

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
Interests: GIS; data modelling; geoinformatics; spatial databases; urban and regional data management; cadastre; 3D cadastre; domain model; cadastral system; land use component; applications of giscience for land administration; land administration

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Urban development is increasingly shaped by the interplay between urban planning, real estate cadastre, and 3D city modelling. The rise of digital twin technologies and geospatial analysis has introduced new perspectives on how cities grow and transform. The expansion of cities not only transforms their horizontal footprint but also their vertical and spatial dimensions over time. As digital tools like 3D cadastral systems, GIS, and digital twins gain prominence, a more integrated approach is needed to manage urban growth, optimize land use, and ensure sustainable city development. This Special Issue aims at exploring the critical role of urban planning in shaping 3D city development over time, investigating how planning interventions influence vertical expansion, spatial efficiency, and sustainable urban transformation.

The goal of this Special Issue is to collect papers (original research articles and reviews) that provide insights into the dynamic relationship between urban planning, real estate cadastre, and 3D city development over time and space.

For this Special Issue, we welcome manuscripts that link the following themes:

  • The role of urban planning policies in shaping 3D city structures;
  • Spatial and temporal modelling of city evolution;
  • Digital twins, GIS, and remote sensing applications for urban planning;
  • Three-dimensional cadastral systems and property management in urban environments;
  • Machine learning and GeoAI applications in urban planning;
  • Geosensor networks, LIDAR, and UAV in urban planning.

We look forward to receiving your contributions to this exciting field.

Prof. Dr. Miro Govedarica
Prof. Dr. Miodrag Roić
Dr. Aleksandra Radulović
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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-anonymized 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 planning
  • three-dimensional city development
  • three-dimensional cadastral systems
  • spatiotemporal analysis
  • land use management
  • digital twin cities
  • GIS

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

31 pages, 4036 KB  
Article
Identifying Buildings Without Permits in Coastal Montenegro Using Deep Learning and Land Administration Modeling
by Aleksandra Radulović, Dubravka Sladić, Miro Govedarica, Arsenije Govedarica and Dušan Raičević
Land 2026, 15(7), 1276; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15071276 - 16 Jul 2026
Viewed by 689
Abstract
In Montenegro, the registration of buildings constructed without permits largely depends on voluntary reporting by property owners, leading to incomplete and predominantly non-spatial records. Rapid urbanization, particularly in coastal areas, has increased the discrepancy between reported and unreported buildings without permits, challenging the [...] Read more.
In Montenegro, the registration of buildings constructed without permits largely depends on voluntary reporting by property owners, leading to incomplete and predominantly non-spatial records. Rapid urbanization, particularly in coastal areas, has increased the discrepancy between reported and unreported buildings without permits, challenging the effectiveness of existing land administration and cadastral systems. This study develops and evaluates an integrated geospatial framework for identifying unreported buildings without permits and incorporating them systematically into land administration workflows. The approach combines the analysis of high-resolution satellite and orthophoto imagery with the machine learning-based extraction of building structures (semantic and instance segmentation), which are then linked to existing cadastral and administrative records. The framework enables the identification of buildings that are unreported, previously reported cases, and complex situations requiring further verification, providing a basis for targeted administrative inspection. Additionally, the study proposes extending the current LADM (land administration domain model) country profile for Montenegro to accommodate automatically detected structures, their legal status, and associated data reliability. The results suggest that combining geospatial analysis with enhanced administrative modeling can support a more comprehensive, transparent, and data-driven management of buildings without construction permits, particularly in densely urbanized coastal regions. This approach demonstrates a practical pathway for improving the monitoring and documentation of unreported buildings in contexts where conventional reporting is incomplete or inconsistent. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Planning Drives 3D City Development in Time and Space)
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24 pages, 3405 KB  
Article
The Influence of Three-Dimensional Urban Form on the Dynamics of Urban Thermal Patterns: A Case Study of Zagreb, Croatia
by Sanja Šamanović, Olga Bjelotomić Oršulić, Vlado Cetl and Andrija Krtalić
Land 2026, 15(5), 693; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15050693 - 22 Apr 2026
Viewed by 529
Abstract
This study analyses the influence of three-dimensional (3D) urban form on intra-urban thermal variability and its long-term evolution in Zagreb, Croatia. The research focuses on four residential districts (Špansko sjever, Dugave, Lanište, and Novi Jelkovec) representing different development periods. The central hypothesis is [...] Read more.
This study analyses the influence of three-dimensional (3D) urban form on intra-urban thermal variability and its long-term evolution in Zagreb, Croatia. The research focuses on four residential districts (Špansko sjever, Dugave, Lanište, and Novi Jelkovec) representing different development periods. The central hypothesis is that differences in the development period and urban compactness are associated with differences in summer thermal patterns, with more open spatial configurations generally exhibiting weaker thermal responses than more compact developments. The methodology integrates LiDAR-derived building morphology with a decade-long Landsat time series (2015–2024), including land surface temperature (LST), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and normalized difference built-up index (NDBI). The results indicate a consistent increase in summer LST across all analysed neighbourhoods, with warming rates ranging from approximately 2.00 to 2.83 °C per decade. Built-up intensity shows a positive association with temperature, while vegetation trends are generally weak. A multiple linear regression model explains 47% of the variance in LST (R2 = 0.47), with NDBI identified as a significant predictor (p < 0.01), whereas NDVI and volumetric building density are not statistically significant. Despite this, neighbourhoods with higher volumetric building density (up to ≈2.96 m3/m2) tend to exhibit stronger warming trends compared to lower-density areas (≈1.69 m3/m2), indicating the additional explanatory value of three-dimensional urban morphology. These findings support the concept of a volumetric expression of urban thermal processes, while highlighting that 3D urban morphology contributes to the interpretation of the long-term thermal patterns when considered alongside other factors. They also emphasize the importance of integrating 3D spatial metrics into climate-sensitive urban planning and mitigation strategies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Planning Drives 3D City Development in Time and Space)
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25 pages, 15399 KB  
Article
Development of Urban Digital Twins Using GIS and Game Engine Systems
by Anca Ene, Ana Cornelia Badea, Gheorghe Badea and Anca-Patricia Grădinaru
Land 2026, 15(2), 254; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15020254 - 2 Feb 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2779
Abstract
Urban Digital Twins (UDTs) represent a recent application of Digital Twins (DTs), with the objective of replicating cities and providing a framework for urban planning. The utilization of UDTs provides a structured approach for the modeling and analysis of urban environments, incorporating a [...] Read more.
Urban Digital Twins (UDTs) represent a recent application of Digital Twins (DTs), with the objective of replicating cities and providing a framework for urban planning. The utilization of UDTs provides a structured approach for the modeling and analysis of urban environments, incorporating a range of geospatial data presented in both two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) formats. This article details the process of processing, modeling, and integrating urban geospatial data into a Digital Twin. Two integrations for end-user platforms were demonstrated using a Geographic Information System (GIS) and an Unreal Engine (UE5) game platform. GIS-based dashboard systems provide professionals with the tools necessary to monitor, analyze, and create scenarios, thereby promoting collaboration between authorities and citizens. Game engines have the potential to play a pivotal role in the development of future UDTs by facilitating the creation of immersive experiences that aid users in comprehending their environment and promoting citizen engagement. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Planning Drives 3D City Development in Time and Space)
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