Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
5.8
3.9
Journals
Sustainability
Special Issues
Sustainable Urban Design and Land Use Planning
sustainability-logo
Submit to Sustainability Review for Sustainability Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

► Journal Menu

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser
share announcement

Sustainable Urban Design and Land Use Planning

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Urban and Rural Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 15783

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Stefano Salata

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning, Responsible Risk Resilience Centre, Politecnico di Torino, 10125 Torino, Italy
Interests: land use planning; environmental planning; GIS; ecosystem service; resilience
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainable urban design and land use planning represent key issues in the development of resilient cities while practical solutions are mainstreamed to reduce climate vulnerability and increase the health and security of citizens. The scientific literature has widely demonstrated that adaptation to climate change should be adequately projected and evaluated through plans and projects since the application of nature-based or technological solutions itself does not guarantee maximization of the resilient performance of cities. If not adequately planned in a systematic and comprehensive framework, urban renewal, building retrofits, land use transformation, de-sealing, or smart mobility projects cannot reach their highest performance at the city-level scale.

Therefore, the design of strategies and techniques played out by plans and projects should be grounded in the biophysical comprehension of socioecological and technological systems, employing GIS techniques and detailed spatial analytical assessments while supporting the design of green and blue infrastructures at the landscape/rural and urban level, achieving multiple purposes: reducing structural and ecological vulnerability, improving the environmental conditions, improving accessibility to green areas and related recreational facilities, increasing the wellbeing and safety of communities, reducing pollution and noise, and increasing smart and efficient mobility.

These kinds of urban planning targets are based on multidisciplinary approaches while involving assessments of physical and social parameters enclosed in multiple disciplines: urban planning, architecture, landscape ecology, social science, soil science, agronomy, environmental, structural, and mobility engineering. Despite the complexity, the possibility of having very advanced tools in the field of the spatial assessment of different characteristics has allowed deepening of the scientific investigations of the system while achieving reliable targets.

In light of Goals 11 and 13 of the United Nations, this Special Issue invites authors working on the abovementioned themes to publish their latest advances in a collection of papers that will answer the question: can sustainable urban design and land use planning be integrated and supported by new ecosystemic, socioecological, structural–technological, smart mobility assessments aided by GIS techniques with a resilient spatial perspective? If so, how do plans and projects benefit from these assessments and, moreover, how are the adopted solutions practically targeted, evaluated, delivered and monitored by plans and projects?

Existing literature in this field is relevant, and includes (but is not limited to) the following references:

Artmann, M., 2015. Managing urban soil sealing in Munich and Leipzig (Germany)—From a wicked problem to clumsy solutions. Land use policy 46, 21–37. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1016/j.landusepol.2015.02.004

Collier, F., Hambling, J., Kernaghan, S., Kovacevic, B., Miller, R., Pérez, A.P., Richardson, E., Macmillan, S., 2014. Tomorrow ’ s cities: a framework to assess urban resilience. Urban Des. Plan. 167, 79–91. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1680/udap.13.00019

Grêt-Regamey, A., Altwegg, J., Sirén, E.A., van Strien, M.J., Weibel, B., 2017. Integrating ecosystem services into spatial planning—A spatial decision support tool. Landsc. Urban Plan. 165, 206–219. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2016.05.003

Hansen, R., Frantzeskaki, N., McPhearson, T., Rall, E., Kabisch, N., Kaczorowska, A., Kain, J.-H., Artmann, M., Pauleit, S., 2015. The uptake of the ecosystem services concept in planning discourses of European and American cities. Ecosyst. Serv. 12, 228–246. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1016/j.ecoser.2014.11.013

Lafortezza, R., Davies, C., Sanesi, G., Konijnendijk, C.C.C., 2013. Green Infrastructure as a tool to support spatial planning in European urban regions. iForest - Biogeosciences For. 6, 102–108. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3832/ifor0723-006

Meerow, S., Newell, J.P., 2017. Spatial planning for multifunctional green infrastructure: Growing resilience in Detroit. Landsc. Urban Plan. 159, 62–75. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2016.10.005

Brunetta, G., Salata, S., 2019. Mapping Urban Resilience for Spatial Planning—A First Attempt to Measure the Vulnerability of the System. Sustainability 11, 2331. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su11082331

Dr. Stefano Salata
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.

