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Urban Science
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Sustainable Buildings and Cities: Integrated Research on Smart Strategies for...
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Sustainable Buildings and Cities: Integrated Research on Smart Strategies for Renewal and Resilience

A special issue of Urban Science (ISSN 2413-8851). This special issue belongs to the section "Intelligent Cities and Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 2761

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Haibo Guo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Architecture, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China
Interests: sustainable city; low-carbon building; energy efficiency; thermal comfort; residential settlement; overheating; bio-based material; phase change material
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Urbanization and climate urgency demand innovative synergies between architectural intelligence and systemic urban resilience. This Special Issue explores how smart technologies, heritage-sensitive approaches, and ecological principles can reshape built environments. We seek interdisciplinary research addressing the following topics:

Smart Renewal: AI-driven retrofits, circular construction, and digital twins for adaptive reuse.

Resilient Systems: Climate-responsive buildings, urban metabolic networks, and cross-scale governance.

Temporal Balance: Blockchain-enabled heritage conservation, community-centric digital tools for inclusive renewal.

Contributions may span the following:

  • Smart materials and self-healing building systems;
  • Data-integrated urban regeneration frameworks;
  • Low-carbon transitions in historic districts;
  • Participatory platforms bridging rural–urban synergies;
  • Policy innovations aligning building codes with smart city agendas.

We welcome multi-scale studies—from nanotechnology to regional planning—and methodologies including computational modeling, living labs, and socio-technical analyses. Submissions demonstrating actionable pathways where sustainability, technology, and cultural continuity co-evolve are particularly encouraged.

Shape the future of cities that remember, adapt, and thrive.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Buildings.

Dr. Haibo Guo
Guest Editor

Bolun Zhao
Guest Editor Assistant
Affiliation: School of Architecture and Design, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China
Interests: smart city; thermal comfort; residential building; sustainable city; energy efficiency; overheating; traditional settlement; computational design

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 1800 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 buildings
  • smart cities
  • smart sensing
  • low-carbon
  • heritage conservation
  • infrastructure resilience
  • the Internet of Things
  • green building technologies
  • urban renewal
  • sustainable rural communities

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  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

24 pages, 21660 KB  
Article
Assessment of Ecological Suitability for Highway Under-Bridge Areas: A Methodological Integration of Multi-Criteria Decision-Making and Optimized Backpropagation Neural Networks
by Yiwei Han, Shuhong Huang, Siyan Zhao, Xinyu Zhang, Yanbing Chen, Zhenhai Wu, Yuanhao Huang, Wei Ren and Donghui Peng
Urban Sci. 2025, 9(12), 528; https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci9120528 - 10 Dec 2025
Viewed by 268
Abstract
Highway under-bridge areas represent a valuable land resource while simultaneously constituting a sensitive ecological zone. Achieving a balance between its redevelopment and ecological preservation constitutes a critical challenge within the field of ecological engineering. Although prior research has addressed urban elevated underbridge space, [...] Read more.
Highway under-bridge areas represent a valuable land resource while simultaneously constituting a sensitive ecological zone. Achieving a balance between its redevelopment and ecological preservation constitutes a critical challenge within the field of ecological engineering. Although prior research has addressed urban elevated underbridge space, investigations specifically focusing on highway underpasses remain limited. The absence of standardized criteria for assessing the suitability of these spaces has resulted in uncoordinated and fragmented utilization. In response, this study proposes a comprehensive evaluation framework that integrates multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methodologies with optimized backpropagation neural networks, specifically genetic-algorithm-optimized BP (GA-BP) and particle-swarm-optimization-optimized BP (PSO-BP). The model incorporates indicators spanning physical characteristics, environmental factors, safety considerations, and accessibility metrics, and is applied to an empirical dataset comprising 134 highway bridge underpasses in Fuzhou City. The results indicate that (1) both the GA-BP and PSO-BP models enhance convergence speed and classification accuracy, with the GA-BP model demonstrating superior stability and suitability for classifying underpass suitability; (2) the principal determinants of suitability include traffic accessibility, safety parameters, and spatial relationships with adjacent water bodies and agricultural lands; and (3) underpasses characterized as hub-type, single-sided road-adjacent, and cross-connection configurations exhibit greater potential for redevelopment. This investigation represents the first integration of MCDM and optimized neural network techniques in this context, offering a robust tool to support the scientific planning and ecological conservation of underbridge space environments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Buildings and Cities: Integrated Research on Smart Strategies for Renewal and Resilience)
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27 pages, 1468 KB  
Article
Egypt’s Regional Innovation Capacity Disparities and New Smart City Prospects: A Quantitative Analysis
by Mohamed Abouelhassan Ali, Éva Komlósi, Zoltan Orban and Sara Elhadad
Urban Sci. 2025, 9(10), 432; https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci9100432 - 20 Oct 2025
Viewed by 1822
Abstract
This study evaluates the innovation capacity of Egypt’s governorates to identify their potential for developing smart cities as innovation hubs. Smart cities represent essential instruments for tackling complicated urban issues like environmental degradation, regional economic disparities, and rapid urbanization. In the framework of [...] Read more.
This study evaluates the innovation capacity of Egypt’s governorates to identify their potential for developing smart cities as innovation hubs. Smart cities represent essential instruments for tackling complicated urban issues like environmental degradation, regional economic disparities, and rapid urbanization. In the framework of Egypt Vision 2030, the establishment of fourteen fourth-generation smart cities is seen as an essential initiative to promote balanced, innovation-driven regional development. However, the absence of a thorough assessment of regional innovation capabilities during the planning phase poses significant concerns regarding the viability of attaining these objectives. A quantitative approach is employed to address this research gap, utilizing a composite Regional Innovation Capacity Index (RICI) as well as conducting cluster analysis and spatial autocorrelation analysis to assess the 27 governorates’ innovation capacities. The findings show significant gaps in innovation capacity among regions, with notable variances in knowledge creation, knowledge utilization, and supportive infrastructure. The findings demonstrate that new smart cities have been developed in some governorates with limited innovation capacity, while high-capacity governorates remain underutilized. These disparities underscore the need for specific policy actions to strengthen innovation ecosystems in lagging regions. The study offers actionable insights on how to match regional innovation capacities with Egypt’s smart city development policy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Buildings and Cities: Integrated Research on Smart Strategies for Renewal and Resilience)
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