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Sustainable Land Management: Urban Planning and Land Use
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Sustainable Land Management: Urban Planning and Land Use

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Urban and Rural Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 16 October 2025 | Viewed by 1122

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Yupeng Fan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Interests: urban environmental system simulation; low carbon development; sustainable urban development; environmental management; coordinated development of social and ecological systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainable land management in the context of urban planning and land use is critical for addressing the pressing challenges of urbanization, environmental degradation, and climate change. This Special Issue aims to explore innovative strategies and methodologies that promote the integration of sustainable practices into urban planning frameworks, with a focus on land use efficiency, ecosystem preservation, and resilience building. By bringing together cutting-edge research, this issue will provide a platform for discussing how sustainable land management can contribute to achieving global sustainability goals, including the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We welcome contributions that address the dynamic interactions between urban growth, land use change, and environmental sustainability, and those that propose actionable insights for policy and practice.

Dr. Yupeng Fan
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 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. Sustainability 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 2400 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 planning
  • land use efficiency
  • ecosystem preservation
  • climate adaptation
  • urbanization impacts
  • green infrastructure
  • urban sustainability
  • data-driven solutions
  • urban-rural integration
  • land use optimization

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

23 pages, 10477 KiB  
Article
Balancing Act on the Third Pole: Three Decades of Ecological-Economic Synergy and Emerging Disparities Along the Qinghai–Tibet Railway, China
by Yupeng Fan, Chao Zhang and Chuanglin Fang
Sustainability 2025, 17(8), 3345; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17083345 - 9 Apr 2025
Viewed by 229
Abstract
The Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP), a critical ecological buffer for Asia, faces intensifying pressures from climate change and infrastructure expansion. The Qinghai–Tibet Railway (QTR), as the world’s highest-altitude railway, traverses this fragile yet economically vital region, where balancing ecosystem integrity and development remains a [...] Read more.
The Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP), a critical ecological buffer for Asia, faces intensifying pressures from climate change and infrastructure expansion. The Qinghai–Tibet Railway (QTR), as the world’s highest-altitude railway, traverses this fragile yet economically vital region, where balancing ecosystem integrity and development remains a global sustainability challenge. While previous studies have documented localized environmental impacts of the QTR, systematic assessments of long-term ecological-economic interactions—particularly the synergies and trade-offs between ecosystem service value (ESV) and economic growth—are lacking. This gap hinders targeted policy design to reconcile conservation and development in extreme environments. The present research integrates an enhanced ecosystem service valuation framework with spatial econometric modeling to quantify environmental changes and ecological-economic coordination in the Qinghai–Tibet Railway Region (QTRR) during 1990–2020. The analysis reveals a cumulative ESV increase of USD 54.4 billion over the past 30 years, driven primarily by grassland restoration and regulated land use transitions. Notably, county-level ecological-economic coordination improved significantly, with harmonization indices rising by 32–68% across all jurisdictions. However, latent risks emerged: five counties exhibited severe ecosystem-health-to-economy mismatches by 2020. These findings demonstrate that infrastructure corridors in fragile ecosystems can achieve partial ecological-economic coordination through policy interventions, yet persistent local disparities demand spatially differentiated management. By linking ESV dynamics to governance pathways—including livestock–forage balance mechanisms and green urban zoning—the present study provides a transferable framework for assessing sustainability trade-offs in extreme environments. Broader implications highlight the necessity of embedding adaptive ecological thresholds into infrastructure planning, offering experiences for the Belt and Road Initiative and other high-altitude development frontiers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Land Management: Urban Planning and Land Use)
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20 pages, 12622 KiB  
Article
Settlement Expansion Versus Environmental Protection: Ecosystem Services for Environmental Regulation Planning in Izmir, Turkiye
by Esra Kut Görgün and Stefano Salata
Sustainability 2025, 17(7), 3237; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17073237 - 5 Apr 2025
Viewed by 515
Abstract
Land use and planning decisions, such as the designation of urban development areas, have a significant impact on ecosystem services (Ess). In urban planning, it is essential to consider the environmental values of ecosystem services when determining urban development zones. Spatial analyses play [...] Read more.
Land use and planning decisions, such as the designation of urban development areas, have a significant impact on ecosystem services (Ess). In urban planning, it is essential to consider the environmental values of ecosystem services when determining urban development zones. Spatial analyses play a crucial role in guiding decision-making processes by balancing environmental value and urban expansion. This study aims to identify areas of alignment or conflict between environmental values derived from ecosystem services and settlement expansion zones according to the Environmental Regulation Plan in the Izmir metropolitan area. The study employs the InVEST® (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs) model and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to map ecosystem services. Environmental values derived from ecosystem services, such as habitat quality, carbon storage and sequestration, and sediment delivery ratio, were analyzed. The results demonstrate a trade-off between high environmental values and settlement expansion zones. The five largest conflict areas with high environmental value are located near the coast and were converted from shrubland and forest areas. This study underscores the importance of identifying and prioritizing conservation sites with high composite environmental value. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Land Management: Urban Planning and Land Use)
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