Keywords

  • environmental planning
  • land use planning
  • urban transformation
  • sustainability
  • ecosystem services
  • green infrastructures
  • resilience
  • vulnerability
  • climate change
  • adaptation
  • GIS

Published Papers (5 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

22 pages, 3888 KiB  
Article
A Long-Term Ecological Vulnerability Analysis of the Tibetan Region of Natural Conditions and Ecological Protection Programs
by Yunxiao Jiang, Yu Shi, Rong Li and Luo Guo
Sustainability 2021, 13(19), 10598; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su131910598 - 24 Sep 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1772
Abstract
The combined impacts of drastic natural environment change and increasing human interference are making the uncertainty of the Tibetan Plateau’s ecological vulnerability the world’s largest. In this study, an ecological vulnerability index (EVI) of Tibet in the core area of the [...] Read more.
The combined impacts of drastic natural environment change and increasing human interference are making the uncertainty of the Tibetan Plateau’s ecological vulnerability the world’s largest. In this study, an ecological vulnerability index (EVI) of Tibet in the core area of the Tibetan Plateau was assessed using a selected set of ecological, social, and economic indicators and using a spatial principal component analysis (SPCA) to calculate their weights. The data included Landsat images and socio-economic data from 1990 to 2015 in five-year intervals. The results showed that the total EVI remained at a high vulnerability level, with drastic fluctuation from 1990 to 2000 (a peak in 1995, when there was a sudden increase in light vulnerability, which moved to extreme vulnerability in the next period), and minor fluctuations after 2000, gradually increasing from southeast to northwest. In addition, the spatial analysis showed a distinct positive correlation between the EVI and grassland area (0.33), land use degree (0.15), NDVI (0.14), livestock husbandry output, and a negative correlation in terms of desertification area. The artificial afforestation program (AAP) had a positive significant correlation with NDVI (R2 = 0.88), preventing the environment from becoming more vulnerable. The results provide practical information and suggestions for planners to improve the land use degree in urban areas and the vegetation coverage in pastoral regions of the Tibetan Plateau based on the spatial–temporal heterogeneity patterns of the EVI of Tibet. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Urban Design and Land Use Planning)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 1809 KiB  
Article
Ecosystem Services for Planning: A Generic Recommendation or a Real Framework? Insights from a Literature Review
by Silvia Ronchi
Sustainability 2021, 13(12), 6595; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13126595 - 9 Jun 2021
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 3022
Abstract
Recently, the concept of Ecosystem Services (ESs) has undergone a process of mainstreaming. It has been promoted in multiple policy documents and investigated in a growing number of studies addressing the functioning, assessment and management of ESs. Despite a general recommendation to integrate [...] Read more.
Recently, the concept of Ecosystem Services (ESs) has undergone a process of mainstreaming. It has been promoted in multiple policy documents and investigated in a growing number of studies addressing the functioning, assessment and management of ESs. Despite a general recommendation to integrate ESs into planning processes, this step remains highly critical yet far from complete. This paper explores the feasibility of the recommended uses of ESs for planning purposes by examining the needs of planners and decision-makers. A systematic literature review was conducted analysing different studies to overcome the limited adoption of ESs in planning verifying their operationalisation for planning practices. The paper classifies different purpose(s) assigned to ESs supporting the planning process. The results show that few experiments have adopted a step-by-step procedure facilitating the integration of ESs into planning and highlighting their added value in each phase of the planning process. In these cases, an ES-based Green Infrastructure has allowed for their integration into planning, also adopting a multi-scale spatial dimension. More practical experiments on how a planning process works are needed to operationalise the ESs concept for planning purposes, also reinforcing the role of the Strategic Environmental Assessment that is still marginal. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Urban Design and Land Use Planning)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

