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Adaptation to Global Change: Modeling and Decision Support Tools in Urban Planning

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sustainability and Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 20469

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Riccardo Privitera

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Catania , 95123 Catania, Italy
Interests: sustainable urban growth, non-urbanised areas planning, urban green infrastructures, urban quality, green cities, climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies, ecosystem services, land-use and land cover analysis, land suitability analysis, urban and peri-urban agriculture, farmland protection, real estate development processes, transfer of development rights, economic viability of urban transformation, urban outdoor comfort, renewable energy sources and energy efficiency issues at urban scale.
Dr. Francesco Nocera

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture (DICAR), University of Catania, 95125 Catania, Italy
Interests: buildings energy analysis; environmental thermo-fluid dynamics; natural and artificial lighting; environmental and building acoustics; solar energy; heat transfer; energy saving; renewable energy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Cities are rapidly growing, bringing together 50% of the world population, 80% in developed countries. Clearly, such population concentrations give rise to social, economic, and environmental concerns. Therefore, infrastructures and the environment have to be adapted to the changing demands and climate change. Moreover, urban areas are subject to specific microclimates. The most undeniable feature of the urban climate is the urban heat island (UHI) which is mainly determined by the presence of impervious surfaces that absorb and store solar energy and anthropogenic heat during daytime and then release these quantities to the ambient air mainly at nighttime. In fact, built-up surfaces cannot discharge heat by natural processes such as evapotranspiration as in the case of green and blue surfaces, and this turns out to significantly raise the air temperature.

New urban development strategies have to be elaborated to improve urban planning and landscape design by a more comprehensive design which leads to a holistic approach for the reduction of UHI effects and enhancement of the quality of life tackling the social and economic aspects. This session aims at filling this gap by welcoming submissions from various domains of knowledge (engineering, social science, economics), with an emphasis on how urban planning can benefit from (and take into account) the synergic effects of different adaptation and mitigation strategies.

Dr. Riccardo Privitera
Dr. Francesco Nocera
Guest Editors

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

  • Urban heat island effect；Urban microclimate and heat wave events；Urban air quality； Population exposure and health impacts；Cool materials；Urban land use and land cover ；Urban ecosystems and green cities；Green and blue infrastructures；Urban resilience and climate change；Adaptation and mitigation strategies；Urban policy, planning, and design；Sustainable urban planning；Decision support tools；

