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Making Cities Carbon Positive: Land Use, Transport and Energy Policies

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 (30 September 2022) | Viewed by 6421

Special Issue Editors

UniSA Business, UniSA, Adelaide, Australia
Interests: urban analytics; computational urban planning; housing-transport interaction; spatial techniques and GIS; transport planning/policy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
School of Architecture and Built Environment, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
Interests: smart technologies, communities, cities and urbanism; knowledge-based development of cities and innovation districts; sustainable and resilient cities; communities and urban ecosystems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With the world's fast economic growth and urbanisation, reducing carbon emissions and transportation-related emissions through spatial policies and land use planning has attracted a lot of attention. New visionaries are needed to confront the environmental problems of megacities in developing and developed countries and innovative planning processes are needed to facilitate rapid and adaptive change so that new urban structures can accommodate economic growth while also taking into account environmental concerns. As a result, expanding our understanding of the environmental footprint of urban growth and investigating the interaction of internal supply–demand mechanisms through high-quality research may assist in achieving global sustainable development targets.

This Special Issue of Sustainability will focus on the short- to long-term effects of urban ecosystems and carbon-reduction initiatives in our cities. The goal of this Special Issue will be to improve knowledge and understanding across four major themes related to carbon reduction and energy savings in land use planning and transportation planning, which include:

  • Re-questioning urban structure and development patterns to minimise glasshouse gas emissions and energy savings through smart, knowledge-based, and integrated planning approaches; planning and designing more diverse, compact, and accessible neighbourhoods, villages, towns, and cities;
  • Diversifying transportation modes and reducing reliance on polluting vehicles; investigating the role of cutting-edge technologies in future transportation landscapes; increasing access to activity centres and workplaces through the provision of more environmentally friendly transportation services;
  • Evaluating the success of current energy sector policies and regulations in achieving sustainability goals in developing and developed countries; and
  • Examining best practises in public participation and social development in the energy and environmental sectors.

Articles addressing one of the four topics stated above are encouraged. In addressing a specific theme, the author/s may choose to conduct the following: a comprehensive literature review of the state-of-the-art; an examination of current practises and experiences; an analysis of policy and recommendations for improved policy; a behavioural study; case studies; developing a theoretical framework; an examination of the impacts of transportation systems (such as development changes and environmental improvements); and comparative analyses across various cities or regions.

Dr. Ali Soltani
Prof. Dr. Tan Yigitcanlar
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

  • land use policy
  • land use-transport interaction
  • carbon mitigation
  • energy policy and infrastructure
  • eco-friendly planning
  • green transportation
  • environmental impact assessment

Published Papers (2 papers)

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22 pages, 13830 KiB  
Article
Which Fabric/Scale Is Better for Transit-Oriented Urban Design: Case Studies in a Developing Country
by Mohammad Hamed Abdi and Ali Soltani
Sustainability 2022, 14(12), 7338; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14127338 - 15 Jun 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2199
Abstract
The goal of this study was to find out how suitable the existing design of urban forms is for adopting transit-oriented development (TOD) basic ideas. Within a major metropolis and a medium-sized city, three varieties of Iranian urban fabric (historic, transitional, and modern) [...] Read more.
The goal of this study was to find out how suitable the existing design of urban forms is for adopting transit-oriented development (TOD) basic ideas. Within a major metropolis and a medium-sized city, three varieties of Iranian urban fabric (historic, transitional, and modern) around transit stations were selected using the case study research technique. Then, for two sizes of station areas (macro) and street scales (micro), several TOD design dimensions were evaluated. The results of the comparative research indicated that Iranian cities offer greater chances for TOD design in inner urban areas (including historical and transitional urban forms), whereas microscale characteristics are less reliant on the kind of urban form. Full article
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78 pages, 9198 KiB  
Review
Leveraging the Opportunities of Wind for Cities through Urban Planning and Design: A PRISMA Review
by Yi Song Liu, Tan Yigitcanlar, Mirko Guaralda, Kenan Degirmenci, Aaron Liu and Michael Kane
Sustainability 2022, 14(18), 11665; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141811665 - 16 Sep 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3353
Abstract
Wind has been utilized for passive ventilation and mechanical power since antiquity. As an abundant renewable resource, today, wind is increasingly seen as a critical resource to help tackle issues associated with rapid urbanization and climate adaptation and mitigation, such as improving thermal [...] Read more.
Wind has been utilized for passive ventilation and mechanical power since antiquity. As an abundant renewable resource, today, wind is increasingly seen as a critical resource to help tackle issues associated with rapid urbanization and climate adaptation and mitigation, such as improving thermal comfort, providing clean energy, improving air quality, and reducing carbon emissions. Despite the growing importance of wind as an invaluable resource for cities, wind in the context of urban planning and design is a relatively understudied area of research. This study aims to explore the means by which cities that can benefit from wind and ways urban planning and design can help deliver these benefits. The study adopts a systematic literature review methodological approach. The findings disclosed that: (a) improving urban wind environment via sound urban planning and design may enhance urban ventilation and energy performance; (b) better urban ventilation and energy performance enable cities to become climate positive or net zero and relieve the urgent climate crisis; (c) wind sensitive urban design is an emerging research area critical to harvest the benefits of wind for cities. This study offers a novel conceptual framework and research directions for wind sensitive urban design and informs urban planning, design policy and practices. Full article
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