Special Issue: “Urban Risk and Climate Resilience Planning: Tools for Managing Land Use Under Uncertainty”

Dear Colleagues,

Urban systems continue to face complex and interconnected pressures, including climate change, land degradation, social inequalities, and inefficient use of land and resources. One of the most critical challenges of the 21st century is the ability to implement integrated, effective, and resilient urban planning strategies that reduce land take, regenerate brownfields, and support inclusive and sustainable urban development.

The thematic pillars of this Special Issue are aligned with the European Green Deal, the EU Soil Strategy for 2030, the Fit for 55 legislative package, and the Urban Agenda for the EU. These policy frameworks emphasize the need for a just and green transition, a zero-pollution urban environment, and the restoration of degraded land and brownfields. In this context, the circular reuse of abandoned urban areas, the application of ESG criteria in project evaluation, and the integration of predictive and digital technologies become essential to guide sustainable urban regeneration.

This Special Issue aims to collect original research articles and review papers that propose tools and frameworks for evaluating the economic, social, environmental, and health-related risks associated with land consumption and urban industrial activities, both from public and private sector perspectives.

We strongly encourage contributions from a broad range of disciplines, including urban planning, environmental science, real estate, public policy, geography, health studies, and data science. This Special Issue will welcome manuscripts that link the following themes:

• Environmental and health impacts of land take and industrial activities;
• Brownfield redevelopment and circular reuse of dismissed urban land;
• Sustainable land management strategies toward Net Land Take Zero;
• Multi-criteria and cost-benefit evaluation methods in urban planning;
• Indicators and indices for monitoring land use and urban sustainability;
• Geographic Information Systems and spatial analysis tools;
• Urban compensation schemes and innovative land policies;
• Real estate evaluation and sustainable asset management;
• ESG-based assessment frameworks for land development projects Resilient city indicators and risk-based planning approaches;
• AI and predictive models for land use monitoring and climate risk assessment;
• Smart planning tools and digital twins in sustainable urban governance;
• Post-pandemic effects and recovery dynamics in urban areas.

Guest Editors

Dr. Debora Anelli
Prof. Dr. Pierluigi Morano
Dr. Marco Locurcio
Prof. Dr. Francesco Tajani

• urban analytics
• machine learning for urban planning
• land use modelling
• digital twins
• geospatial analysis
• multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA)
• big data in land management
• sustainable development policy
• public-private partnerships (PPP)
• just transition
• green infrastructure planning
• soil protection policies
• integrated urban planning
• urban policy innovation
• brownfield regeneration
• circular urban planning
• sustainable land management
• geographic information systems (GIS)
• ESG urban assessment
• smart planning tools
• predictive modelling
• environmental and health risk evaluation