This special issue demonstrates how practical solutions to the development of sustainable cities can be achieved through studying urban metabolism, urban ecology, city carbon and water footprints, the dynamics of city growth, and the interdependency between social actors, institutions, and biophysical system flows. than half the world’s people and about 80% of those in developed nations live in...

In previous research we defined a methodology for mapping centrality in urban networks. Such methodology, named Multiple Centrality Assessment (MCA), makes it possible to ascertain how each street is structurally central in a city according to several different notions of centrality, as well as different scales of “being central”. In this study we investigate the case of Bologna, northern Italy...

Can you imagine a city that feels, understands, and cares about your wellbeing? Future cities will reshape human behavior in countless ways. New strategies and models of urban spaces are required for creating future cities to properly respond to human activity, environmental conditions, and market dynamics. Persuasive urban systems will play an important role in making cities more livable and r...

Growth of urban areas and abandonment of rural areas are phenomena that increase quickly. The main consequences of urbanization are pollution, consumption of resources and energy, waste dumps, and junk yards. These aspects require a better planning and design of European urban metropolitan areas, considering benefits, opportunities, costs and risks (B.O.C.R.), derivable by urban transformations...

Following formative work in the 1970s, disappearance in the 1980s, and reemergence in the 1990s, a chronological review shows that the past decade has witnessed increasing interest in the study of urban metabolism. The review finds that there are two related, non-conflicting, schools of urban metabolism: one following Odum describes metabolism in terms of energy equivalents; while the second mo...

Urban areas cause a set of environmental challenges, which come from the consumption of natural resources and the generation of waste and pollution. These aspects contribute to the development of social and economic imbalance, which continues to grow while demanding new solutions. Therefore urban planning and architecture needs a new and flexible approach, introducing methods and techniques whi...

Given the dominating impact of the built environment on global carbon emissions, reducing operational energy use in buildings has long been considered a key strategy towards more sustainable urban development. In contrast, building energy use related to material production, construction, and demolition has been considered to be significantly less important. However, given the proliferation of l...

Technological innovation has provided enhanced capacity for knowledge building, for connection and for improved infrastructure planning in the development of the modern city. In parallel to the building of technology supported urban planning and design capacity, a debate has emerged around the need to maximise citizen participation in urban planning. The role of identity, culture and social con...

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of urbanisation in the Caribbean and to determine a way forward in achieving sustainable urban development. The Caribbean has had a long urban history, yet urban management has not played a significant role in guiding development. Limited resources make future planning imperative in the region and urban form is being explored as an option. Inc...