Dear Colleagues,

Rapid urbanization brings environmental problems in developing countries. An increase in population will add new pressure to incorporate resources, including urban infrastructures. At present, the urban population is becoming vulnerable to urban disasters when compared with rural surroundings. Over the years, rapid urban developments and the pressure of population explosion have been affecting the environmental quality of most of the urban areas in developing countries. The rapid increase of the urban population damages urban environment systems by converting the natural lands into built-up lands.

At present, the intensity and frequency disasters such as floods, tsunami, landslides, volcano eruptions, vector-borne diseases, and heat disasters are rising in developing countries. The populations of urban areas are becoming more vulnerable to the above-mentioned urban disasters due to unplanned urban developments. Urban landscape changes result in increasing impervious land, and this results in more runoff during the rainy seasons. In addition, unplanned urban development directly disturbs wetland ecosystems and channel systems. During the rainy seasons, more urban areas are becoming vulnerable to floods and their impacts. Besides, heat-related disasters—especially during the summer season—can cause several adverse effects on inhabitants. The rapid changes in the urban landscape have resulted in increasing heat-related disasters. These phenomena are common in urban areas in developing countries. Thus, examining urbanization and its impacts on urban disasters in developing countries will help to assess the status and challenges of future urban sustainability. Further, it could help policymakers, landscapes, and urban planners to integrate remedial measures to protect the inhabitants of urban areas.

Many scholars have focused on urban disasters and their impacts on urban inhabitants during the past few decades. However, in developing countries, the scarcity of spatial data has been an obstacle for scientific studies in urban areas. The rapid development of remote sensing technologies and increasing accessibility of Earth Observation geospatial data have facilitated the research activities in urban areas. The spatial and temporal resolution of remote sensing data can be used to extract urban development patterns both horizontally and vertically. The combination of remote sensing data, urbanization, and urban disasters will provide more vital information for the sustainability of urban areas in developing countries.

In this Special Issue, we will focus on urbanization and its impacts on urban disasters in developing countries using remote sensing data. We wish to showcase research papers, case studies, conceptual or analytic reviews, and policy-relevant articles toward helping to minimize the impacts of urban disasters in developing countries. 

Contributions could include the following:

• Development of the new capture methods of remote-sensing data on urban disasters such as floods, tsunamis, landslides, volcano eruptions, vector-borne diseases, heat-related disasters, etc.
• Examining urban development trends using remote sensing data;
• Capturing urban disaster trends based on remote sensing data;
• Analysis of urban development trends;
• Hazards, vulnerability, recovery, and risk of urban disasters;
• Prediction of urban growth and disaster trends;
• Urban disaster mitigation and adaptation.

Dr. Manjula Ranagalage
Prof. Dr. Yuji Murayama
Prof. Dr. Takehiro Morimoto
Dr. DMSLB Dissanayake
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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. Remote Sensing is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2700 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.

• remote sensing data
• urban developments
• urban disaster trend predictions
• developing countries
• urbanization