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Shaping Future Cities: Turning Assessment into Strategies and Actions for Resilience

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 January 2026 | Viewed by 430

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning (DIST), Politecnico di Torino, 10125 Torino, Italy
Interests: multicriteria analysis; evaluation for decision making; sustainable urban development; sustainable architecture

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning (DIST), Politecnico di Torino, 10125 Torino, Italy
Interests: multicriteria analysis; strategic evaluation for decision making; sustainable development; urban planning; architecture
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning (DIST), Politecnico di Torino, 10125 Torino, Italy
Interests: spatial planning; urban codes and regulations; resilience in spatial planning; resilience in spatial governance; urban planning regulation; urban planning techniques environmental evaluation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The past decade has been the hottest ever recorded, underscoring the urgent need for effective global and European efforts to reduce emissions. In line with the objectives of the European Green Deal, adapting to climate change in urban environments is a key priority. Although urban areas cover only 4% of Europe’s land, they are home to 75% of its population and account for 70% of total emissions, making them central to the green transition.

However, research indicates that fewer than 40% of European governments engage in an efficient planning process for infrastructure investments or systematically assess project quality before implementation.

In this context, two critical issues emerge in advancing climate adaptation in urban areas:

  1. The use of nature-based solutions and ecosystem approaches to promote biophilic urban design;
  2. The development and application of decision-making and evaluation tools to support policy choices by assessing the values created and lost through potential transformations.

The aim of this Special Issue is to bring together contributions that explore pathways for the green transition of cities through urban and architectural plans, projects, and policies that foster climate neutrality and resilience. The objective is to highlight the added value of biophilic design approaches and the role of evaluation tools in supporting informed decision-making.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome, especially those related to operative, theoretical, and case studies on assessment, planning, and design in support of urban climate adaptation processes. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Multicriteria decision support approaches;
  • Value creation;
  • Nature-based solutions;
  • Ecosystem approach;
  • Climate resilient cities;
  • Policy-making;
  • Sustainable urban policies;
  • Sustainability assessment;
  • Cost–benefit evaluation;
  • Mixed methods.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Beatrice Mecca
Dr. Francesca Abastante
Dr. Ombretta Caldarice
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

  • climate resilient cities
  • sustainability assessment
  • nature-based solutions

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

19 pages, 6023 KiB  
Article
Assessing Benefits and Risks of Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture (UPA): A Spatial Approach
by Enrico Gottero
Sustainability 2025, 17(11), 5151; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17115151 - 4 Jun 2025
Abstract
The benefits and positive effects of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) on different urban dimensions have already been extensively recognized by scholars and practitioners so far. Even possible risks of these professional and non-professional activities have been discussed, especially in the field of [...] Read more.
The benefits and positive effects of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) on different urban dimensions have already been extensively recognized by scholars and practitioners so far. Even possible risks of these professional and non-professional activities have been discussed, especially in the field of landscape ecology and from a social perspective. However, how these benefits are measured, monitored and assessed is still a critical point and a less investigated issue that requires further studies, especially in the research fields that aim to measure and monitor sustainability of urban practices. The evidence on quantitative approaches to estimate benefits and risks of UPA is less advanced than others. This paper aims to define spatial criteria and indicators to evaluate benefits and possible risks of UPA, using the case study of Turin and its bordering municipalities (Italy). Based on the definition and testing of indicators, embracing a spatial approach, this research aims to verify the feasibility of a set of instruments, to define methods and techniques to collect useful data, to test the replicability and transferability of this approach in other urban contexts, as well as to identify its limitations and gaps. Selected indicators showed a good level of versatility and high potential in order to collect information on UPA and its benefits. Furthermore, results of the application on the case study highlighted a significant growth of UPA benefits, especially profit initiatives and the social and economic domains. Finally, the author outlines policy recommendations to improve the evaluation and monitoring of UPA advantages and risks, as well as a possible trajectory for future research. Full article
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