Big Data in Urban Land Use Planning and Infrastructure Building
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: 30 June 2026
Special Issue Editors
Interests: geolocated data; mobile phones; mobility
Interests: built environment; spatial assessment; social health; community governance
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The increasing availability of new Big Data sources has revolutionized the way urban and metropolitan infrastructure is planned, designed, and managed. This Special Issue explores how Big Data, in its multiple forms (sensor data, social media, mobile phones, transport cards, bank cards, satellite images, open data, etc.), is transforming urban decision-making processes, fostering more efficient and resilient land planning focused on the real needs of the population. The crucial role of urban land planning is highlighted as an integrative framework for guiding the development of sustainable and equitable infrastructure adapted to contemporary challenges such as climate change, territorial inequality, and the energy crisis.
The articles included examine empirical cases and methodological developments in fields such as land-use optimization, spatial suitability analysis, smart transportation, energy management, tactical urbanism, green infrastructure, and territorial planning, highlighting the value of Big Data for modeling complex urban and metropolitan phenomena and anticipating future needs. In this context, aspects such as the relationship between commuter towns and the location of workplaces in a metropolitan area, or the relevance of models such as the 15-Minute City, which promote functional proximity and service decentralization, are analyzed as key strategies for urban sustainability. Attention is also paid to the integration of tools such as geographic information systems (GIS), digital twins, and machine learning algorithms for predictive land-use planning. This Special Issue seeks to foster a critical and transdisciplinary perspective, bringing together contributions from engineering, social sciences, urban geography, and computer science. Together, the papers presented demonstrate the potential of Big Data to redefine the way we conceive and develop more inclusive, smart, and livable cities.
The goal of this Special Issue is to collect papers (original research articles and review papers) to give insights into the use of new geolocated Big Data sources for urban land planning and the development of urban infrastructures.
This Special Issue will welcome manuscripts that link the following themes:
- Urban land planning.
- Urban or metropolitan infrastructure planning based on Big Data analytics.
- Smart mobility and transportation systems.
- Digital tools for sustainable and inclusive urban development.
- Urban resilience and climate-adaptive infrastructure.
- Geospatial technologies and real-time urban monitoring.
- Proximity-based planning for accessibility to basic services.
- Ethical, legal, and governance challenges in data-driven urbanism.
We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.
Prof. Dr. Joaquin Osorio Arjona
Prof. Dr. Yang Xiao
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-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 land use
- geolocated big data
- urban infrastructures
- smart cities
- spatial planning
- metropolization
- sustainability planning models
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