Smart City Planning with Spatial Information: Evolution, Contextual Adaptation, and Policy Shifts
A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Land Planning and Landscape Architecture".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 October 2026 | Viewed by 77
Special Issue Editors
Interests: urban development; rural development; land use
2. Associate Laboratory TERRA, Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning, University of Lisbon, P-1600276 Lisboa, Portugal
Interests: geographic information systems; land use science; collaborative simulation; spatial planning; complexity science
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Urban planning increasingly relies on spatial information—from IoT sensor networks, geospatial platforms, and administrative datasets to participatory data—contributing to the evolution of the smart city concept. Originally driven by technology, this agenda has now diversified into governance-, sustainability-, and equity-focused approaches, with measurable impacts on land use, mobility, energy, and service provision. Building on European and Hungarian experiences, this Special Issue examines how spatial information shapes planning practices across different geographies and institutional contexts.
The aim of this Special Issue is to connect the smart city debate with Land’s focus on land-system science, land governance, and urban–rural linkages. We invite contributions that use spatial information to shed light on planning choices, implementation constraints (funding, capacity, vendor lock-in), and outcomes (environmental performance, accessibility, inclusion). Papers may address cities and city regions, as well as smart village initiatives that extend digital and planning tools to rural territories.
Suggested themes and article types include the following:
- Evolution of the smart city: from ICT-driven to governance- and sustainability-oriented models (concept histories, typologies, policy shifts).
- Contextual variation: how smart planning changes across different national, regional, and city contexts (institutions, funding architecture, readiness).
- Urban planning content transformations: spatial information in land use, energy, mobility, housing and service design; participation and data governance.
- Resource dependence and adaptation: the role of EU and national funding, municipal capacity, procurement and vendor lock-in in shaping projects.
- Is “smart city” still the dominant paradigm? Competing frames (climate-neutral missions, resilience, 15-minute city, digital commons) and their spatial implications.
- Method papers on integrating heterogeneous spatial datasets (administrative, sensor, platform logs) for planning evaluation.
- Comparative case studies (cross-country, cross-city), reviews and policy analyses bridging urban and rural (smart villages).
Article types: original research, review papers, methodological notes, case reports, comparative studies, and policy analyses.
We look forward to receiving your submissions.
Dr. Ádám Szalai
Dr. Eduardo Gomes
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- smart city
- spatial information
- urban planning
- land use and land governance
- data governance
- energy and mobility systems
- EU cohesion policy and missions
- resource dependence
- smart village
- participation and readiness
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