Smart Cities—Urban Planning, Technology and Future Infrastructures

Dear Colleagues,

Cities are rapidly transforming into complex socio-technical systems shaped by digital innovation, new mobility paradigms, data-driven governance, and evolving models of urban development. As the global population becomes increasingly urban, the need for more intelligent, resilient, and sustainable cities is urgent. This Special Issue aims to bring together cutting-edge research that explores how Smart Cities can be designed, managed, and continuously improved through the integration of urban planning, advanced technologies, and next-generation infrastructures. We welcome high-quality original papers, reviews, and case studies addressing theoretical, methodological, and practical aspects of these intertwined domains.

The transformation toward Smart Cities requires rethinking traditional urban planning paradigms. Urban planning now operates at the intersection of spatial design, environmental sustainability, mobility optimization, and socio-economic development. We encourage contributions that explore how planning tools, design strategies, land-use models, and governance frameworks evolve in digitally augmented environments. Relevant topics include smart land-use planning approaches, mixed-use and compact city models, spatial equity supported by digital analytics, and the integration of nature-based solutions into urban form. Papers addressing participatory planning, community engagement through digital platforms, urban regeneration strategies, and planning for climate resilience are also welcome. This thematic pillar invites interdisciplinary work showing how planning can maintain human-centered design while leveraging digital intelligence.

Digital transformation is the backbone of Smart Cities, enabling automation, monitoring, predictive analysis, and evidence-based decision-making. We seek contributions exploring how sensor networks, IoT platforms, AI algorithms, big data analytics, computer vision, and digital twins are reshaping the operation and governance of urban systems. This thematic area welcomes studies on real-time urban monitoring, smart mobility analytics, energy management systems, environmental sensing, and the use of artificial intelligence for predictive maintenance, risk assessment, and service optimization. Research on cybersecurity, ethical considerations, data privacy, and regulatory challenges arising from pervasive data flows in urban environments is also encouraged. We are particularly interested in work demonstrating how digital technologies can enhance transparency, improve service delivery, and support sustainable development.

Infrastructures form the physical foundation of Smart Cities, and their modernization is essential for achieving resilience, efficiency, and long-term sustainability. We invite studies examining the evolution of energy systems, transportation networks, water and waste infrastructures, communication backbones, and public service facilities in the context of digital transformation. Topics include intelligent transportation systems (ITS), smart grids, renewable energy integration, micro-mobility networks, electric vehicle ecosystems, and green infrastructure. Contributions that analyze infrastructure resilience, circular-economy approaches, climate-adaptive systems, and infrastructure–technology interoperability are particularly relevant. Submissions may also address future mobility paradigms—such as connected and autonomous vehicles, mobility-as-a-service (MaaS), and integrated multimodal systems—as well as infrastructure governance models that support efficient, inclusive, and sustainable urban futures.

The scope of this Special Issue therefore includes, but is not limited to, the following:

1. Urban Planning and Urbanism

• Smart land-use planning
• Compact city models and urban form
• Public space design powered by digital tools
• Urban regeneration and adaptive reuse

2.  Technology and Data Intelligence

• IoT-based urban monitoring systems
• Artificial intelligence for city management
• Digital twins and urban simulation
• Big data analytics for mobility, energy, and public services

3.  Infrastructure and Mobility

• Intelligent transportation systems (ITS)
• Sustainable and resilient infrastructures
• Renewable energy integration in urban environments
• Autonomous vehicles and connected mobility

4.  Governance and Citizen Participation

• Smart governance frameworks
• E-government and digital public services
• Participatory planning tools
• Privacy, ethics, and data governance

5.  Sustainability and Resilience

• Climate-adaptive urban design
• Nature-based solutions in Smart Cities
• Energy-efficient buildings and districts
• Circular economy applications in urban systems

Prof. Dr. Luis Hernández-Callejo
Prof. Dr. Sergio Nesmachnow
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. 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.

• urban planning and urbanism
• technology and data intelligence
• infrastructure and mobility
• governance and citizen participation
• sustainability and resilience