Monitoring Urban Environment From Space
A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292). This special issue belongs to the section "Urban Remote Sensing".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2026
Special Issue Editors
Interests: Atmospheric Remote Sensing; Quantitative Remote Sensing; Big Earth Data; Emergency Management
Interests: LiDAR remote sensing; forestry and vegetation mapping; urban environments; disaster damage assessment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: Urban remote sensing; environmental monitoring; sustainable development
Special Issue Information
Rapid urbanization has become a defining feature of the 21st century, bringing both opportunities and challenges for sustainable development. As cities expand, monitoring urban environments—including land use changes, air and water quality, heat island effects, and infrastructure development—is critical for informed policymaking and resilient urban planning. Satellite remote sensing provides a powerful tool for observing these dynamics at various spatial and temporal scales, offering cost-effective, consistent, and large-coverage data. Advances in Earth observation technologies, including high-resolution optical sensors, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), LiDAR, and hyperspectral imaging, along with AI-driven data analytics, have revolutionized urban monitoring. This Special Issue seeks to showcase cutting-edge research leveraging space-based remote sensing to understand and manage urban environments more effectively.
This Special Issue aims to compile high-quality research that demonstrates the integration of multi-source remote sensing data, machine learning, and geospatial analytics to address urban environmental challenges. Contributions may cover methodological advancements, case studies, or reviews highlighting the role of remote sensing in urban sustainability, disaster resilience, and climate adaptation.
Topics of interest include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Urban land cover/land use change detection;
- Monitoring urban air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions;
- Remote sensing data collection and processing techniques for urban air quality assessment;
- Development and validation of models that utilize remote sensing data to predict air pollution levels;
- Case studies illustrating the role of remote sensing in policymaking and urban planning for improved air quality;
- Evaluation of the accuracy and effectiveness of remote sensing methods in monitoring urban air;
- Urban heat island effect and thermal environment analysis;
- Water resource management and flood risk assessment in cities;
- AI and big data analytics for urban remote sensing;
- Multi-sensor fusion and high-resolution urban mapping.
Prof. Dr. Yong Xue
Prof. Dr. Pinliang Dong
Prof. Dr. Linlin Lu
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
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. Remote Sensing is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2700 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
- Land use/land cover change
- Urban heat island
- Air pollution mapping
- Sustainable cities
- Earth observation
- Machine learning
- Multi-sensor fusion
- Climate resilience
- Big data analytics
- Disaster risk assessment
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