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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22 pages, 3436 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Results of City Sustainable Transformation Projects in the Fields of Mobility and Energy Efficiency with Real Application in a District in Valladolid (Spain)
by Miguel Á. García-Fuentes, Javier Antolín, Cristina de Torre, Ana Pérez, Isabel Tomé, María L. Mirantes, Fátima López, Javier Martín and Jaime Gómez
Sustainability 2021, 13(17), 9683; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179683 - 28 Aug 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2719
Abstract
This paper presents a novel evaluation framework to assess the effectiveness of city transformation projects related to energy efficiency and sustainable mobility actions. The evaluation framework is part of an Urban Regeneration Model designed to accelerate the urban transformation toward the smart city [...] Read more.
This paper presents a novel evaluation framework to assess the effectiveness of city transformation projects related to energy efficiency and sustainable mobility actions. The evaluation framework is part of an Urban Regeneration Model designed to accelerate the urban transformation toward the smart city concept, taking into account all aspects of sustainability. This model has been developed and validated in the three EU cities (Valladolid, Spain; Nottingham, United Kingdom; and Tepebaşı, Turkey) where interventions in the energy, mobility, and ICT fields have been deployed. This model relies on an Evaluation Framework to support its main phases considering two levels of evaluation: city level, to assess globally the smartness and sustainability of the city, and project level, to support the decision-making and assess the impacts of specific implementations. This paper is focused on the second level and its application through the evaluation-supporting tool STILE in the assessment of the energy efficiency and sustainable urban mobility actions implemented in the city of Valladolid. The assessment analysis has allowed assessing how the energy efficiency interventions carried out in the Valladolid district have reduced the energy consumption, increased the use of renewable energies, and reduced the CO2 emissions. In addition, it has allowed evaluating other aspects such as the air quality, thermal comfort, and energy bill, which have been also improved for the residents. Considering the analysis of the sustainable mobility interventions, the evaluation framework supports the assessment of the reduction of emissions and air pollutants and how the actions have converted electro-mobility into a real option for citizens. The evaluation of results after the implementation of this kind of actions is key to ensuring that successful actions can be replicated in other places achieving smarter and more sustainable cities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adaptation to Global Change: Modeling and Decision Support Tools in Urban Planning)
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23 pages, 7525 KiB  
Article
Sustainable Urban Greening and Cooling Strategies for Thermal Comfort at Pedestrian Level
by Maurizio Detommaso, Antonio Gagliano, Luigi Marletta and Francesco Nocera
Sustainability 2021, 13(6), 3138; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13063138 - 12 Mar 2021
Cited by 30 | Viewed by 3511
Abstract
The increase of the urban warming phenomenon all over the world is gaining increasing attention from scientists as well as planners and policymakers due to its adverse effects on energy consumption, health, wellbeing, and air pollution. The protection of urban areas from the [...] Read more.
The increase of the urban warming phenomenon all over the world is gaining increasing attention from scientists as well as planners and policymakers due to its adverse effects on energy consumption, health, wellbeing, and air pollution. The protection of urban areas from the outdoor warming phenomenon is one of the challenges that policy and governments have to tackle as soon as possible and in the best possible way. Among the urban heat island mitigation techniques, cool materials and urban greening are identified as the most effective solutions in reducing the urban warming phenomenon. The effects produced by the adoption of cool materials and urban forestation on the urban microclimate were investigated through a computational fluid-dynamic (CFD) model. The CFD model was calibrated and validated thanks to experimental surveys within the Catania University campus area. The urban microclimate thermal comfort analysis and assessment were carried out with the Klima–Michel Model (KMM) and Munich Energy Balance Model for Individuals (MEMI). In particular, three scenarios were performed: cool, low, and high levels of urban greening. The cool scenario, although it produces air temperature at around 1.00 °C, determines the worst condition of outdoor thermal comfort, especially at the pedestrian level. On the contrary, a high level of urban greening, obtained by the extensive green roofs together with an urban forestation, guarantees the wellbeing of pedestrians, showing more convenient values of PMV and PET. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adaptation to Global Change: Modeling and Decision Support Tools in Urban Planning)
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15 pages, 1680 KiB  
Article
Dynamic and Heterogeneous Demand for Urban Green Space by Urban Residents: Evidence from the Cities in China
by Tianzheng Zhang, Yingxiang Zeng, Yingjie Zhang, Yan Song and Hongxun Li
Sustainability 2020, 12(22), 9384; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12229384 - 11 Nov 2020
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2089
Abstract
With the increasing number of people starting to attach importance to urban green space (UGS), estimating urban residents’ demand for UGS has become critical. Previous studies have estimated residents’ demands for UGS in different cities using the Rosen–Roback model. However, there has been [...] Read more.
With the increasing number of people starting to attach importance to urban green space (UGS), estimating urban residents’ demand for UGS has become critical. Previous studies have estimated residents’ demands for UGS in different cities using the Rosen–Roback model. However, there has been little analysis of the renters’ requirements for UGS or the dynamic and heterogeneous demands for UGS by residents in cities with varying characteristics. In this study, the prefecture-level cities in China were selected as the object of study for their wide representation of various city characteristics, and the Rosen–Roback model was used to address the abovementioned issues. Residents’ demand for UGS in 285 prefecture-level cities was assessed from 2010 to 2017. The results confirm our hypothesis that when UGS increases by 1%, house prices will increase by about 3% and rents will increase by about 7%, and the demand continues to grow. We also analyzed the heterogeneous demands for UGS by urban residents in different types of cities from three aspects: population density, economic level, and the effects of the National Forest City policy. Finally, we provided suggestions based on empirical results for planning and managing UGS. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adaptation to Global Change: Modeling and Decision Support Tools in Urban Planning)
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16 pages, 702 KiB  
Article
The Heterogenous Demand for Urban Parks between Home Buyers and Renters: Evidence from Beijing
by Tianzheng Zhang, Yingxiang Zeng, Yingjie Zhang, Yan Song and Hongxun Li
Sustainability 2020, 12(21), 9058; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12219058 - 30 Oct 2020
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2080
Abstract
Many studies have confirmed that there is demand among urban residents and renters for urban parks. Moreover, as renters and home buyers have very different levels of ownership over their housing resources, their demands for amenities can be heterogenous. To discover and identify [...] Read more.
Many studies have confirmed that there is demand among urban residents and renters for urban parks. Moreover, as renters and home buyers have very different levels of ownership over their housing resources, their demands for amenities can be heterogenous. To discover and identify such heterogeneous demands is worthy of attention. Using the micro-housing resale transactions and listing data for housing leases in Beijing during 2019, this paper explores the difference between the demand for urban parks among home buyers and renters outside the community from the perspective of the internal quality of the community by using the hedonic price model (HPM). Specifically, from the dimension of the property management service fee and greening rate, we find that for home buyers, compared to residents living in relatively poor-quality communities, a better-quality community will reduce the demand for urban parks outside the community. Conversely, for renters, the higher the quality of the community is, the higher the demand for urban parks outside the community will be. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adaptation to Global Change: Modeling and Decision Support Tools in Urban Planning)
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Review

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22 pages, 766 KiB  
Review
Role of Vegetation as a Mitigating Factor in the Urban Context
by Francesco Ferrini, Alessio Fini, Jacopo Mori and Antonella Gori
Sustainability 2020, 12(10), 4247; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12104247 - 22 May 2020
Cited by 79 | Viewed by 9036
Abstract
It is known that the urban environment amplifies the effects of climate change, sometimes with disastrous consequences that put people at risk. These aspects can be affected by urban vegetation and planting design but, while there are thousands of papers related to the [...] Read more.
It is known that the urban environment amplifies the effects of climate change, sometimes with disastrous consequences that put people at risk. These aspects can be affected by urban vegetation and planting design but, while there are thousands of papers related to the effects of climate change, a relatively limited number of them are directly aimed at investigating the role of vegetation as a mitigating factor in the urban context. This paper focuses on reviewing the research on the role of urban vegetation in alleviating the adverse conditions of the urban environment in order to provide some practical guidelines to be applied by city planners. Through an analysis of the documents found in Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar using urban vegetation and climate change-related keywords we selected five major issues related to the urban environment: (1) particulate matter, (2) gaseous pollution, (3) noise pollution, (4) water runoff, (5) urban heat island effect. The analysis of existing knowledge reported here indicates that the roles of urban vegetation on the adverse effect of climate change could not be simply deemed positive or negative, because the role of urban green is also strongly linked to the structure, composition, and distribution of vegetation, as well as to the criteria used for management. Therefore, it could help to better understand the roles of urban green as a complex system and provide the foundation for future studies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adaptation to Global Change: Modeling and Decision Support Tools in Urban Planning)
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