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Achieving sustainable urban water management is increasingly critical amid climate change, water scarcity, population growth, and intensifying pressure on freshwater resources. Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) has emerged as a promising integrated framework to evaluate the holistic sustainability of municipal wastewater reuse systems by combining environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Life Cycle Costing (LCC), and Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA). This paper presents a critical narrative review synthesizing current evidence on LCSA applications specifically in urban municipal wastewater reuse contexts—encompassing non-potable urban, agricultural, and potable reuse—and identifying which configurations deliver genuine sustainability benefits, where major methodological shortcomings persist, and how the field can advance toward more robust, policy-relevant practice. The evidence base was assembled through structured searches in Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, screened from over 300 references to 25 peer-reviewed studies retained for in-depth analysis. Among the retained studies, positive outcomes were most often reported under low-carbon energy grids, short transport distances, and appropriate reuse-type matching: hybrid decentralized systems were associated with overall sustainability scores up to 4.8 times higher than conventional supply, while cluster-scale systems were associated with reductions in global warming potential of 15–40%. Persistent pitfalls include weak pillar integration, an underdeveloped social dimension, inconsistent system boundaries, and insufficient consideration of absolute sustainability. In response, this paper proposes the RENEW-LCSA Framework (Renewable Water-Oriented Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment Framework)—a practical six-step operational approach incorporating reuse-type-specific Social LCA indicators, explicit absolute sustainability assessment against the Water Scarcity Index (WSI) and local carbon budgets, and evidence-based integration of Nature-Based Solutions (NbSs). Three paradigmatic cases—Windhoek (Namibia), Singapore (NEWater), and Los Angeles County (USA)—illustrate the framework’s systematic application. By moving beyond optimistic narratives, this review advances the credibility of LCSA as a decision-support tool for safe, equitable, and circular urban water management, contributing to SDG 6 and the European Water Reuse Regulation (2020/741). Full article

Water-scarce megacities undergoing rapid urbanization and climate change often face imbalances in urban water metabolism, characterized by the coexistence of socioeconomic growth and increasing pressure on water environmental carrying capacity. To address the limitations of existing studies in capturing the dynamic evolution of urban water systems, this study develops an urban water metabolism simulation model based on an agent-based modeling and system dynamics (ABM–SD)-coupled framework. The model represents the system evolution mechanism of “micro-level decision making–macro-level feedback” by incorporating the behavioral interactions of multiple agents, including the government, residents, and enterprises. On the basis of model simulation, the coupling coordination degree (D) and the Nemerow index (PI) are introduced to construct a two-dimensional D–PI state space, thereby enabling the dynamic assessment of the coordination and sustainable development status of the urban water metabolism system. Taking Beijing as a case study, the simulation results show that the coordination degree between socioeconomic development and the water environment continues to improve, while pressure on the water environmental carrying capacity continues to accumulate. Overall, the system exhibits a non-synchronous evolutionary pattern characterized by improved coordination alongside increasing carrying-capacity risks. Full article

Technologies such as cellular automata, genetic algorithms, and artificial intelligence have greatly expanded the range of possible architectural and urban solutions. The challenge is no longer only how to generate form, but how to interpret, evaluate, and select among multiple outcomes produced within computationally open-ended systems. When such generated alternatives are understood as collections, selection can be approached as a curatorial act. This article introduces the concept of algo-scapes: potentially extensive algorithmic landscapes whose meaning emerges only through processes of human discernment, comparison, and choice. To examine the broader logic of such selection, the study adopts a two-phase comparative design based on two parallel surveys. In the first phase, responses from 32 collectors of material objects are used to examine how collections are expanded and evaluated under conditions of differentiation, coherence, and spatial limitation. In the second phase, responses from 50 architects, urban planners, and interior designers are analyzed in order to determine whether analogous patterns can be identified in the ways spatial systems are developed, modified, and brought to temporary states of completion. The findings suggest that the strongest similarity between the two domains lies not in identical criteria of evaluation, but in a shared structure of selective growth based on addition, differentiation, limitation, and temporary completeness. While collectors place greater emphasis on uniqueness, aesthetic value, and personal attachment, architects, urban planners, and interior designers prioritize systemic fit, improvement, and contextual coherence. The article argues that the logic of collection can serve as a useful interpretive model for understanding architectural, urban, and algorithmic design systems, provided that it is understood structurally rather than literally. In this sense, algo-scapes are not meaningful simply because they can generate many alternatives, but because they require meta-level criteria through which meaningful configurations can be selected from potentially open-ended fields of possibility. Full article

