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World
Special Issues
Urban Planning and Regional Development for Sustainability
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Urban Planning and Regional Development for Sustainability

A special issue of World (ISSN 2673-4060).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 888

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Khan Rubayet Rahaman

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, NS B3H3C3, Canada
Interests: urban climate; spatial science; natural disasters; environmental modeling

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue aims to connect cutting-edge research in urban and regional planning to address challenges of sustainable development. Although several innovative approaches have been initiated, this Special Issue will emphasize the intersection between science and policies to address critical issues of sustainable urban and regional development strategies.

We welcome submissions from wide range of topics in urban and regional planning to provide critical guidelines for sustainable development.

Submissions of research that focuses, but is not limited to, the application of technology and empirical evidence, policy-oriented strategies, spatial sciences, innovative approaches to data analysis and techniques, and innovative tools for sustainable urban development initiatives, are especially encouraged.

Dr. Khan Rubayet Rahaman
Guest Editor

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. World 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 1200 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

  • sustainable urban and regional planning
  • spatial science
  • development policies
  • urban management
  • data analytics

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

39 pages, 12551 KB  
Article
Spatiotemporal Modeling and Prediction of Urban Thermal Field Variation and Land Use Dynamics in Riyadh Using Machine Learning and Remote Sensing
by Md Tanvir Miah, Raiyan Raiyan, Ayad Khalid Almaimani and Khan Rubayet Rahaman
World 2026, 7(3), 49; https://doi.org/10.3390/world7030049 - 18 Mar 2026
Viewed by 304
Abstract
Urban areas in arid environments are increasingly affected by the urban heat island (UHI) effect, which intensifies thermal stress, disrupts ecological balance, and poses challenges for sustainable urban development. Understanding and predicting spatiotemporal variations in land surface temperature (LST) and land use dynamics [...] Read more.
Urban areas in arid environments are increasingly affected by the urban heat island (UHI) effect, which intensifies thermal stress, disrupts ecological balance, and poses challenges for sustainable urban development. Understanding and predicting spatiotemporal variations in land surface temperature (LST) and land use dynamics is therefore critical for effective urban planning. This study develops a predictive framework for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, using long-term Landsat time series data (1993–2023) and deep learning models to evaluate urban thermal patterns via the Urban Thermal Field Variation Index (UTFVI). Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) with six hidden layers for LST and seven for UTFVI forecast future trends up to 2043. The results indicate that urban areas expanded by 521.62 km2, increasing from 8.73% to 19.56% between 1993 and 2023, and are projected to reach 1509.40 km2 (25.28%) by 2043, while vegetation coverage declined from 0.771% to 0.674%. The highest average summer LST increased from 56.73 °C in 1993 to 59.89 °C in 2023 and is predicted to rise to 60.79 °C by 2033 and 61.52 °C by 2043. Winter temperatures exhibited a comparable upward trend, rising from 30.75 °C to 32.33 °C in 2023 and projected to reach 34.48 °C by 2043. UTFVI analysis revealed a substantial expansion of weak thermal field zones, which covered 2778 km2 in 2023 and are expected to reach 3018.44 km2 (57%) by winter 2043, accompanied by a marked contraction of strong thermal field areas. The ANN models achieved a high predictive performance, with RMSE values of 0.759 (summer) and 0.789 (winter) for UTFVI and correlation coefficients of 0.91 and 0.89, respectively. Projections further indicate that, by 2043, approximately 39.31% of the study area will experience summer temperatures between 48 °C and 53 °C, compared to 5.59% in 2023. These findings highlight the accelerating interaction between urban growth and thermal intensification in arid cities. The proposed modeling framework provides a robust decision-support tool for urban planners and policymakers to mitigate UHI impacts and promote climate-resilient and sustainable urban development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Planning and Regional Development for Sustainability)
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