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Smart Cities
Special Issues
Smart Sustainable Cities: Pioneering Novel Frontiers for Green Urban Living
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Smart Sustainable Cities: Pioneering Novel Frontiers for Green Urban Living

A special issue of Smart Cities (ISSN 2624-6511).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 2614

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Luis M. Fernández-Ramírez

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Research Group in Sustainable and Renewable Electrical Technologies (PAIDI-TEP023), Department of Electrical Engineering, Higher Technical School of Engineering of Algeciras, University of Cadiz, Algeciras, Spain
Interests: smart cities; smart grids; microgrids; renewable energy; wind energy; photovoltaic solar energy; energy storage systems; hydrogen and fuel cells; hybrid electric systems; electric vehicles; electric power systems; power converters and energy management/control systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue focuses on novel frontiers for green urban living, including cutting-edge approaches to create resilient, livable cities that minimize environmental impact while maximizing the well-being of their inhabitants.

The rapid advancement of digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, IoT networks, autonomous systems, and immersive virtual environments, is transforming urban landscapes at an unprecedented pace. This Special Issue aims to explore how these cutting-edge innovations can contribute to sustainable, efficient, and livable cities. By addressing both the opportunities and challenges posed by these technologies, we seek to foster interdisciplinary discussions that bridge urban planning, engineering, environmental science, and public policy.

This Special Issue will complement the existing literature by providing fresh perspectives on the integration of smart technologies into urban ecosystems, highlighting their impact on infrastructure, mobility, digital governance, and community engagement. We invite contributions that present novel frameworks, empirical studies, and case analyses that demonstrate how smart solutions can drive sustainability, resilience, and inclusivity in urban environments.

This Special Issue aligns with diverse areas, including but not limited to smart energy, smart mobility, sustainable infrastructure, urban operations, digital innovation, and community well-Being. Through this focused collection of research, we aim to inspire transformative approaches that redefine the future of green urban living.

We welcome researchers, policymakers, and industry experts to contribute to this critical discussion and help shape the next generation of smart sustainable cities.

Prof. Dr. Luis M. Fernández-Ramírez
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. Smart Cities 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 2000 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

  • smart energy
  • smart mobility
  • sustainable infrastructure
  • urban operations
  • digital innovation
  • community well-being

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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35 pages, 109889 KB  
Article
Unregulated Vertical Urban Growth Alters Microclimate: Coupling Building-Scale Digital Surface Models with High-Resolution Microclimate Simulations
by Jonatas Goulart Marinho Falcão, Luiz Felipe de Almeida Furtado, Gisele Silva Barbosa and Luiz Carlos Teixeira Coelho
Smart Cities 2025, 8(6), 191; https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities8060191 - 10 Nov 2025
Viewed by 500
Abstract
Rio de Janeiro’s favelas house over 20% of the city’s population in just 5% of its territory, with Rio das Pedras emerging as a critical case study: ranking as Brazil’s fifth most populous favela and its most vertically intensified. This study quantifies how [...] Read more.
Rio de Janeiro’s favelas house over 20% of the city’s population in just 5% of its territory, with Rio das Pedras emerging as a critical case study: ranking as Brazil’s fifth most populous favela and its most vertically intensified. This study quantifies how uncontrolled vertical growth in informal settlements disrupts microclimate dynamics, directly impacting thermal comfort. Using high-resolution geospatial analytics, we integrated digital surface models (DSMs) derived from LiDAR and photogrammetric data (2013, 2019, and 2024) with microclimatic simulations to assess urban morphology changes and their thermal effects. A spatiotemporal cadastral analysis tracked vertical expansion (new floors) and demolition patterns, while ENVI-met simulations mapped air temperature anomalies across decadal scenarios. Results reveal two key findings: (1) rapid, unregulated construction has significantly altered local airflow and surface energy balance, exacerbating the urban heat island (UHI) effect; (2) microclimatic simulations consistently recorded elevated temperatures, with the most pronounced impacts in densely built zones. These findings underscore the need for public policies to mitigate such negative effects observed in informal settlement areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Sustainable Cities: Pioneering Novel Frontiers for Green Urban Living)
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Review

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29 pages, 3318 KB  
Review
A Grid-Interfaced DC Microgrid-Enabled Charging Infrastructure for Empowering Smart Sustainable Cities and Its Impacts on the Electrical Network: An Inclusive Review
by Nandini K. Krishnamurthy, Jayalakshmi Narayana Sabhahit, Vinay Kumar Jadoun, Anubhav Kumar Pandey, Vidya S. Rao and Amit Saraswat
Smart Cities 2025, 8(5), 176; https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities8050176 - 19 Oct 2025
Viewed by 1128
Abstract
Global warming and the energy crisis are two significant challenges in the world. The prime sources of greenhouse gas emissions are the transportation and power generation sectors because they rely on fossil fuels. To overcome these problems, the world needs to adopt electric [...] Read more.
Global warming and the energy crisis are two significant challenges in the world. The prime sources of greenhouse gas emissions are the transportation and power generation sectors because they rely on fossil fuels. To overcome these problems, the world needs to adopt electric vehicles (EVs) and renewable energy sources (RESs) as sustainable solutions. The rapid evolution of electric mobility is largely driven by the development of EV charging infrastructures (EVCIs), which provide the essential support for large-scale EV adoption. As the number of CIs grows, the utility grid faces more challenges, such as power quality issues, power demand, voltage instability, etc. These issues affect the grid performance, along with the battery lifecycle of the EVs and the charging system. A charging infrastructure integrated with the RES-based microgrid (MG) is an effective way to moderate the problem. Also, these methods are about reframing how smart sustainable cities generate, distribute, and consume energy. MG-based CI operates on-grid and off-grid based on the charging demand and trades electricity with the utility grid when required. This paper presents state-of-the-art transportation electrification, MG classification, and various energy sources in the DC MG. The grid-integrated DC MG, international standards for EV integration with the grid, impacts of CI on the electrical network, and potential methods to curtail the negative impact of EVs on the utility grid are explored comprehensively. The negative impact of EV load on the voltage profile and power loss of the IEEE 33 bus system is analysed in three diverse cases. This paper also provides directions for further research on grid-integrated DC MG-based charging infrastructure. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Sustainable Cities: Pioneering Novel Frontiers for Green Urban Living)
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