This article employs exploratory data-driven modeling to examine the relationships between selected macroeconomic indicators, residential property prices, and housing affordability pressures in Poland between 2020 and 2024. This turbulent period was selected for analysis because of the unprecedented volatility triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic and the geopolitical shocks associated with the war in Ukraine, both of which severely disrupted macroeconomic stability and construction supply chains. The study examines how key economic variables—including inflation, gross domestic product (GDP), unemployment, and average and minimum wage dynamics—are associated with residential property price dynamics within the framework of construction economics. Using statistical modeling techniques, including linear regression and Pearson correlation analysis, the study quantifies the strength, direction, and dynamics of these relationships across primary and secondary housing sectors. Our findings reveal a distinct comparative pattern of associations: average wage growth and inflation emerge as the macroeconomic indicators most strongly associated with property valuations, while macroeconomic growth and unemployment dynamics exhibit asymmetric associations across market segments. Notably, the findings suggest that the primary sector may be more sensitive to credit-related demand shocks and policy interventions, whereas the secondary sector appears to respond more directly to broader consumer trends and household purchasing capacity. By integrating macroeconomic data into a sectoral analysis, this study provides an exploratory empirical basis for discussing sustainable housing strategies. The results underscore the necessity of aligning investment and production cycles in the construction sector with macroeconomic stability to maintain long-term residential purchasing capacity and support resilient urban development. Full article

The article examines “Towards a Sustainable Future, Cambridge Growth Policy” from strategic planning and urban sustainability perspectives. Towards a Sustainable Future advances planning assumptions and policies aimed at guiding the physical planning of Cambridge. The plan was intended to be utilized by the City’s Planning Board and the Community Development Department to guide development projects, to help review land use decisions, and to determine work programs. The planning document enabled mostly three of four main social functions associated with Urban and Regional Planning in a democratic free market society that comprise (i) the promotion of the collective interests of the community, (ii) considering the external effects of individual and group action, and (iii) the protection of the interests of society’s most needy members. This article does not aim to be an exhaustive analysis of Towards a Sustainable Future. Nonetheless, it provides a general overview of the entire planning document and of the planning process that was behind it, while simultaneously presenting some of the most important connections and inferences that can be established between the plan and a set of selected planning and administrative sciences scholarly papers and books. Cambridge’s current roadmap, “Envision Cambridge,” is also expected to advance not only the three dimensions mentioned above, but also the improvement of the information base needed for public and private decision making in the context of growing concerns associated with the Anthropocene epoch. Full article

