Spatial Decision Support Systems for Urban Sustainability

Dear Colleagues,

Spatial Decision Support Systems (SDSSs) are designed around geospatial data, models, and analytical tools that collectively support human planning and decision-making procedures in multiple application areas. These areas are constantly evolving to better address existing real-world challenges and find innovative ways forward such as in enabling and facilitating urban sustainability.

In this Topic Issue, we focus on the theory and methods of SDSSs and their implementation in the context of urban sustainability. We are interpreting sustainability broadly to mean the understanding and improvement of inputs and processes that optimize the distribution of output patterns. We welcome contributions from research directions that focus on data-oriented approaches (e.g., spatial multicriteria methods and remote sensing), intelligence-based approaches (e.g., machine learning and artificial intelligence methods), model-based approaches (e.g., analytics and simulation methods), and participatory approaches (e.g., citizen science and volunteer GIS methods). In addition, the interoperability between the data, systems, and people can yield innovative contributions. We anticipate these ideas will be developed around the pressing urban sustainability challenges that deal with land use and land cover change, climate change adaptation, and population growth, among others.

The topic "Spatial Decision Support Systems for Urban Sustainability” provides an outlet to publish original research and application papers. Join us as we re-examine existing pathways and explore new ground in the science and applications of SDSSs. We look forward to your contributions.

Dr. Shivanand Balram
Dr. Raja Sengupta
Dr. Jorge Rocha
Topic Editors