Dear Colleagues,

Recent months have shown that globally, the vast majority of urban settings lack fundamental elements that could improve the physical health and mental wellbeing of city inhabitants during the COVID-19 pandemic and widespread lockdowns.

As our cities become denser to accommodate the increase in population, far too many people experience the long-term consequences of densification.

These include extreme temperature conditions such as urban heat island, a significant decrease in contact with blue-green infrastructures, as well as reduced exposure to daylight through the day, coupled with an increase in exposure to light pollution at night.

The significant and rapid transformation witnessed today, in the way we design, build, and maintain our urban spaces, requires adequate improvement strategies for their integration into Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Access to natural and man-made landscapes, natural light and darkness at night seems to be just as important as access to unpolluted water, food, and air. Every human being should have a right to them, regardless of age, gender, race, religion or economic status.

So, how do we address this oversight and instigate a call to action that allows us to effectively transition to healthy and sustainable cities and communities?

In the context of this Special Issue, the editor encourages submissions that explore mitigation strategies in three areas connected to this topic: (1) the identification of contemporary issues resulting from health, ecology, environmental protection, and sustainable development; (2)  the development and application of new, sustainable building technologies (3) and the need for intradisciplinary research-based practice and collaboration.

Examples of case studies to promote better design and monitoring solutions to meet these urgent human and environmental challenges facing our world are encouraged as well.

Dr. Karolina M. Zielinska-Dabkowska
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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• green infrastructure
• blue infrastructure
• access to daylight
• access to darkness
• light pollution
• environmental protection
• ecology
• health
• climate change
• urbanization
• sustainable development goals
• sustainable building technologies
• policies and laws relating to sustainability
• COVID-19