Decoupling economic growth from carbon emissions is central to the sustainable development of rapidly urbanizing economies, and urban agglomerations are the pivotal spatial units for delivering this transition under China’s dual-carbon goals, yet systematic cross-agglomeration comparisons that could inform differentiated sustainability policy remain scarce. Using panel data for 107 prefecture-level cities in five agglomerations—the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH), Pearl River Delta (PRD), Chengdu–Chongqing (CY), and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River (MRYR)—across five benchmark years spanning 2005–2023, we combined a two-way fixed-effects environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) model, the Tapio decoupling model, and cross-sectional quadrant analysis to examine the growth–emission relationship in shape, decoupling dynamics, and spatial structure. All five agglomerations traced an inverted-U trajectory, with turning-point per capita gross domestic product (GDP) rising in the order CY < PRD < BTH < MRYR < YRD. Once fixed effects and structural controls were added, most quadratic terms became insignificant and reversed sign after the secondary-industry share and carbon intensity entered; only the PRD and BTH retained a significant nonlinear form. The net income effect is therefore largely monotonic, with the inverted U carried by industrial upgrading and energy-efficiency gains. Tapio decoupling followed a non-monotonic “improve-then-regress” path, with expansive negative decoupling re-emerging across all agglomerations during 2020–2023. Spatially, high-value clustering persisted in the YRD, weakened in the BTH after 2020, and concentrated on single cores in Chengdu and Wuhan. We accordingly propose sustainability-oriented low-carbon pathways differentiated jointly by agglomeration and quadrant. By showing that decoupling is stage-dependent and reversible rather than an automatic by-product of income growth, our findings indicate that durable progress toward regional sustainability hinges on structural transformation and coordinated governance tailored to each agglomeration’s stage of development. Full article

The route to wellbeing is often divided into hedonic (pleasure or relaxation) and eudaimonic (meaning or growth) pathways. Positive technology is a growing research area which aims to use technology to facilitate engagement in wellbeing-supporting activities. While virtual reality (VR) is increasingly used to support day-to-day wellbeing, the mechanisms underlying these effects remain unclear and VR research typically determines success based on outcomes. This leaves a gap whereby the processes which facilitate outcomes are less understood. This exploratory study examined the relative effects, on participant emotion responses (N = 35), of hedonic (nature vs. urban setting) and eudaimonic (personally meaningful vs. not personally meaningful) VR environments. Results showed that the level of personal meaning associated with an environment influenced emotion outcomes and visual setting did not. Notably, meaningful environments elicited a “mixed-emotional” state, increasing both positive and negative emotional responses. The results highlight the potential for short, personalised virtual experiences to elicit emotionally complex responses that are theoretically consistent with eudaimonic processes like meaningful reminiscence. Results are discussed in relation to the relative influence of hedonic and eudaimonic stimuli to be explored in future research that builds on these findings. Full article

This article examines the relationship between tourism dynamics and housing systems in large urban municipalities, combining three complementary analytical dimensions: statistical indicators, correlation analysis, and resident survey data. The study explores how tourism growth, platform-mediated accommodation, and real estate pressures interact with housing affordability and availability. By triangulating municipal statistical indicators and residents’ perceptions, the article contributes to current debates on touristification, housing assetisation, and platform urbanism. The findings suggest that tourism–housing pressures are multidimensional and uneven, requiring integrated regulatory and planning responses that address both supply constraints and demand-side transformations linked to tourism economies. Full article

Against the backdrop of the transition toward power systems with high shares of renewable energy and power electronics and the rapid growth of urban load, large receiving-end urban grids are fed by multiple line-commutated-converter HVDC (LCC-HVDC) links, so that their maximum receiving capability is frequently limited by the static-voltage-stability margin. To assess the receiving capability of such large urban grids, this paper proposes a method for evaluating the maximum receiving capability of a receiving-end urban grid that incorporates a Modular-Multilevel-Converter-based multi-terminal embedded DC (MMC-MTEDC) system. First, a quasi-steady-state model of the receiving-end urban grid with LCC infeed and an embedded MMC-MTEDC system, in which the DC-network equations characterize the mutual coupling among the AC active-power injections of the receiving-end converter stations, is established. Second, an augmented extended Jacobian that incorporates the MMC control equations and the DC power-flow equations is constructed; its minimum singular value is adopted as the static-voltage-stability index, and the corresponding sensitivities are derived to reveal the mechanism by which the receiving capability is formed. On this basis, a unit-commitment optimization model that centers on the stability-margin constraint and accounts for the converter-capability curve, the bus-voltage limits, and the line-loading limits is built; the model is solved iteratively by a column-and-constraint-generation (CCG) method, and the feasibility of the unit commitment is used to estimate the maximum receiving capability. A modified IEEE 39-bus system is used as a case study, which quantitatively verifies the effectiveness of the MMC-MTEDC in enhancing the receiving capability of the receiving-end urban grid. Full article