25 pages, 4213 KiB  
Article
Performance-Based Planning to Reduce Flooding Vulnerability Insights from the Case of Turin (North-West Italy)
by Stefano Salata, Silvia Ronchi, Carolina Giaimo, Andrea Arcidiacono and Giulio Gabriele Pantaloni
Sustainability 2021, 13(10), 5697; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13105697 - 19 May 2021
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 3116
Abstract
Climate change impacts urban areas with greater frequency and exposes continental cities located on floodplains to extreme cloudbursts events. This scenario requires developing specific flooding vulnerability mitigation strategies that improve local knowledge of flood-prone areas at the urban scale and supersede the traditional [...] Read more.
Climate change impacts urban areas with greater frequency and exposes continental cities located on floodplains to extreme cloudbursts events. This scenario requires developing specific flooding vulnerability mitigation strategies that improve local knowledge of flood-prone areas at the urban scale and supersede the traditional hazard approach based on the classification of riverine buffers. Moreover, decision-makers need to adopt performance-based strategies for contrasting climate changes and increasing the resilience of the system. This research develops the recent Flooding Risk Mitigation model of InVEST (Integrated Evaluation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-off), where cloudburst vulnerability results from the soil’s hydrological conductivity. It is based on the assumption that during cloudburst events, all saturated soils have the potential for flooding, regardless of the distance to rivers or channels, causing damage and, in the worst cases, victims. The model’s output gives the run-off retention index evaluated in the catchment area of Turin (Italy) and its neighborhoods. We evaluated the outcome to gain specific insight into potential land use adaptation strategies. The index is the first experimental biophysical assessment developed in this area, and it could prove useful in the revision process of the general town plan underway. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Urban Design and Land Use Planning)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 3583 KiB  
Article
Canopy-scale Built-environment Characteristics and Urban Heat Island Effect in a Tropical Medium-sized City
by Jou-Man Huang, Heui-Yung Chang, Liang-Chun Chen and Yu-Su Wang
Sustainability 2021, 13(2), 868; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13020868 - 16 Jan 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2216
Abstract
Previous studies have found that built-environment characteristics in large cities produce important effects of the urban heat island (UHI) and know the horizontal space affected by the urban canopy microclimate ranges from about 30–200 m, but there are few studies in medium-sized cities. [...] Read more.
Previous studies have found that built-environment characteristics in large cities produce important effects of the urban heat island (UHI) and know the horizontal space affected by the urban canopy microclimate ranges from about 30–200 m, but there are few studies in medium-sized cities. Therefore, this study investigates canopy-scale built-environment characteristics and their correlation with urban heat island (UHI) effects in Chiayi city, a tropical, medium-sized city. Under a 100 m buffer size, 2D and 3D built-environment factors such as the green coverage ratio (GCR), building coverage ratio (BCR), floor area ratio (FAR), and sky view factor (SVF) were first analyzed and then correlated with the UHI effect. The analyses were repeated on 200 and 1000 m scales and compared to previous studies. It was found that the built-environment factors were more strongly correlated with UHI under the 200 m buffer. Moreover, 2D factors such as the GCR and BCR had a higher correlation with UHI, especially in developing medium-sized cities. Regarding the GCR, BCR, and FAR, as expected, the correlation coefficients with UHI increased to 0.4 at 13:00 during the day and changed from 0.2 to 0.4 at 00:30 at night, whereas the correlation between the SVF and UHI was greatly different from the study area or calculation methods. The scale effect and SVF calculation methods are recommended for further study. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Urban Design and Land Use Planning)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

20 pages, 1347 KiB  
Review
Going Green and Going Dense: A Systematic Review of Compatibilities and Conflicts in Urban Research
by Helena Madureira and Ana Monteiro
Sustainability 2021, 13(19), 10643; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su131910643 - 25 Sep 2021
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3686
Abstract
The dilemma of simultaneously promoting the advantages of urban densification and urban liveability, namely the environmental and social benefits of urban green spaces, has been widely acknowledged in the research literature. This paper aims to provide an overview of the current state of [...] Read more.
The dilemma of simultaneously promoting the advantages of urban densification and urban liveability, namely the environmental and social benefits of urban green spaces, has been widely acknowledged in the research literature. This paper aims to provide an overview of the current state of evidence on benefits, conflicts and challenges emerging from fostering both urban densification and urban greening aims. A systematic review following the PRISMA guidelines was conducted. Searches for peer-reviewed papers were conducted in Scopus and Web of Science. Our search yielded an initial 357 papers, which were then further sorted and screened to the 117 manuscripts retained and included in this review. The authors systematized the multiple perspectives in which the interactions between urban densification and urban greening have been explored. Moreover, the results revealed a lack of clear agreement about the existence or not of conflicts emerging from fostering both urban densification and urban greening aims, suggesting that the positive or negative interactions are not absolute but depend on the scale or the context on which the studies are conducted. Further research should explore multiple potential mediating variables (e.g., the mediator effect of scale and context) to deepen our understanding of interactions between density and greening. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Urban Design and Land Use Planning)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-5
Back to TopTop