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Land
Special Issues
Local and Regional Planning for Sustainable Development: 2nd Edition
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Local and Regional Planning for Sustainable Development: 2nd Edition

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2025) | Viewed by 3439

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Luís Carlos Loures

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre (IPP), 7300-555 Portalegre, Portugal
Interests: landscape architecture; sustainable development; territorial planning; ecosystem services; environmental management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With the development of urbanization worldwide, some contradictions, such as environmental pollution and resource shortage, have gradually emerged in the harmonious symbiotic relationship between man and nature. Sustainable development or sustainability has become a topic of wide concern. While the science and rationality of local and regional planning are closely related to the planning actors and processes, there are new approaches, strategies, and methodologies that might foster this global endeavor. Formulating and implementing collective actions for local and regional development is an increasingly clearer objetive for which pertinence and specific implementation need to be investigated and assessed.

The goal of this Special Issue is to collect papers (original research articles and review papers) to provide insights into the local and regional planning for sustainable development.

  • Principles and insights into local and regional planning;
  • Territorial sustainable design;
  • Local identity branding;
  • Territorial planning methods and ideas;
  • Regional development;
  • Territorial identity and uniquiness;
  • Local landscape architecture;
  • Stakeholder involvement in local planning;
  • Worldwide local and regional planning schemes or successful case studies.

We welcome your contributions, including but not limited to the above topics.

Prof. Dr. Luís Carlos Loures
Guest Editor

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-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

  • landscape architecture
  • territorial design
  • territorial marketing
  • sustainable development
  • sustainable design
  • local and regional planning
  • stakeholders
  • environmental impact

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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21 pages, 1158 KB  
Article
Stakeholder Analysis for Climate Change Adaptation: A Case Study from the Living Lab Schouwen-Duiveland, The Netherlands
by Monika Suškevičs, Joost Swiers, Julia Prakofjewa, Renata Sõukand and Baiba Prūse
Land 2025, 14(11), 2209; https://doi.org/10.3390/land14112209 - 6 Nov 2025
Viewed by 1981
Abstract
Extreme climate events like droughts and floods are creating urgent challenges for sectors such as Agriculture or water management. Effective adaptation requires stakeholder collaboration, supported by stakeholder analysis (SA) methods, which are still evolving in environmental management. We briefly reviewed examples of recent [...] Read more.
Extreme climate events like droughts and floods are creating urgent challenges for sectors such as Agriculture or water management. Effective adaptation requires stakeholder collaboration, supported by stakeholder analysis (SA) methods, which are still evolving in environmental management. We briefly reviewed examples of recent existing systematic evidence syntheses on SA across different domains. This highlighted several SA challenges, including the lack of transparent, common methods—particularly for climate-induced extreme events—and weak links between SA results and policy or practice. We then present a case study that illustrates these challenges and suggests ways to address them. Cooperating with a local network organisation, the Living Lab Schouwen-Duiveland (LAB), we conducted a case study on the island of Schouwen-Duiveland (NL), which is trying to adapt to drought. Applying a novel stakeholder analysis method, the “Rings of involvement”, which enables the visualisation of stakeholders’ levels of affectedness regarding the issue, we were able to identify and categorise the stakeholder network in a systematic manner. We identified stakeholder groups, such as “Implementers”, who are not yet in the network but likely hold key practical knowledge to address local-regional climate adaptation. This calls for a better institutionalisation of and a more dynamic approach to SA in the local climate change adaptation practices. Based on our case study, we suggest that future studies could explore under which conditions a network organisation (such as the LAB) acts as a dynamic platform for facilitating stakeholder knowledge co-production. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Local and Regional Planning for Sustainable Development: 2nd Edition)
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Review

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46 pages, 3380 KB  
Review
Collaborative Landscape and Bioregional Planning and Management: 25 Years of Experience Towards a Landscape Transformation Support System
by Sara J. Scherr, Louise E. Buck, Bemmy Granados, Max Yamauchi Levy, Juan Carlos Ramos and Seth Shames
Land 2026, 15(2), 307; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15020307 - 11 Feb 2026
Viewed by 1021
Abstract
Integrated landscape (bioregional, territorial) management (ILM) is a model for place-based planning and development that integrates values of healthy nature, regenerative economies, human well-being, and social solidarity. This review paper analyzes the support system for ILM to achieve transformative change, highlighting 20 dimensions [...] Read more.
Integrated landscape (bioregional, territorial) management (ILM) is a model for place-based planning and development that integrates values of healthy nature, regenerative economies, human well-being, and social solidarity. This review paper analyzes the support system for ILM to achieve transformative change, highlighting 20 dimensions in five support sub-systems. Though landscape partnerships (LPs) are now widespread, they have little coordinated support to form and have weak capacities, inadequate long-term operational funding, and limited cultural resonance. Landscape programs have proliferated and gained notable system-level support, but LP coalitions and alliances are just emerging, and there is little coordinated provision of LP support services. Despite widespread developments in the knowledge base, methods, and tools for local ILM design, there is little coordinated system support and limited dedicated work on data and IT, impact assessment, or strategic research. Landscape finance tools and business engagement with LPs are being explored, but economic valuation is inadequate, and little financing has shifted to coordinated landscape investments. In public policy, professional planners and international policy frameworks are adopting ILM, but government policies and tenure systems provide sparse support. High-leverage actions can accelerate progress in each dimension. But to fully realize the transformative potential of ILM will require more coherent support strategies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Local and Regional Planning for Sustainable Development: 2nd Edition)
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