The 21st century is defined by converging anthropogenic and biophysical stressors. This study assessed the vulnerability of the endemic specialist lizard Liolaemus multimaculatus and the habitat generalist L. wiegmannii to climate change and land-use/land-cover (LULC) transformation within the Pampean Eastern Dune Barrier up to 2050. Using satellite data, LULC spatial projections, and ecological niche models (ENMs), we quantified habitat dynamics and projected future climatic suitability. Historical analysis (1994–2022) revealed a 20% retraction of active dunes driven by exotic afforestation and urban growth. Projections for 2050 indicate an intensification of these trends, with urban areas accounting for nearly 26% of the regional territory, leading to an additional 17% loss of active dunes. Abundance modeling predicted a decline in L. multimaculatus within the remaining active dunes, while ENMs projected a near-total contraction of climatically suitable areas. Crucially, these correlative models may overlook potential physiological or behavioral adjustments; however, the limited dispersal capacity and physical landscape barriers inherent to this specialist likely preclude effective niche tracking. These findings confirm that ecological specialization heightens sensitivity to global change, creating a “double threat” for endemic species. Protecting remnant active dune patches is essential to mitigate the projected collapse of these range-restricted lineages. Full article

Reducing carbon emissions has become a central objective of sustainable development policies as countries seek to address the environmental challenges associated with climate change and resource depletion. In this context, circular economy practices and energy transition policies have emerged as key mechanisms for achieving environmental sustainability. This study examines the determinants of carbon emissions within the framework of the circular economy and energy transition for selected Central and Eastern European countries (Romania, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia, and Slovenia) over the period 2010–2024. Using panel data analysis, the study incorporates key variables including circular economy, economic growth, recycling, renewable energy consumption, and urbanization. To enhance the reliability of the empirical estimates, panel unit root tests, the Hausman specification test, fixed-effects estimation, and Driscoll–Kraay robust standard errors are employed to address heteroskedasticity, serial correlation, and cross-sectional dependence. The results indicate that improvements in circular economy practices together with greater renewable energy use are associated with lower carbon emissions, providing empirical support for the proposed hypotheses. Recycling activities are found to increase emissions in the short run, indicating energy-intensive processes. In contrast, the effects of economic growth and urbanization are found to be context-dependent, providing only partial support for the related hypotheses. Overall, the results highlight that carbon emission dynamics are shaped by a complex interaction of economic, structural, and environmental factors, and that policy effectiveness depends on country-specific conditions. By focusing on transition economies in Central and Eastern Europe, this study extends the existing literature through an integrated panel data analysis of circular economy and energy transition policies and offers policy-relevant evidence for the region. Full article

As the growth poles of regional development, industrial parks realize green transformation, which boosts green development in host cities while potentially generating impacts on neighboring cities. Drawing on the construction practices of national green industrial parks, this paper utilizes China’s city-level panel data spanning 2007–2023 and employs the multi-period DID model and spatial DID model to empirically examine the impacts, transmission mechanisms, and spatial spillover effects of the industrial park green transformation policy on urban green total-factor energy efficiency (GTFEE). The findings indicate that green industrial park construction boosts urban GTFEE by approximately 11.6%, with industrial agglomeration, green technological innovation, and optimized capital allocation serving as its mediating channels. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that green industrial park construction generates stronger improvements in GTFEE for cities in eastern and western China, as well as those with abundant green industrial parks, advanced green finance, ample general higher education institutions, and underdeveloped digital infrastructure. Compared with national-level industrial parks, provincial ones transformed into green industrial parks exert a stronger positive effect on GTFEE. From a spatial perspective, green industrial park construction hinders the improvement in GTFEE in neighboring cities, and the negative spillover effect is more prominent for those that also build such parks. Full article

