Sustainable Planning and Design of Urban Underground Space for Smart Cities
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Urban and Rural Development".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 17 April 2026 | Viewed by 818
Special Issue Editors
Interests: underground space planning; underground logistics systems engineering; city logistics; freight-passenger integration; transportation modeling and optimization
Interests: underground space planning and management; project management; system safety and protection engineering; underground logistics systems engineering
Interests: port logistics system operation planning; automated container terminal process optimization; urban underground container logistics; green port energy transformation
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The pursuit of smart, livable, and sustainable cities calls for new perspectives on how urban systems are organized across spatial, functional, and technological dimensions. Traditional surface infrastructure is increasingly constrained by land scarcity, environmental pressures, and spatial conflicts, prompting the search for integrated and innovative alternatives. Emerging systems, including underground logistics systems, electric vehicles, and urban air mobility technologies, are gaining attention as promising approaches for enhancing resilience, efficiency, and sustainability in complex urban environments.
These forms of infrastructure are reshaping how cities operate, interact, and evolve. Their integration into existing urban systems introduces important questions related to spatial governance, cross-scale coordination, human–environment interaction, and long-term infrastructure management. Interdisciplinary perspectives and methods are essential for gaining a deeper understanding of their potential contributions to future cities.
This Special Issue welcomes contributions that examine how emerging infrastructures and technologies are embedded within future urban contexts. We invite studies engaging with technologies, planning, policy frameworks, and social dimensions to address the challenges of building inclusive, adaptive, and intelligent urban environments.
Suggested topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Sustainable planning and utilization of urban underground space;
- Contributions of infrastructure to urban resilience, livability, and decarbonization;
- Network planning and design of emerging underground/aerial transportation systems;
- Environmental and operational performance evaluation of infrastructure systems;
- Human-centered design and operations in complex socio-technical environments;
- Scenario-based analysis and systems modeling for infrastructure development;
- Governance, regulatory, and managerial challenges in future urban systems.
Dr. Wanjie Hu
Prof. Dr. Jianjun Dong
Prof. Dr. Chengji Liang
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. 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
- smart city
- urban underground space
- urban planning and management
- emerging infrastructure
- underground logistics systems
- intelligent transportation systems
- critical infrastructure
- urban environment modeling
- social-technological system
- project and operations management of urban systems
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
