Sustainability Planning and Assessment in Urban Settings with Innovative Spatial Analytic Methods
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Urban and Rural Development".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2026 | Viewed by 179
Special Issue Editors
Interests: urban shrinkage; urban resilience; land use planning; geospatial big data
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Urban areas are increasingly exposed to complex sustainability challenges such as climate change, resource depletion, urban inequality, and land-use inefficiencies. In response to these interconnected issues, spatial analysis, and geospatial technologies are becoming central tools for urban sustainability planning and assessment. Integrating advanced spatial techniques allows for a more comprehensive understanding of urban systems, supporting evidence-based policies and strategies.
This Special Issue invites theoretical and empirical contributions that focus on innovative applications of spatial analysis in the context of urban sustainability. We welcome submissions that address, but are not limited to, the following topics: spatial decision support systems, geospatial data integration for smart cities, spatial modeling for climate adaptation and resilience, environmental justice mapping, spatial equity assessment, sustainable land-use planning, and monitoring frameworks using spatial indicators. Studies utilizing GIS, remote sensing, spatial statistics, agent-based modeling, or machine learning-based spatial approaches are particularly encouraged.
This Special Issue aims to fill a significant gap in the existing literature, where spatial methodologies and sustainability frameworks are often discussed separately. By highlighting integrative approaches, the collection will offer new insights into how spatial thinking can be embedded within sustainability assessment frameworks. It seeks to promote interdisciplinary dialogue between urban planning, environmental science, and geoinformatics, providing readers with both conceptual advances and applied case studies. Through this lens, the issue aspires to support the development of spatially informed planning practices that are adaptable, equitable, and grounded in real-world complexity.
We encourage scholars and practitioners from diverse disciplines to contribute to this timely discussion, offering perspectives that extend the boundaries of current sustainability research.
Prof. Dr. Jaekyung Lee
Dr. Minkyu Park
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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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
- geospatial analysis
- sustainable land use
- climate adaptation planning
- smart cities
- environmental justice
- GIS and remote sensing
- urban resilience
- urban sustainability
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