The King Abdulaziz Public Transport Project in Riyadh is one of the massive undertakings that could transform mobility and quality of life in the Saudi capital. However, a full grasp of its many-sided consequences is still hard to obtain. The project is expected to deliver several positive outcomes, including decreased traffic congestion and better air quality, as well as increased mobility; however, it remains vital that the impact of this development on different aspects of urban life is studied using modern spatial analysis methods. This research seeks to address this gap by delving into the project’s influence on land use patterns, transportation behaviors, economic development, urban growth, environmental conditions, population dynamics, and road network efficiency. Using these techniques, some of the achievements and struggles of the project are identified in terms of service coverage, travel times, and how well it fits within Riyadh’s sustainability objectives to reduce car dependency and increase ridesharing. In conclusion, the study aims to contribute knowledge that supports urban planning, policy formulation, and future infrastructure projects so that the King Abdulaziz Public Transport Project is better aligned with the needs of this growing city for a workable, sustainable Riyadh. The King Abdulaziz Public Transport Project is a significant step towards improving Riyadh’s transportation system and achieving environmental, economic, and social sustainability goals. It will contribute to alleviating traffic congestion, improving air quality, boosting economic growth, and enhancing the quality of life for residents. Sustainable landuse planning around the stations, with the allocation of green spaces and public facilities, is essential. Full article

The long-term transformation of mono-industrial cities has become a critical issue in sustainable urban development, particularly where urban growth was initially shaped by state-led industrialization and strategic security concerns. This paper examines China’s Third Front Construction, a large-scale Cold War programme that relocated industrial and defence facilities to inland regions, through a paired comparison of Yuan’an and Xiaogan in Hubei Province. Focusing on Base 066 as a city-forming enterprise, the study combines archival research, local gazetteers, factory records, field investigation, historical satellite imagery, and urban morphological analysis to examine how policy shifts reshaped urban form, industrial layout, infrastructure, and public facilities. The findings show that Yuan’an developed as a dispersed, mountain-based industrial enclave structured by concealment, air defence requirements, and work unit organization, whereas Xiaogan evolved into a more compact and integrated urban industrial district after the relocation of Base 066. This transformation changed not only production space but also urban–rural relations, residential organization, and public service provision. The study demonstrates that Third Front cities should be understood as policy-produced urban systems whose later decline or integration reflects the changing relationship between security, industry, and urban sustainability. It further suggests that industrial heritage, adaptive reuse, and intercity memory networks can support the regeneration of former mono-industrial settlements. Full article

Urban salinization from NaCl de-icing threatens ornamental plants along roadsides by disrupting growth and esthetic quality. This study evaluated salt tolerance thresholds in Gazania splendens L. and Dianthus caryophyllus L., two popular bedding species, to guide sustainable urban landscaping. Seedlings grown from certified seeds were subjected to NaCl treatments (0, 3, 6, 9 g L⁻¹) in 2 L pots under greenhouse conditions, with growth traits, biomass, photosynthetic pigments, and antioxidants assessed. Salinity reduced leaf number at 9 g L⁻¹ in both species and root elongation primarily in G. splendens, alongside biomass declines. G. splendens showed increased chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, carotenoids at moderate stress, as well as total phenolic content, ferric-reducing antioxidant power, and ABTS radical scavenging capacity at high salinity. D. caryophyllus showed pigment declines and stable antioxidants. Principal component analysis separated species and treatments. Under the conditions of the present study, both species maintained satisfactory performance at salinity levels up to 3 g L⁻¹ NaCl. G. splendens exhibited superior antioxidant acclimation despite greater growth sensitivity, whereas D. caryophyllus maintained photosynthetic pigment contents, providing useful information for the selection of ornamental species suitable for saline urban environments. Full article