Designing Resilient Cities: Landscape-Based Architecture and Green Space Strategies for Urban Sustainability
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Urban and Rural Development".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 2683
Special Issue Editors
Interests: urban microclimate; urban heat island and cooling strategies; green infrastructure; urban expansion modelling; urban energy use; ecosystem services and urban ecosystems; thermal comfort; sustainable urban planning
Interests: climate change adaptation in urban and delta regions; urban resilience and risk-sensitive land use planning; water resources management and agricultural resilience; nature-based solutions (NbS) and green infrastructure (GI); socio-ecological systems and adaptive environmental governance; environmental and climate justice in development contexts; participatory planning and institutional readiness for sustainability
Interests: climate change adaptation and risk in urban coastal area; urban remote sensing; spatial urban modeling; urban vulnerability; GIS; nature-based solutions (NbS); urban planning, informality
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Urban areas are increasingly recognized as critical arenas for addressing sustainability and climate resilience. With their populous and rapidly growing agglomerations facing increasing exposure to extreme climate-related stresses, environmental degradation, and biodiversity loss, urban areas—especially in fast-growing cities and transforming peri-urban regions across the Global South—are on the frontline of climate change impacts. Urban spaces offer immense potential for innovation in sustainable design through integrative and landscape-based approaches to reimagine urban sustainability and enhance socially inclusive climate resilience. This Special Issue seeks to explore how landscape architecture, green space planning, and urban nature can contribute to climate-responsive, sustainable, and equitable urban development.
We welcome conceptual frameworks, reviews, empirical studies, and interdisciplinary research that showcase historical trajectories, pilot initiatives, and prospects for aligning the built and natural environments to foster social equity, environmental justice, and long-term urban resilience. We particularly encourage contributions engaging with green–blue infrastructure, adaptive landscape design, restorative ecology, participatory planning, and policy innovations to address pressing urban challenges such as: (1) urban climate extremes, (2) pollution and microclimate interventions, (3) multi-hazard adaptations through landscape-based solutions, and (4) climate justice and green space equity.
In tandem, we highlight the importance of the novel analytical and design techniques reshaping urban sustainability research and practice, including (1) earth observation monitoring, urban digital twins, dynamic simulation models, and urban climate visualization tools; (2) machine learning, deep learning, GeoAI, and predictive modeling; and (3) participatory mapping and citizen science approaches.
This Special Issue will cover a broad range of topics related to climate-resilient development that span local and regional scales, incorporate diverse methodological approaches, and offer actionable insights for science, practice, and policymaking with a particular focus on, but not limited to, the following areas of interest:
- The monitoring of green spaces and urban environmental change using remote sensing and GIS;
- Urban vulnerability in the context of climate change;
- Nature-based solutions for heat mitigation, drought and flood control, and biodiversity;
- The design and implementation of green–blue infrastructure for climate resilience;
- Urban energy demand, energy-efficient landscapes, and the integration of passive cooling and renewable strategies into urban forms;
- Urban ecological networks and biodiversity conservation;
- Digital platforms and urban informatics for sustainability planning;
- Green space equity, ecosystem services, accessibility, and health co-benefits;
- Informality and green urbanism;
- Co-design and community-driven governance;
- Mainstreaming landscape architecture and climate adaptation in urban planning;
- Indicators, tools, and metrics to assess landscape resilience;
- Interdisciplinary methods and comparative case studies across the Global South and North.
By addressing these themes, this Special Issue seeks to contribute to the ongoing global dialog on urban sustainability. Along with the forthcoming IPCC Special Report on Cities and Climate Change, it can complement and enrich the international agenda by offering concrete evidence, innovative tools, and field-based lessons to advance climate resilience and sustainability in the urban Anthropocene.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Can Trong Nguyen
Dr. Nigel Downes
Dr. Olabisi S. Obaitor
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. 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 climate resilience
- landscape architecture
- green–blue infrastructure
- nature-based solutions
- sustainable urban development
- spatial justice
- urban adaptation
- emerging cities
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