Sustainable Urban Development and Strategic Planning

Dear Colleagues,

Urban development is concerned with the renewal, redevelopment, or transformation of spaces and places. While change is happening around us, almost continuously, there are concerns over how sustainable these developments are. How urban areas plan for change can have significant impacts on culture and society, and this is where strategic planning agendas are important. Investments in new infrastructures that support service sector industries are part of nascent development strategies linked to transitioning economic bases. The wider need for and impact of such work is that places seek continuous development to keep up with the shifts in demand in the global economy and thus maintain a competitive advantage. Moreover, places need to keep up with the pace of global change or they risk stagnation and decline as increased competition is resulting in increased opportunities and choice for consumers.

As places invest in development, and as urban planning agendas are realized, it is important to understand how new developments are having a profound impact on local well-being and local living environments. While investments and new developments can increase production and consumption, critical urban scholars warn us about the increased economic disparity, as well as social exclusion, that results and leaves behind communities that are struggling. Creative change is an important consideration when thinking about strategic planning, and likewise, scholars assess different impacts, may these be economic, social, or environmental. These different areas help authors frame a particular focus on issues and challenges facing sustainability.

For this Special Issue, we welcome papers that deal with a range of urban development and strategic planning issues. We ask authors to develop papers that join the focus on urban development and strategic planning, as opposed to looking at these areas as different ends of a spectrum. Papers can be systematic reviews of the literature, critiques of policy and planning agendas, theoretical research, or empirical studies. We look forward to receiving your proposals.

Dr. Nicholas Wise
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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. Sustainability 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 2400 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.

• urban change;
• urban development;
• creative change;
• regeneration;
• place impacts;
• strategic planning