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

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.

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