Sustainable Urban Tourism: Integrating Spatial Planning and Governance Strategies
A special issue of Urban Science (ISSN 2413-8851).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2026
Special Issue Editors
2. CEGOT–Center of Studies in Geography and Spatial Planning, Porto, Portugal
Interests: governance and tourism; tourism and leisure; cultural tourism; tourism, gas-tronomy and local identities; ecotourism; sustainable tourism; professional training in tourism
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: tourism and local development; health and wellness tourism; competitiveness; strategic management; sustainability; tourism, identities and cultural heritage; tourism marketing; tourism management and planning; positioning of tourist destinations; development of tourist products
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The Special Issue of the Urban Science, entitled "Sustainable Urban Tourism: Integrating Spatial Planning and Governance Strategies," proposes a critical and interdisciplinary reflection on the challenges and opportunities that emerge from the intersection of urban planning and tourism management in contemporary contexts. At a time when cities face increasing pressures related to sustainability, mobility, tourist carrying capacity, and heritage preservation, this editorial initiative aims to bring together scientific contributions that explore how spatial planning can be a strategic tool that promotes more balanced, inclusive, and resilient tourism models.
This Special Issue values approaches that integrate different territorial scales—local, national, regional, and global—and that reflect the diversity of urban contexts, including mid-sized cities, peripheral areas, and emerging destinations, as well as large, established tourism centers. The aim is to foster a pluralistic and comparative reading of urban tourism phenomena, with special attention paid to the European reality and other global geographies. Multidisciplinarity is one of the pillars of this Special Issue, which seeks to welcome contributions from fields such as urban planning, geography, sociology, economics, architecture, digital technologies, tourism, public policy, and governance. Interaction between these disciplines will be encouraged, promoting integrated approaches that allow for an understanding of the complexity of tourist territories and proposing innovative solutions to contemporary urban challenges.
The selected articles will address topics such as the integration of tourism strategies into urban master plans, the socioeconomic impacts of touristification in historic and peripheral areas, the role of digital technologies in managing tourist flows, and the analysis of participatory governance models that involve local communities in the definition of public policies. Papers presenting case studies and empirical results, robust theoretical proposals, innovative methodologies, and critical literature reviews with potential for replication and practical impact will be valued. This Special Issue aims to contribute to the advancement of knowledge on smart, sustainable, and culturally sensitive tourist cities, fostering dialog between academia, policymakers, and local stakeholders.
By bringing together excellent research, we hope that this Special Issue will establish itself as a reference space for debates on the future of urban tourism and the role planning can play in building more just and resilient cities.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Eduardo Gonçalves
Dr. Ricardo Jorge da Costa Guerra
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. Urban Science is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 1600 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
- tourism management
- sustainable tourism
- public space
- touristification
- territorial governance
- urban mobility
- smart destinations
- community participation
- urban regeneration
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