Application of Geospatial Analysis in Urban Environmental Health

Dear Colleagues,

More than half of the world’s populations are now living in urban areas. The number is expected to swell, primarily because of rural to urban migration predominantly in developing countries, in the future. With increasing human activities, urban areas across the world are facing novel sustainability challenges. Among these challenges, public health becomes a pressing concern. Increased urbanization is expected to increase the quality of life. Nonetheless, it often poses threats to the health of urban dwellers. The urban health risk is not similar across an urban area, but it rather depends on socioeconomic status (e.g., income, occupation), dwelling locations (e.g., slums, industrial areas), and physical environment (e.g., urban parks, building heights). Studies suggest that land surface modifications play important roles in determining urban sustainability, which has compounding effects on urban health. In order to make cities healthy and ensure sustainability, it is essential to understand spatiotemporal changes of urban areas and their effects on the environmental systems. As human–environment interaction is consistently increasing, exposure of individuals to various kinds of health issues could overwhelm cities’ health system; as a result, implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) could be challenging. However, there are opportunities to make urban system sustainable.

Data from earth observation satellites and geographic information (collectively called geospatial data) have shown great potential in understanding urban complex systems by integrating spatial representation of sources and pathways of factors affecting disease distribution, health care systems, and environmental sustainability. Currently, geospatial data along with spatial analyses are instrumental in solving urban health issues that have spatial and temporal connotation.

This Special Issue seeks contributions from a wide range of audiences, dealing with urban environmental health across the globe. It particularly invites original/review works, including but not limited to the following research topics: 

• Methods and approaches to urban health;
• Urban environment, including urban climate;
• Environmental health risk assessment;
• Urban health indicators;
• Spatial analysis of diseases;
• Water resources and sanitation in urban areas;
• Urban solid waste management.
• Urban groundwater system
• ‘Urban SDG’ focusing on Sustainable Development Goal 11 Sustainable cities and communities

Dr. Ashraf Dewan
Dr. Mo Hoque
Dr. Asif Ishtiaque
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. 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.