Urbanization in Sustainable Cities: The Role of Planning and Smart Technologies

Dear Colleagues,

With over half of the world's population residing in cities and estimates predicting another one billion people to move to urban areas by 2030, urbanization is rapidly transforming our societies. By 2050, metropolitan regions are expected to accommodate 70% of the global population. However, this unprecedented urban growth poses significant challenges to our infrastructure, resources, and environmental sustainability. Urbanization plays a major role in climate change and biodiversity loss, affecting ecosystem health and stability. As cities expand, there is increasing pressure on land, transportation, water, and energy resources. Urbanization has also caused externalities such as air pollution, social inequalities, and crime.

In the face of these challenges, sustainable urbanization offers a promising vision for the future, providing solutions to combat unemployment, climate change, inequality, poverty, and other pressing global issues. Leveraging technology and innovative approaches to urban planning is crucial to achieving these goals. For instance, Remote sensing technology and data-driven urban planning have become indispensable tools for understanding and managing urban growth's impact on land use and the environment. Through research, we can identify and address issues related to unregulated land use change, extensive land consumption, and environmental pollution.

The effective implementation of policies and interventions in urban regions can lead to more efficient energy use and the preservation of vital resources. Embracing advanced technologies like Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT), smart sensors, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can enable cities to make data-driven decisions, optimize resource allocation, and foster environmental sustainability.

In line with Goal 11 of the United Nations' 2030 Agenda, this Special Issue aims to explore how urban planning can help to promote resilient, sustainable, and livable cities. We invite contributions that highlight best practices, methodologies, and applications integrating advanced technologies in urban planning, sustainable resource management, climate change mitigation, and adaptation. Additionally, we encourage research that investigates the role of ICT in fostering smart mobility, green/public space planning, and remote sensing-based monitoring of urban systems.

This Special Issue seeks to present original contributions reporting on or demonstrating how advanced technology solutions for urbanization can contribute to the achievement of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), providing new insights and innovative approaches to urban governance, sustainable cities, and environmental management. It solicits and fosters the dissemination of high-quality original research and review articles, which address the theories and practical applications for these interconnected domains, supported by what smart cities have to offer in this regard. Potential topics of interest include but are not limited to the following:

• Sustainable cities;
• Urban futures;
• Water and energy management;
• Land use management;
• Housing and urbanization;
• Urban resilience;
• Innovative processes of urban regeneration;
• Climate change mitigation and adaptation;
• Urban planning and design;
• Urban Heritage Conservation;
• Urbanization and public health;
• ICT and sustainable management of urban systems;
• Remote sensing and GIS applications;
• Green/public space planning;
• Urbanization effects;
• Urban governance;
• Smart mobility.

Dr. Abdulaziz I. Almulhim
Dr. Simon Elias Bibri
Dr. Ayyoob Sharifi
Guest Editors

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• sustainable cities
• urban futures
• water and energy management
• land use management
• housing and urbanization
• urban resilience
• innovative processes of urban regeneration
• climate change mitigation and adaptation
• urban planning and design
• urban heritage conservation
• urbanization and public health
• ICT and sustainable management of urban systems
• remote sensing and GIS applications
• green/public space planning
• urbanization effects
• urban governance
• smart mobility